SPRING’s Pathways to Better Nutrition (PBN) case study provided analysis of Nepal’s financing for nutrition to the Nepali Delegation for the Public Finance for Nutrition in Asia (PF4N) workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, April 2016. The workshop, which was organized by UNICEF Regional Offices and the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Secretariat, was attended by government, civil society, and development partner representatives from 18 countries across Asia. The Honorable Member of the National Planning Commission and leader of the Nepal delegation, Dr. Geeta Bhakta Joshi, presented on Nepal’s experience with a multi-sector nutrition plan, nutrition budget categorization, and analysis.
Last year, Nepal was one of eight SUN countries which came together for Asia’s first financing for nutrition workshop in April 2015. SUN called for these countries to implement a three-step process in nutrition budget analysis to guide coordinated implementation by stakeholder groups, and mobilize the required resources to address funding gaps and sustain results. As part of the PBN case studies, SPRING has been working with six government ministries, plus Ministry of Finance, to collect and analyze nutrition budgets in Nepal since mid-2014. This collaboration has provided the Nepali government a set of estimates to work from as they engage in the SUN process. At this year’s conference, returning countries such as Nepal presented on their experiences and lessons learned, including those from the PBN case study in Nepal, for the benefit of countries who will participate in budget analysis for the first time in 2016.