NEPAL NUTRITION AND FOOD SECURITY PORTAL

On November 10, 2022, the National Planning Commission (NPC) organized a one-day “Deprivation and Causality Analysis Workshop” at Hotel Yellow Pagoda, Kathmandu Nepal as a process to guide the formulation of a Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan-III (2023-2030).

The key objectives of the workshop were to:

- To explore areas of deprivation of malnutrition and identify key malnutrition manifestations

- To identify the potential causes (immediate, underlying, and basic) of key nutrition problems such as Stunting, Wasting, Anemia, Overweight/Obesity, and Low Birth Weight -by sectors (Health, Agriculture and Livestock, Education, WASH, Local Governance, Women and Children)

- To develop the causal framework for the key manifestations-by sector 

Over 80 participants from sectoral ministries, the European Union in Nepal, UNICEF, other UN agencies, and development partners (USAID, FCDO, WB), relevant stakeholders, civil society organizations, academia, and experts participated in a deprivation and causality workshop to support the drafting of Government of Nepal’s third phase of Multi-Sector Nutrition Plan. The workshop was chaired by Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad, Honorable Member of the National Planning Commission. Ms. Sarita Gurung, Planning Officer, NPC welcomed the participants and briefly highlighted the objectives of the workshop. Following this, three different presentations were made. Dr. Kiran Rupakhetee, Joint Secretary, Good Governance and Social Development Division, NPC and SUN Country Coordinator made the first presentation on “Context Setting and Nutrition Situation Update” and briefly shared the Journey of MSNP, existing nutrition governance structures and mechanisms including the implementation modality and MSNP architecture from federal to ward-levels. Dr. Kiran also presented the global, regional, and national nutrition situation as a part of the context setting for the workshop. 

Dr. Kiran Rupakhetee, Joint Secretary, Good Governance and Social Development Division, NPC and SUN Country Coordinator delivering presentation during the workshop.

Dr. Rajendra BC, Consultant from NPC delivered a presentation on “Deprivation Analysis” and shared the key concepts of deprivation and different forms of manifestation faced by women and children based on their socio-demographic characteristics because of nutrition deprivation in Nepal. Following this, Dr. Suman Chandra Gurung, a Consultant from NPC, made a brief presentation on “Causality Analysis” and introduced key concepts of Causality Analysis and also showed an example of the Causality Analysis Framework of Wasting. Following three different presentations, a brief guide and feedback to develop Nutrition Deprivation Index (NDI) were received from Honorable Member Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad.

National Consultants (Dr. Rajendra BC -on the left and Dr. Suman Chandra Gurung-on the right) delivering presentation during the workshop.

Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad, Honorable Member of NPC, delivering his remarks during the workshop

The group discussion followed through after three different presentations. Six different thematic groups viz Health, Education, WASH, Agriculture and Livestock, Local Governance, and Women and Children were formed to develop a causal pathway for different manifestations- Stunting, Wasting, and Anemia- by sectors. Rigorous discussion took place for about three hours within six different groups to develop a sectoral Causal Framework of three different manifestations.Following the group discussion, each group made its presentation and shared the causal pathway of each sector. Feedback and comments were received from cross-sectors during the sectoral presentation.

Ms. Karan Country Haag, Chief, Nutrition Section, UNICEF Nepal interacting with participants of workshop

Participants of the “Deprivation and Causality Analysis Workshop” from different sectoral ministries

Group discussion to develop a Casual pathway of different manifestations of the Education Sector

Causal pathway of different manifestation-HEALTH SECTOR                                 

Dr. Kiran summarized the key takeaways of the presentation of each group and mentioned that the workshop in particular group discussion has been phenomenal and has provided huge strategic insights to guide the formulation of MSNP-III. The workshop was concluded by Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad, Honorable Member, NPC. In his closing remarks, the Honorable member underscored the need to explore the departure in terms of ideological shift, policy shift and resources shift from MSNP-II while developing MSNP-III. Moreover, he also highlighted the need to consider the impact of COVID-19 on child and women's nutrition and integrate lessons from global pandemic management and indicated the need to distribute and deploy human resources for nutrition at provincial and local level based on population density and geographical remoteness. Lastly, he acknowledged the active contribution of participants and expressed his best wishes for MSNP-III formulation.