Frequently asked questions: Registering commitments in NAF platform

No. Though the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) has reaffirmed the NAF as the official accountability mechanism for N4G, registering for a NAF account does not register one for the summit. Signing up for the NAF allows users to register N4G commitments, but the Global Nutrition Report does not organise the N4G Summit and is not involved in the logistics around summit participation. Signing up for an account on the NAF and/or registering a commitment in the NAF are processes managed by the Global Nutrition Report. Being invited to and accepting an invitation to participate in the N4G is managed by MEAE.

Please only register as financial those commitments which have their primary indicator an allocation of financial resources, a disbursement of financial resources, commit to increase to a certain percent a budget for nutrition, or something similar. All other commitments (and we anticipate most commitments) are to instead be what MEAE is referring to as political, i.e.:

• Enabling (commitments to establish a positive environment for nutrition, e.g. through leadership and governance, research, monitoring or data)
• Policy/strategy/programmatic/interventional (commitments to implement such actions, e.g. to design a multisectoral nutrition plan, to treat cases of acute malnutrition, to increase the proportion of healthy products in company's portfolio)
• Impact (commitments to directly improve nutrition outcomes in a population, e.g. to reduce stunting in children under 5 years of age, or to reduce anaemia in women of reproductive age)

“Political” commitments to MEAE are any commitments that are not financial. All types of commitment makers (including not only governments but also donors, private sector actors, civil society actors, multilateral organisations like UN agencies, Development finance institutions and academic or non-academic research institutions) are welcome to make what MEAE is calling “political” commitments. Please see MEAE’s N4G Commitment Guide (English and French) for more information.

For the N4G Paris Summit, commitments are best registered by 7 March 2025 (previously 28 February had been the planned deadline). Submitting into the NAF by then would allow summit organisers to perform a basic eligibility screening, so that the commitment can be considered for inclusion in the N4G Compact Annex. It will also allow the GNR to conduct a rudimentary check of key data to be used in the N4G Compact Annex.

Officially, any commitment registered in the NAF by 31 March 2025 may be considered for inclusion in the N4G Paris Compact Annex, if the commitment is designated for N4G Paris and meets the criteria set out in the N4G Paris Commitment Guide (English and French).

Commitments registered after the N4G Paris Summit and before June 30, 2025 can be considered N4G Paris commitments if they meet the criteria set out in the N4G Paris Commitment Guide (English and French).

All commitments should be registered and submitted through the NAF Commitment Registration Form, which is an online form available through the NAF portal. You may download from the bottom of the landing page a PDF reference copy of the Commitment Registration Form, to see the information required in advance and begin preparing your responses to the survey questions. The reference copy form is for your own use only. The GNR cannot accept submissions on the PDF copy because the data needs to be entered into the NAF database. The registration of your commitment(s) is valid only if you sign into the NAF and complete and submit the online registration form.

Announcing commitments is a wonderful mobilisation tool, to encourage peers and advocacy targets to also commit to nutrition. We encourage you to announce your commitment. Please also be aware that the NAF was established as an accountability mechanism because prior to the NAF, tracking whether nutrition commitments had been fulfilled was a cumbersome and subjective process. The NAF is the world’s independent and comprehensive platform for registering SMART nutrition commitments and monitoring nutrition action, according to common principles, methods and approach. It allows commitments to be consistently and publicly shared and tracked. It has been endorsed by the government of Japan, the SUN Movement, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, USAID and many others. First Japan, then France, have affirmed the NAF as the global nutrition accountability mechanism for commitments from the N4G Summits. Commitments announced must also be registered in the NAF if you would like them to appear in the Compact Annex, which is the main output from the N4G Summit. The GNR and the summit hosts are unable to collect and record commitments based on public announcements.

Guidance to help commitment makers register SMART commitments includes:

• A video to demonstrate how to sign up to the NAF Platform, how to sign in, and how to register a commitment. YouTube allows for auto-translation into dozens of languages, via subtitles, activated through these steps: 1. Open the video, 2. Select Settings, 3.  Click on Subtitles/CC, 4. Choose to Auto-translate, 5. Select preferred subtitle language
• Downloadable PDF versions of the Sign up and Commitment Registration form (available in English, French and Spanish at the bottom of the Commitment Registration landing page) to assist commitment makers in gathering the information they will need to complete the online forms.

The GNR is not able to directly assist commitment makers with formulating their commitments, but we have provided the tools above and the long-standing guidance on our website—e.g. the explanation and examples at the bottom of the SMARTness of Nutrition Commitments page. We are also happy to answer questions about registering commitments in the platform; you can reach us at naf@globalnutritionreport.org. We can also refer you to colleagues who may be able to help you think through your commitment formulation, if you give permission to make the connection.

The working/primary language of the GNR is English, as such, we request all commitment makers to register their commitment in English. The management of commitments—i.e. verification and progress reporting—will also be done in English.

We recognise however that not all commitment makers use English as their primary working language and given GNR’s values of accessibility and inclusivity, the GNR has developed tools to support non-English speakers:

• Sign up and Commitment Registration form PDFs are available in French and Spanish.
• The NAF’s online Commitment Registration form can be viewed in French and Spanish.
• The instructional video for the commitment registration process (YouTube allows auto-translation via subtitles).

