Frequently Asked Questions: Progress reporting on nutrition commitments

Before logging in, you may wish to review the offline (PDF) copy of the survey, the offline (PDF) copy of the instruction guide, the online (web) version of the instruction guide, and/or the step-by-step instruction video (YouTube allows subtitles to be auto-translated into dozens of languages), to prepare your answers before you log in. Note the asterisk (*) appearing by some questions, as not all questions are required.

Log into the Nutrition Accountability Framework (NAF) with the user ID (usually an email address) and password your organisation used when submitting its commitment goals into the NAF. Once you are logged in, the system may ask for any updated contact information or an alternate email address in case we have questions.

Then, it will show you a list of your goals and provide an opportunity (right-hand side of the screen) to submit progress on each goal. Only by submitting through the online form will your information be able to be included in the NAF.

Though we provide instructions in other languages, the online form should be completed in English, if possible. Completing the online form in English will allow you to maintain ownership over how the information is translated. If that is not possible, the GNR will use software to translate your response and cannot be responsible for translation accuracy.

Stakeholders are encouraged to submit progress reports as soon as possible. The initial timeline was by 23 May (which provided more than 4 weeks), and we have extended until 12 July. Reporting as early as possible allows more time for us to consider your responses and get back to you with any questions.

For those reporting after the deadline, we may not be able to include your reports in the aggregated data and summaries that we provide to The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and other stakeholders.

However, we may still be able to add your progress report to the NAF online if it is received before we post the individual reports online.

Many commitment-makers are realising that once they begin, the reporting is easier than they anticipated. Please complete as much as you can of your reports on the timeline indicated, and then email [email protected] if you find that it is not possible to meet the timeline. For those who have started and been in communication, we may be able to find flexibility in the reporting period.

The survey is filled once for each commitment goal. Once you log in, you will see a “report progress” button next to each of your goals.

We are asking commitment-makers to report based on the title of their goal instead of by number. The identification number on a goal may have changed between when it was originally submitted and when the final version of the goal was confirmed after the responses were received to questions raised during the verification process (late 2022 to early 2023). The titles of the goals remained the same unless clarification was needed. The numbers assigned to the goals were re-ordered during the verification process, likely due to when responses to different questions were received. The order of the goals does not change how we represent or evaluate the progress. Behind the scenes, each goal title was assigned a unique identifier, so that even when the order of the goals changed during processing, no information was lost. To avoid any miss-matches, we ask that you report on the goal with the title of the goal as the identifier, rather than the goal number.

We would be grateful if you would share on social media, email your colleagues our web links, or speak to your peers about the tools. These include the offline (PDF) copy of the survey, the offline (PDF) copy of the instruction guide, the online (web) version of the instruction guide, and the step-by-step instruction video (YouTube allows subtitles to be auto-translated into dozens of languages).

Though the GNR has emailed commitment-makers and those on our general email list, presented in an outreach group meeting, presented to a workshop for West Africa, and then held a webinar to share the tools, we need the community’s support to reach everyone. Please help us share these tools onwards!

As mentioned in the guide (instructions), you will only be presented with questions relevant to you, so these sections must not require responses based on your responses so far or your type of commitment goals:

• Section 4 is about financial commitments (which your responses so far likely indicate that it is not).
• Section 5 is about why progress has not been assessed since baseline (which your responses so far likely indicate that you have assessed progress.

Please do your best to answer in a way you are comfortable with.

Example 1: Our goal was to have a certain number of sites using a tool, but we do not know how many sites there are, and so we do not know our denominator.

Response: we would recommend defining “site” as best as possible and report against that definition, or to define the geographic locations and report the number of geographic areas which they know are/are not using the tool. Once a decision is made, use that consistently.

Example 2: We are reporting on an impact indicator, but there’s no new national or subnational data to rely on to see if things have progressed; what should we do.

Response: Though we often as a community rely on Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, Demographic Health Surveys, or similar, it is common that new data is available between when a commitment is made and when progress reporting is requested. You could indicate that no updated data is available, or you could make your best estimate based on similar information that is available, such as a project survey done for a province that is usually typical for the country’s indicators.

It depends on the intention and parameters of the commitment goal. In most cases, once a goal has truly reached its target, and that is reported into the NAF, it will be labelled as such and there will be no need to continue reporting on the commitment in sequential rounds (unless you have something to share).

However, if the goal is an annual goal, with the indicator meant to be measured each year, then the GNR would anticipate monitoring progress for each year until the end date provided in the commitment. Depending on the data provided, if you achieve that goal this time, we will likely assess it as being “on target” and then will assess it again next time.

Otherwise, if the goal’s period has not ended or if the one-time cumulative goal has not yet been reached, then a year from now (at the earliest) you will be asked to report again. However, please note that the request may come later, considering the new commitments process will be wrapping up this time next year, considering commitment-maker bandwidth to report, and considering available resources.

We hope that if you have fulfilled that commitment, you may wish to make more in the coming months.

Any goals registered in the NAF for the Paris N4G will be on the same reporting cycle with the existing goals.

You may have been contacted in 2021 to clarify your goals for the NAF, or in 2022 to do final reports against the old N4G goals, which often wrapped up by 2020 if not before.

This (April 2024) is the first time that commitment-makers are being asked to report against their more measurable goals registered in the NAF. In 2023, there was a transition to a new GNR host (PATH), and we are only now inviting progress reporting after a period of fundraising.

