Institutional arrangements (3/3)
Features of the data component
The data component of the NIPN might be best hosted by an agency which already has a mandate and the capacity for data management and/or analysis, if possible with a cross-sectoral mandate. A national bureau of statistics or a planning agency is potentially an appropriate host organisation if willing to build its capacity in the analysis of nutrition-related data, so that this becomes part of the routine work of the institution.
It is key to identify an agency that has a mandate for socio-economic analyses, is geared towards responsive analysis using multiple data sources, has some convening power, and has the ability to access data of other data providers.
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- Statistics bodies are not necessarily mandated to do socio-economic analyses, and in some cases their mandate is limited to the collection and management of the data but does not include data analysis and influencing.
- If the following characteristics of a statistics agency’s mandate and practice are present, this organisation may not be the most suitable to lead the data component of NIPN:
- They are unwilling or hesitant to consider data that they do not collect themselves or cannot vet;
- They are not able to access data managed by other data providers;
- They are geared towards providing routine analysis products, taking long time lapses due to extensive processes to validate and process data;
- They are not equipped to undertake nimble work to answer current ad hoc questions that require answers in time for policy and programme decisions.
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