Eswatini

[The Swaziland National Nutrition Council (SNNC) is the convening body in the Ministry of Health that coordinates nutrition interventions and is mandated on policy making, resource mobilisation and on the provision of technical responses. The SNNC brings together several line ministries including Agriculture, Education, Commerce, Industry and Trade, Finance, Economic, Planning and Development. Other alliances with a nutrition focus in their mandate include the Food Security and Nutrition Forum, Child Health and Nutrition Forum, Micronutrient Alliance and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Forum. Implementation of specific interventions are often lead by Task Teams supporting the SNNC. The United Nations Network for Nutrition in Swaziland includes the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The Coordination Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) is the overarching body that brings together different civil society organisations. Private sector engagement is demonstrated by the coordinated work of the Swaziland Standards Authority (SWASA) and the Premier Swazi Milling Division.

A mapping of stakeholders including government ministries, donors, and partners, currently supporting nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive activities, has been undertaken to guide the implementation of interventions.

Last updated: October 2015

The National Nutrition Policy (NNP) has been drafted and is awaiting endorsement by Parliament. Advocacy by SNNC with support from development partners for its endorsement is ongoing. Plans are underway for the development of a Nutrition Strategic Plan which will operationalise the priorities outlined in the NNP. Nutrition has been mainstreamed in several of the national documents:

• Swaziland Development Index
• Swaziland National Development Strategy Two
• National Health Sector Strategic Plan Two
• Comprehensive Agriculture Sector Policy
• Neighbourhood Care Points Strategic Plan
• Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan
• National Agriculture investment Plan (NAIP)
• The Swaziland UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)

A new report has been compiled based on the gap analysis and mapping of nutrition interventions to assist the development of an Action Plan for the prevention of stunting.

The revised Public Health Act (to be endorsed) incorporates the Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and salt iodisation is nationally regulated and non-compliance is deemed a conviction.

Last updated: October 2015

Swaziland is yet to develop a Common Results Framework although nutrition targets are outlined in national sectoral policies. The UNDAF aligns different nutrition indicators with national targets and although nutrition programs align with national development plans, opportunities remain for harmonised actions across all sectors and the responsible monitoring and reporting of line ministries. Once the National Nutrition Policy is endorsed, a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework will be developed to facilitate accurate tracking and reporting.

Last updated: October 2015

The government of Swaziland has adopted a Three year Medium Term Expenditure Framework for Financial Tracking with assistance from partners. National funding for nutrition is largely allocated through the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture. Financial resources from the Government for nutrition have substantially increased and more nutritionists have been recruited across different line Ministries. The draft NNP is yet to be costed although resources are being allocated for prioritised nutrition interventions determined by the SNNC Annual Work Plan. Resources from development partners have not been consistently tracked with those of the SNNC. There is still a need to explicitly track donor funding for nutrition to ensure that all programmes contributing to nutrition are accounted for to improve planned scale up of nutrition programmes.

Last updated: October 2015