Episode: 13. The N4D Team MINI SERIES conclusion, Country Led – rhetoric or reality?

As international aid falls sharply, national governments, donors and the nutrition community as a whole face tough choices.

In this episode, the N4D Directors Carmel, Chris and Jeremy, reflect on lessons from supporting country partners in Ethiopia, Niger and Yemen. They discuss why long-term engagement, trust, an understanding of political and institutional contexts, and flexible, demand-driven support matter—particularly in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

In the final episode of the series reflecting on the future of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, N4D Directors Chris Leather and Jeremy Shoham are talking to Dr Joanne Raisin, Director of the SUN Movement Secretariat.

N4D is in conversation for a second time (check out previous short podcast at N4G Summit) with Madam Manty Tarawalli, Minister of State in the Office of the Vice President, discussing Sierra Leone's nutrition progress since joining the SUN Movement in 2012. An acknowledged leader in politics and development, the Honourable Minister is spearheading country-led initiatives to tackle malnutrition: “When you demonstrate leadership as a country by saying to partners, this is the approach you want to take and these are the reasons & expected outcomes you foresee, you get partners following that drive. Without that leadership you get confusion and people doing whatever they want to do,” she affirms.

Like many Latin American countries, El Salvador’s malnutrition problems are increasingly more likely to be Type 2 diabetes amongst eight year-olds than stunting amongst children under 5. Elisa Gamero, Chief of Health and Nutrition Projects in the Office of the First Lady, paints a picture of how the country is tackling high rates of both undernutrition and child overweight/obesity and increased consumption of ultra processed foods. In recent years, El Salvador has made big strides in putting nutrition high in the political agenda, including new laws promoting a healthy start in life, launch of a youth platform, work with the private sector, a national nutrition strategy and more aligned action by UN and other international partners. A multisectoral approach and resource mobilisation, both domestic and international, lie at the heart of these initiatives. “It was not easy at first… when we first convened these actors, they look at each other [around] this table and say ‘what do I have to do with nutrition? This is a health perspective.’ But when we started developing the actions and they feel that they could connect with all the actions that surround the reduction of malnutrition in El Salvador, they're fully and strongly committed.” SUN’s Latin America regional learning hub and technical support are other features that El Salvador counts as gifts from the SUN Movement - “it’s so important that we learn from countries with a similar political approach and context”.