Political Economy of Nutrition Policy in Senegal

Senegal has a reputation for having one

of the most effective and far-reaching nutritionservice

delivery systems in Africa. Chronic malnutrition has dropped

to less than 20 percent, oneof the lowest in Sub-Saharan

Africa. The reduction in stunting in particular has been

deemed a success in Senegal with the prevalence of child

stunting one of the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa in absolute

terms (Nene 2017). This success has at least in part been

attributed to broad-based government commitment to

nutrition, which has grown from US$0.3 million per year in 2002 to US$5.7 million per year in 2015, increasing from

approximately 0.02 percent to 0.12 percent of the national

budget. Yet concerns remain regarding whether the level of

government support for nutrition is sufficient and the

degree to which nutrition has been as effectively

“mainstreamed” across major line ministries, such as

agriculture, education, water and sanitation,

socialprotection and health, to support both

nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

Moreover, the nutrition field as a whole is characterized by

a myriad of actors (international donors, NGOs, and

technical support agencies) whose interventions are not well

coordinated, leading to duplications of effort and

inefficiencies in the provision of services. A series

ofexternal shocks, including food shortages stemming from

drought, the global financial crisis, and the instability of

prices for local foodstuffs since 2007, has revealed the

continued need for additional investment in nutrition and

better intersectoral coordination of activities to counter

cyclical attention to nutrition and a predominant focus on

food insufficiency rather than abroader focus on nutrition.

To this end, the government of Senegal, through the CLM, is

in the process of drafting the new PSMN to develop a reform

agenda for the sector. The PSMN will lay out a framework and

timeline for the development of a nutrition financing

strategy that will requirespecific analysis of the sector

spending and financial basis, linking it to the coverage and

quality of nutrition services and assessing the contribution

of different sectors and actors to the budget. As part of

the Analysis & Perspective: 15 Years of Experience in

the Development of Nutrition Policy in Senegal series, the

World Bank commissioned this report to elaborate the

specific political challenges to and opportunities for

further raising the profile ofnutrition on the government’s

agenda and secure a sustainable effort to reduce maternal

and child malnutrition. The nutrition agenda is often prone

to political economy challenges when it competes for

government support, as the impact of nutritional

intervention is neither immediate nor tangible. Though the

benefits of proper nutrition are life-long and are

foundational to proper growth and development, nutrition can

fall by the wayside in policymakers’ inevitably

shorter-termoutlook. With this in mind, the objective of

this report was to identify the policy and political levers

that can be used to foster government leadership and

galvanize intersectoral coordination that mainstreams

nutrition into government policies and programs and

effectively, efficiently, and sustainably delivers nutrition

interventions in Senegal.