Preface

UNICEF and the World Bank joined forces in April 1999 to provide a fresh perspective on the global effort to address malnutrition, with a focus on the roles of the two agencies in shaping this agenda and its implementation.   The assessment attempted to “get behind the headlines” to understand how policy change in nutrition happened, what influenced these processes, and what lessons can be learned from them. 

The assessment included three main components.  Background papers (also referred to as the narrative theme papers) which presented an analyses of policy change in five key areas in nutrition. Country case studies which assessed the dynamics of nutrition-relevant policy processes at the country level and the role of the two agencies in India, Madagascar,  the Philippines and Tanzania.  Agency portfolio reviews of UNICEF and the World Bank which summarized their experiences with nutrition policy and programming support during the past two decades and described their priorities and processes.  This volume is a compilation of the five background papers written by David Pelletier, Beatrice Rogers, John Mason, Lindsay Allen and James Levinson.  Krishna Belbase did the final editing and compilation of the background papers.

The World Bank/UNICEF nutrition assessment was initiated and managed by Milla McLachlan (World Bank) and Roger Shrimpton (formerly of UNICEF) and coordinated by Stuart Gillespie (International Food Policy Research Institute). Guiding its preparation was a steering committee comprising Simon Maxwell of the Overseas Development Institute in London;  Harold Alderman, Tim Johnson and Edna Jonas of the World Bank; and Krishna Belbase, Rolf Carriere, Ian Hopwood, and Werner Schultink of UNICEF.

Milla  McLachlan                                                                                  Rainer Gross

Nutrition Adviser                                                                                  Chief, Nutrition Section

Health, Nutrition and Population Unit                                        Programme Division

The World Bank                                                                                   UNICEF, New York

Washington, D.C.