We also can share that translation tools such as DeepL and Google may be good options which allow you to maintain control over how your information is translated.

The MEAE has also developed a commitment guide for N4G Paris in English and French.

Through commitment verification, the GNR assesses the coherence and completeness of each commitment. For example, checking if the key indicator is in line with the commitment description, ensuring the dates align between baseline and end date, or asking for missing information. We also assess the SMARTness of the commitment. Commitment makers may be contacted directly by the GNR team to clarify any missing or unclear information. Once commitment makers have provided the clarifications, the GNR team will then amend the commitment accordingly and inform the commitment maker that their commitment has been edited and is confirmed to be verified.

The verification process will be conducted in English. For more on support for speakers of other languages, please see the previous question.

Considering the number of commitments the GNR receives, the team is not able to conduct pre-submission reviews. But once you submit, we are happy to engage with you in the verification process, to clarify things before your commitment is posted online.

All new commitments will be assessed by the GNR team through the verification process, during which changes can be made. Once verified, a commitment cannot be changed. This is to maintain the integrity of the NAF as an accountability mechanism. For more information, see commitment verification.

The end date for a commitment should be decided by the commitment-making organisation and does not need to be before the next N4G. It is not required that commitment makers conclude their commitment from a previous summit before registering a new commitment.

Commitments made on behalf of multiple organisations should be registered only once by the primary organisation. The primary organisation is responsible for registering the commitment and reporting on its progress regularly to the GNR. The GNR no longer includes a SMARTness ingredient (under “Specific) for “additional stakeholders” as that parameter seemed to cause confusion in terms of accountability.

Commitments that were previously registered but not achieved for various reasons can be registered again as new commitments. Moreover, it is encouraged that strengthened commitments are also registered.

Each organisation should complete the user Sign Up form once so that there is one account per organisation. If an organisation has different country offices or departments that wish to register separate commitments, then separate user sign-up forms are permitted. Each commitment maker can register as many commitments as they wish, but each commitment must be registered separately (i.e. complete a Commitment Registration Form for each of your commitments). Once you complete the registration of your first commitment, you will have the option to register additional ones. The commitment registration form does not save work in progress, so we strongly encourage you to register your first commitment and then take a break before starting the next. We also would remind you that you will be expected to report progress on each commitment, so we recommend fewer more meaningful and clear commitments rather than a long slate of commitments that may be difficult to report on and track.

The NAF welcomes all new nutrition commitments, and through the commitment registration form, commitment makers are able to indicate whether they are expected to report their commitment to an additional—other than the GNR—tracking/accountability mechanism. Similarly, commitment makers will be able to indicate whether their nutrition commitment is linked to a particular summit or event. nutrition commitments reported elsewhere will not be automatically transferred to the NAF. We therefore encourage stakeholders to report their commitments through the NAF to facilitate the formulation of SMART commitments and ensure strong accountability for nutrition actions.

The N4G Tracker was born out of the first N4G Summit and includes commitments made in the 2013 and 2017 N4G Summits. The N4G Tracker came to an end in 2022 after the NAF platform was created to register and track all new commitments made during the 2021 Year of Action and beyond. The NAF Platform is the new and strengthened accountability mechanism which has been created for registering SMART nutrition commitments and monitoring nutrition action.

The N4G Paris Commitment Guide (English and French) includes detail throughout regarding France’s intentions for who should be making commitments to the Summit. These include the first three points in Q1.3c, to do no harm; to align with national priorities, goals and targets; and to align with internationally agreed goals, targets, strategies, and standards. Further, section 1 of the chapter on Principles of Engagement, lists who can make commitments, and we ask that you please refer to the Guide. In summary, besides the three items listed above, to commit for N4G Paris, the entity making the commitment must agree that it:

• respects human rights, including the rights to food, education, health, decent work that meets international labour conventions, protection from sexual exploitation or abuse, the right to clean drinking water, a healthy and protected environment, fundamental principles and rights at work and legitimate land rights;
• is not complicit in human rights violations, including forced labour or the use of child labour;
• is not involved in the production and processing of tobacco, arms, alcohol or fossil fuels, nor derives income from pornography or gambling;
• does not derive revenue from the production, sale and/or transfer of anti-personnel landmines or cluster munitions;
• is not subject to United Nations sanctions;
• does not appear on the United Nations list of ineligible suppliers for ethical reasons;
• does not have any potential conflict of interest incompatible with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda;
• does not produce, sell and advertise breastmilk substitutes, or if it does, the entity fully complies with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (the Code) and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions, including those related to promotional practices on digital media;
• is not a food or beverage industry company or if it is, the entity has less than 40% of sale/product portfolio derived from products high in unhealthy fats, sugars and/ or salt, as defined by any WHO nutrient profile model or other internationally recognized nutrient profile model (NPM);
• does not market food or beverages or if it does, it has policies in place to not market to children aged 18 years and under.

