nutrition investments implemented by nongovernmental organizations

BOX 2.2

Experience from the Bangladesh NPER on estimating donor funding for nutrition investments implemented by nongovernmental organizations

In Bangladesh, the nutrition public expenditure review (NPER) team hypothesized that a significant amount of investment for nutrition comes from outside of the government system through activities implemented by nongovernmental organizations and funded by donors. To estimate the size of such investments, the Bangladesh NPER used multiple databases: the Country Investment Plan Development Partners sheet, the Aid Information Management System under the Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Creditor Reporting System, all of which captured donor funding to nongovernmental organizations. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Creditor Reporting System databases were screened first by relevant thematic areas (nutrition; health; water, sanitation, and hygiene; social protection; livelihoods; education; and agriculture) and then by a keyword search to identify relevant projects and programs. The information in the Creditor Reporting System database was more limited and therefore was used only for triangulation of the information found in the Aid Information Management System and in the Country Investment Plan Development Partners sheet. From the list of projects and programs identified through the keyword search, some were dropped because they were deemed not relevant. For those projects and programs that were unclear in terms of their nutrition relevance, the NPER undertook a search of project and program websites, donor and implementing organization websites, and available project documents to determine inclusion or exclusion. After some final adjustments on the implementation time period of the projects and programs, the NPER estimated that nutrition investments implemented by nongovernmental organizations and funded by donors amounted to approximately US$736 million over three years, which was approximately 10 percent of the total government expenditures on nutrition during that time.

Source: Finance Division, Government of the Republic of Bangladesh and UNICEF 2019.

primarily on the output, outcome, or impact levels of the results framework (or log frame) of the national nutrition plan or strategy.11

The NPER team may need to access multiple data sources for performance indicators on the national and subnational levels. When data sources overlap, the NPER team should determine the most accurate source of information in cooperation with the main government entity. Potential data sources include the following:

• Nationally or regionally representative household surveys. Such surveys are the most likely sources of both impact data and other monitoring and evaluation indicators. The most frequently used surveys are the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), which include a range of population, health, nutrition, and socioeconomic indicators that are standardized across countries. The DHS and MICS are usually updated every 5 or 10 years. Additionally, some countries conduct nutrition-focused SMART surveys to provide data between the DHS and MICS, although these surveys are usually done only in countries suffering from fragility, conflict, and violence.12 Aside from the DHS and MICS, countries may conduct other nationally representative household