Though anyone can access any NAF-registered commitment online, due to data privacy laws, we cannot allow a consultant or other member of a team access to the commitment-maker’s account nor are we able to generally share email addresses of system users with those making enquiries. However, we are happy to receive suggestions for new contact information for an organisation and to follow up with proposed users to help identify the correct user. Users are also permitted to share their own login information as needed to make commitments or report progress, though the registered user is still responsible for the reporting.

Thank you for your interest! We recommend you review the tools from commitment-making for the last N4G Summit or from when the NAF was initiated and the information on the NAF regarding what makes a SMART commitment. You might then review the progress reporting tools, even if you are not now reporting progress, so that you can consider how to structure your upcoming commitment to make it easy to report on in the future. If you formulate your commitment now, you are welcome to submit it now, or you can wait until we revise the forms in collaboration with the N4G 2025 Host, France.

If you have previously submitted a commitment into the NAF, please report your progress into the NAF according to the tools provided. The NAF is the widely endorsed, clearer and more efficient iteration of the way GNR has been tracking commitments since 2014; the community is counting on all commitment-makers to report their progress into the NAF.

The reporting survey does provide an opportunity to share other accountability mechanisms against which you may be reporting. We would like to be able to show where there is convergence with other accountability processes.

Qualitative and quantitative information may both be posted. This is the first time commitments are being tracked in the NAF, so it will not look exactly like this, but from the former N4G tracker, here is an example of how information flows together in this type of reporting: https://globalnutritionreport.org/resources/nutrition-growth-commitment-tracking/valid-nutrition/. We suggest only providing the information the commitment-maker accepts to have posted. But we hope that you will consider sharing, because the information about barriers is meant to support mutual learning amongst commitment-makers, to offer understanding about the challenges we each face.

If you would rather it not be shared, we would recommend that you do not submit it to us. If you have already submitted and would rather not share, please be in touch to ask for a link to revise your submission.

This material may not be the main subject of the next GNR thematic report but is certainly to be uploaded to the NAF Commitment Tracker, in mid/late 2024. This is the first time commitments are being tracked in the NAF, so it will not look exactly like this, but from the former N4G tracker, here is an example of how information flows in this type of reporting: https://globalnutritionreport.org/resources/nutrition-growth-commitment-tracking/japan/. There is no 2023 nor a 2024 thematic report, as progress reporting and new commitments are the priority presently, given available resources.

Yes, we will post summary data on spend by donors as reported to us.

No, you will not receive a copy of your responses right after submission. But we will share the progress assessment data back to each commitment-maker (with a very short time window in which to confirm or request adjustment) prior to posting online.

It depends on the intention and parameters of the commitment. If a commitment-maker has truly achieved their goals and reported this achievement to the NAF, they do not need to continue reporting on the commitment.

If the goal they are reporting on was made to measure annual progress, we will continue to request progress updates for that goal until the end date is reached. We hope that if you have fulfilled that commitment, you may wish to make more in the coming months.

If you are simply having trouble logging in, but know which email address you used to register the account, please use the “forgot password” feature on the NAF and let us know ([email protected]) if it does not work (you might check your spam/junk/clutter folder first).

If you otherwise cannot log in or do not see the opportunity to report progress, you may not be the one designated person at your commitment-making entity with access to make commitments and submit reports. We recommend, if possible, setting up your institution’s user with an institutional email box (for example, if the GNR were signing up, we might use one of our institutional in-boxes, such as [email protected] or [email protected]). Historically, a major reason for non-response is turnover at a commitment-making organisation. If the relevant person at your organisation has changed, please have the new person email [email protected] with:

• First name
• Last name
• Title/position/role
• Email address (which could be an individual’s work email, or an organisational email box that is shared, for continuity)
• The person’s consent to make them the organisation’s user of the NAF

You would then (about a week after giving this confirmation) log into the NAF, entering as your username the email address that you provided, and using the “forgot password” feature.

We also recommend you and your team join our mailing list to receive general communications from the GNR.

Please do let us know at [email protected], but if you have time before we can respond, you might try to:

• Clear browser cache and cookies
• Update browser
• Try it in incognito/private mode
• Try a different device (e.g. smartphone vs. computer)
• Ty a different internet connection (home vs. office)
• Disable content-blocking extensions or plug-ins
• Disable VPN or proxy temporarily
• Check security software.

The GNR advises you to complete the online progress survey in one sitting once started for a specific goal, as the form may not save while in progress. But once you submit the progress report for that goal, if you have other goals to complete, they can be completed at another time. To assist with the preparation of the information required, you can download the form and/or the guide in PDF format here.

If you believe that you made an error in a submission, please contact us at [email protected] and share your name, organisation, and part of the title of the commitment, so that we can locate it and create a link for you to edit your response. If we do this, we ask that you please be sure not to share the link with anyone else, as they could inadvertently edit your submission. Please note that any changes to the form will automatically overwrite the original submission.

Please contact us at [email protected] to inform us of the name under which the commitment was made, the new company, and if you would like the name updated. We would keep the old name for reference, but we can make the change, for example: New Name (formerly Old Name, or formerly part of Old Name).

A given email address can only be used on one account, so you would need to use different email addresses for each entity whose commitments you manage.