The NAF welcomes all new nutrition commitments, and through the commitment registration form, commitment makers will be able to indicate whether their nutrition commitment is linked to a particular summit or event. Commitments that are linked to the N4G Summit must align with the N4G Principles of Engagement (within the English and French N4G Paris Commitment Guide). Organisations considering making a nutrition commitment outside of the N4G Summit do not have to comply with the N4G Principles of Engagement and should still register their commitments through the NAF.ummit do not have to comply with the N4G Principles of Engagement and should still register their commitments through the NAF.

The GNR is unable to provide examples of fully completed registration forms. However, the NAF Tracker contains all registered commitments and is a great resource for commitment makers who are looking for examples. We also offer the examples at the bottom of https://globalnutritionreport.org/resources/naf/about/smart-commitments/. Furthermore the N4G’s Thematic Working Groups have prepared recommendations regarding the types of commitments being sought for N4G, and these include examples. My commitment aims to address all forms of malnutrition, so for Q1.1a, may I select all global nutrition and noncommunicable disease targets listed? My commitment aims to address all forms of malnutrition, so for Q1.1a, may I select all global nutrition and noncommunicable disease targets listed?

Though the survey will allow you to select as many as you like, the GNR had considered only allowing the selection of one, given the global community’s interest in being able to measure contribution to particular global targets. However, recognising that some of the targets may be strongly linked to each other (e.g. raised blood pressure and intake of salt), we have allowed selecting more than one. We would recommend you please select the minimum number of targets to which you will directly or ultimately contribute.

The N4G hosts are not favouring financial versus other types of commitments to feature at the summit, and though they value the summit as a pledging moment, they value all types of commitments to address malnutrition. Most importantly, the information should be accurate, so that they can provide a clear accounting of commitments registered for the summit. Please only register as financial those commitments which have their primary indicator an allocation of financial resources, a disbursement of financial resources, commit to increase to a certain percent a budget for nutrition, or something similar. All other commitments (and we anticipate most commitments) are to instead be what MEAE is referring to as political, i.e.:

• Enabling (commitments to establish a positive environment for nutrition, e.g. through leadership and governance, research, monitoring or data)
• Policy/strategy/programmatic/interventional (commitments to implement such actions, e.g. to design a multisectoral nutrition plan, to treat cases of acute malnutrition, to increase the proportion of healthy products in company's portfolio)
• Impact (commitments to directly improve nutrition outcomes in a population, e.g. to reduce stunting in children under 5 years of age, or to reduce anaemia in women of reproductive age)

“Political” commitments to MEAE are any commitments that are not financial. All types of commitment makers (including not only governments but also donors, private sector actors, civil society actors, multilateral organisations like UN agencies, Development finance institutions and academic or non-academic research institutions) are welcome to make what MEAE is calling “political” commitments. Please see MEAE’s N4G Commitment Guide (English and French) for more information.

The description of the commitment should be clear in terms of purpose, show how the commitment is nutrition related, describe just one commitment rather than many, not show a lack of alignment with the one key indicator and what is mentioned in other fields, spell out any abbreviations, and clarify any terminology used. It would also be helpful to include the responsible organisation (The [Country] Ministry of Health Department of Nutrition), the measurable commitment (reduce population-level intake of added sugar from 16% to less than 6% in 6 years); the action plan (implementing mandatory category-specific added sugar reformulation targets for packaged foods and beverages); the indicator used to measure progress (proportion of energy from added sugar assessed using the National Nutrition Survey conducted every two years), along with the baseline level and unit (added sugar intake of 16% of energy) and the level to be achieved (added sugar intake of 10% of energy) within a certain commitment period (2025–2031). Please also feel free to include any additional details that are relevant to your commitment and that you would like to highlight (e.g.  funding mechanism). For examples of fully formulated commitments please see The SMARTness of nutrition commitments.

No, this would not be considered as double counting. You are encouraged to specify the funders that will support the funding of the total costs associated with your commitment. This will help the Global Nutrition Report identify dependencies between commitments.

For private sector food businesses, whose products refer to all consumers (not specific population groups), the appropriate answer to Q2.5a is “The commitment does not prioritise/target any population group at all”. If the products refer to consumers of a specific population group (e.g., children, pregnant women), please select “The commitment prioritises/targets specific population groups/dimensions of equity”.

The NAF was created to strengthen accountability for nutrition commitments, therefore the registration process is key and should remain the same for all stakeholders. We understand that not all relevant information may be available at the time you register your commitment. If possible, we recommend that you wait until you have the information. If not possible, please indicate the information for which the relevant details will be developed at a later stage as “to be developed” or “(TBD)”. In particular, we suggest that:

• For total cost (Q10) if you don't know or have not estimated it yet, you should select the option "No, the amount has not been estimated – unknown"
• In fields that allow text, you can enter TBD/TBC, in fields that only allow numerical characters you can enter 00000 (five zeroes)
• The start and end date of the commitment is compulsory to be completed. For any other date/year field, please see point below.
• If needed, any note/clarification you consider relevant can be included at the end of the form under ‘Additional information and feedback’

Overall, once the registration is done and after the N4G Paris summit, the GNR team will review and may be in touch with commitment makers to refine commitments.