Background of Funding for. Nutrition Mounting evidence of the consequences of malnutrition more broadly, and stunting specifically, have done little to increase global spending on nutrition. Current investments in global nutrition are inadequate and constitute a major hurdle to achieving the global target of 40% reduction in stunting among children under 5 years by 2025 (Gates, n.d.). A partnership of the Gates Foundation, World bank, Results for Development Institute and 1,000 Days, have estimated the need for $8.50 per child per year to meet the global stunting targets. Consequently, it would cost $49.5 billion over a period of 10 years, (an increase of $4.8 billion in annual spending from the current funding) to scale up key stunting interventions to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) goal 2 (Xxxxxx et al., 2017). Despite unprecedented global commitment to improving nutrition in recent years, the spending gap persists and official development assistance (ODA) spending remains at only 0.5%1. So far, limited funds are primarily earmarked by donors, either for research or implementation of projects, leaving few opportunities for action-research. On a positive note, major bilateral donors have successfully attracted global attention to the problem malnutrition. This has resulted in a wide range of partnerships and commitments by institutions such as the “World Health Assembly (WHA), who adopted the Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) in 2012 and the UN, who negotiated the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Others include 1 Xxxxxxx Xxxxx Foundation RISE for Nutrition RFA 2018 the UN General Assembly, who proclaimed 2016-2025 the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition”2. The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have also played key roles in setting the global agenda and prioritizing nutrition across multi-sectors. Further, DFID and USAID have mobilized global commitment and secured multi-stakeholder commitment to fund implementation. 3. In 2003, the African governing states, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), committed at least 10% of their national budgets to Agriculture and Food Security4. Private foundations and multilateral agencies such as the World bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have also joined the push to improve global nutritional status. Current funders also include a numb...
