Examining the political, institutional and governance aspects of delivering a national multi-sectoral response to reduce maternal and child malnutrition. Analysing Nutrition Governance: Brazil Country Report

Abstract

This brief country report documents government and non-government efforts to reduce malnutrition in Brazil. The guiding premise is that the best nutrition outcomes happen when policy interventions are well aligned with political motivations. The report looks at three main dimensions of nutrition governance: (a) inter-sectoral coordination within government agencies as well as between government and non-government bodies; (b) vertical coordination between the national policy-making bodies and this state and local level implementing agencies; and (c) the funding modalities that are employed to implement nutrition interventions. The report opens with a succinct overview of the magnitude of the malnutrition problem in Brazil and offers a historical overview of the main government policies adopted since the return to democracy, to mitigate this problem. The central part of the report discusses in greater detail the government approaches to ensure horizontal coordination, vertical articulation and financing of nutrition initiatives. The last part summarizes the main lessons and discusses the extent to which success factors observed in Brazil are replicable elsewhere