MAFAP supports budget planning for food and nutrition investments in Bangladesh
The launch marks an important milestone in the country’s effort to improve food and nutrition security (FSN). The CIP2 is an important policy tool critical for the Government of Bangladesh to programme and mobilise resources for concrete actions and projects in the field that impact FNS. It was jointly prepared by the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food and the USAID-EU-FAO Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) programme.
MAFAP provided technical assistance in the financing section of the CIP2 by classifying nutrition-sensitive investments using the MAFAP FSN Public Expenditure methodology. Adding this layer of classification to the components and programmes of the investment plan allows policy-makers to have a more detailed understanding of the composition of the public investments, which is an important factor for improving the effectiveness of public spending.
The CIP2 is subdivided into 13 investment programmes and the total cost of the public investments is estimated at USD 9.25 billion, of which USD 3.6 billion still need funding. These investments aim to improve food and nutrition security in an integrated way. In the case of the CIP2, applying the MAFAP methodology showed that investments in infrastructure (roads, irrigation, water and flood management, and fertilizer factories) accounted for over half of the total investment whereas investments in food safety and farm losses did not reach five percent of total investments, despite their importance to improved food security and nutrition. Such insights can serve as a platform to start national discussions that promote a higher degree of effectiveness of public investments.
The full CIP2 document can be accessed from the FPMU website:
http://fpmu.gov.bd/agridrupal/sites/default/files/file/CIP2FinalPDFPrintedCopy.pdf