Knowledge for Nutrition (K4N) – Achieving food and nutrition security

Context

Sufficient and good quality food is a human right. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – especially SDG 2: Zero hunger – provide a global reference framework.

Under Germany’s G7 Presidency, the group of seven industrialised countries committed to ending hunger and malnutrition for 500 million people by 2030. The European Commission has also set itself the goal of reducing the number of children suffering from chronic undernourishment and to invest in the battle against malnutrition.

Objective

Nutrition-related programmes and policies of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission increasingly apply evidence-based approaches and strategies for which the required capacities are available.

Approach

With funding provided by BMZ and the European Union (EU) the programme operates in three fields of activity:

1. Evidence for Nutrition (E4N) predominantly works to increase the effectiveness of nutrition-related programmes and policies, with a focus on BMZ requirements.

2. Capacity for Nutrition Advisory (C4N-Advisory) provides advisory services to the European Commission, EU delegations in third countries and their partner institutions. Since 2023 implementation of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) 3.0 strategy has also received support with advisory services to the global SUN member states, EU delegations and representatives of EU member states.

3. National Information Platforms for Nutrition (C4N-NIPN) support information platforms which promote evidence-based decisions and policy dialogues on nutrition. This takes place in nine countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Laos, Niger, Zambia and Uganda. C4N-NIPN is responsible for coordinating the platforms globally and also for direct implementation in Ethiopia, Niger and Zambia.

Last update: May 2023