December 21, 2023

SEEMS-Nutrition project publishes a how-to guide for measuring costs and benefits of multisectoral nutrition strategies

Since 2019, researchers and partners of the Strengthening Economic Evaluation for Multisectoral Strategies for Nutrition (SEEMS-Nutrition) project have aimed to fill an information gap on costs, cost-effectiveness, and benefits of scaling up food system strategies in resource-constrained areas combating malnutrition. They developed a common approach to conduct costing studies that is integrated with program impact evaluations for multisector nutrition programs.

The common approach aims to strengthen the design and implementation of economic evaluations, with a focus on context-specific operational plans, or study protocols. It utilizes a comprehensive and fully customizable set of cost data collection tools for estimating financial and economic costs. The findings may allow program implementers and policymakers to make informed decisions about which nutrition interventions to prioritize to address healthy food systems, dietary intake, and improved nutritional status.

In November 2023, researchers from UW Global WACh and Results for Development (R4D) published a how-to guidance document can be applied by practitioners, field researchers, evaluators, and implementers. Click here to read the guidance document online.

For more information on the SEEMS-Nutrition project, including applications in Malawi, Bangladesh, and Nepal (forthcoming), please see the R4D Project Page and the SEEMS-Nutrition website.