Food and Nutrition Policy

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Outline
• Definition of policy
• Definition of food and nutrition policy
• Elements, pillars and steps of food and nutrition policy
• Evaluation of policy changes
• The Ethiopian National Food and Nutrition Policy

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What is policy?
• A principle, plan, or course of action, as pursued by a government, organization,
individual, etc.
• The act or process of setting and directing the course of action to be pursued by a
government, business, etc

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What is policy brief?
• Is a concise summary of information that can help readers understand, and likely make
decisions about, government policies
• May give objective summaries of relevant research, suggest possible policy options, or
go even further and argue for particular courses of action

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Food and nutrition policy
• Is a set of nationwide guidelines that specify how the nutritional needs of the
population will be met
• The food and nutrition policy encompasses the collective efforts of the government
and other stakeholders to influence the decision-making environment of food
producers, food consumers and food marketing agents in order to improve the
nutritional status of the population
• International Conference on Nutrition (ICN):
– FAO and WHO initiated the globe to practice food and nutrition policies in 1992

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Food and nutrition policy entrepreneurs

Consumer, interest
groups and other Government—at all
NGOs levels

Health Professional Food and nutrition Farmers/

associations policy Commodity
groups

Scientific bodies and

researchers Food Industry

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Key elements of food and nutrition policy
• Sustainable food production, processing, distribution and consumption
• Ensure optimal food quality and safety
• Collective/multi-sectoral efforts for sustainable food and nutrition security
• Achieve and maintain nutrition well-being and healthy lifestyle of the population

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The four pillars of food and nutrition policy
• Nutrition
• Food safety
• Sustainable access to food
• Healthy lifestyle

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Steps in developing food and nutrition policy
• Understanding the need for a policy
• Review the current food and nutrition status of the population
• Review the existing policies (if any) and identify the gaps
• Develop appropriate food and nutrition policy
• Develop plans of action for implementation
• Evolve an effective and strong monitoring and evaluation mechanism
• Establish a nutrition surveillance system to facilitate program appraisal and follow-up
action

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Policy making processes

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Evaluation of policy changes
• Policy development should include plans for policy evaluation
– Process evaluation: was the policy actually carried out?
– Outcome: did the policy change have the intended outcome?

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Key elements in successfully developing and translating national nutrition plans and
policies into action

1. Official governmental adoption and political support

• Not just having nutrition budget line, but specifically allocated governmental funds
for nutrition
• Influential ministry leading the process
• Having high profile advocate
2. Inter-sectoral coordinating mechanism
• Location in the government
• Specifically allocated budget for their operation
• Members from all concerned stakeholders
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Key elements in successfully developing and translating national nutrition plans and
policies into action…cont’d
3. Ability to translate plans into action
• Prioritization of activities and designation of responsible sectors/ministries

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Obstacles in successfully developing and translating national nutrition plans and
policies into action
1. Disconnect between national policy priority and regional / provincial level policy
priority
2. Lack of human capacity in nutrition
3. Frequent turnover of staff–lack of institutional memory and continuity
4. Incorporation of monitoring and evaluation mechanism
5. Unavailability of reliable national food, nutrition and health data
6. Continuously changing international context of macro-policy on food and nutrition

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The Ethiopian Food and Nutrition Policy (EFNP)
• Ensuring the availability, accessibility, safety and quality of nutritious foods is a
prerequisite for;
– The creation of a productive workforce
– Longevity of life
– Improved livelihood and innovative capacity
• This, in turn, brings fast economic, social and sustainable development

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Rationale EFNP
• Attaining food and nutrition security is a constitutional and human right
• Ethiopia has been implementing different strategies and programs to ensure food and
nutrition security such as:
– Food Security Strategy
– National Nutrition Strategy
– National Nutrition Program
– Seqota Declaration
– Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy
– School Health and Nutrition Strategy
– National Productive Safety Net Program
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Vision of EFNP
• To see all Ethiopians with optimal nutritional status, quality of life, productivity and
longevity of life
Mission of EFNP
• We strive to ensure food and nutrition security through coordinated implementation
of nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions
Goal of EFNP
• To attain optimal nutritional status at all stages of life a level that is consistent with a
high quality of life, productivity and longevity of life.

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Objectives of EFNP
• Ensure the availability and accessibility of adequate food to all Ethiopians at all times
• Improve accessibility, and quality of nutrition and nutrition smart health services at all
stages of the life span in an equitable manner.
• Improve consumption and utilization of a diversified and nutritious diet that ensures
citizen’s optimal health throughout their life cycle.
• Improve the safety and quality of food throughout the value chain.
• Reduce food and nutrient losses along the value chain.
• Improve food and nutrition emergency risk management, preparedness and resilience
systems.
• Improve food and nutrition knowledge of all Ethiopians

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Scope of EFNP
• To provide a policy foundation for multi-sectoral collaboration, community oriented
nutrition service provision, encourage high impact nutrition interventions and
developing related operational and management strategies
Framework of EFNP
• It is based on the global conceptual framework for nutrition security as a change
model to address the existing causes of nutrition insecurity at various levels.

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Values of EFNP
• Community-centered
• Coordination
• Accountability
• Equity
• Responsiveness

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Guiding principles of EFNP
• Lifecycle approach (focus on 1000 critical days)
• Food as a human right
• Multi-sectoral coordination
• Sustainable food value chain
• Public-private partnership
• Food as national strategic resource

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Directions of EFNP
• Ensure availability, accessibility and utilization of diversified, safe, and nutritious
foods in a sustainable way
• Ensure the safety and quality of foods from farm to plate
• Improve post-harvest management of agricultural food products.
• Ensure optimum nutrition at all stages of life
• Provision of timely and appropriate food and nutrition emergency response for natural
and manmade disasters
• Strengthen food and nutrition communication
• Establish and strengthen food and nutrition governance

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Implementation of EFNP
• Implementation approaches:
– Lifecycle approach
– Food as a human right
– Food based approaches
– Multi-sectoral integration, coordination and linkage
– Nutrition specific and sensitive approaches
– Farm to plate approach
• Implementation legal framework
• Institutional arrangement for implementation
• Capacity building (human resource, training and research institutions, and regulatory
agencies)
• Food and nutrition communication, and sustainable financing

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Gender responsiveness of EFNP
• Gender equality and improvement of the nutritional status of women and
adolescent girls can play a significant role in breaking the intergenerational cycle
of malnutrition
Actors of EFNP
• Ethiopian government
• Non-governmental organizations
• Private sector
• Communities

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Monitoring and evaluation of the EFNP
• The National Food and Nutrition higher governing body shall effectively collaborate
with all stakeholders
• There should be predetermined specific indicators and targets
• A system shall be developed and strengthened for a continuous food and nutrition
surveillance, surveys and information management

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 Thank you!

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