NAF Commitment Progress Assessment Methodology

The Global Nutrition Report (GNR) has been synthesising and analysing the best available data on nutrition since its inception in 2014. Originating from the first Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, the GNR continues to supply the evidence required to drive efforts toward eradicating malnutrition in all its forms. It has consistently tracked and monitored progress against commitments made since the London 2013 N4G Summit.

In 2021, the GNR introduced the Nutrition Action Framework (NAF), the world’s first independent and comprehensive platform for registering SMART nutrition commitments and monitoring nutrition action. Following the launch, 433 commitments were registered from 205 stakeholders.

The GNR sends notification to commitment-makers when it is time to report on the progress of their commitments. To support the reporting of progress on registered commitments, the GNR developed a standardised and comprehensive online form, referred to as the Commitment Progress Tracking Survey Form. Commitment-makers must report progress for each registered goal within their commitment(s).

The methodology presented here details the GNR’s approach to assessing those reports of progress on commitments registered in the NAF. This guide first provides an overview of the commitment progress assessment methodology. It then provides definitions of the assessment outcomes. The guide concludes with comprehensive examples of assessments across various outcomes and commitment goal types. In this document, commitment goals may be referred to simply as “goals.”

The GNR periodically invites the authorised representative from each nutrition commitment-making organisation to submit progress reports on their goals through an online form accessible through the NAF on the GNR website. The representative provides information on the indicators used to track progress, when and how often this progress is assessed, and any barriers or facilitators to achieving progress on their goals.

Once commitment-makers submit their progress reports, the GNR team exports the data and assesses progress by comparing the reported achievements against each goal’s baseline and target values established during the commitment-making process.

For goals with numerical outcomes, progress is evaluated against the expected linear progress between the start and end dates. Goals are then assigned one of the following statuses: Reached, On Course, Off Course, or Not Reached. A goal is classified as Reached if the reported amount is equal to, greater than, or within 1% (or 0.1% for percentages) of the target value. It is On Course if the progress is less than the target but within 1% (or 0.1% for percentages) of the expected progress for the period. It is Off Course if the progress is below the expected value and the 1% (or 0.1%) threshold. A goal is Not Reached if the target has not been met by the end date.

Goals with a non-numerical outcome (e.g. the establishment of a governmental body, or the publication of a food composition table) are classified based on the qualitative (and more subjective) nature of progress towards these goals. They may be Reached, In Progress, No Progress, or Not Reached. Such a goal is classified as Reached when the progress report clearly states (or can be directly inferred) that the target has been fully met. It is classified as In Progress if the reported progress clearly indicates that efforts have been made toward accomplishing the goal. It is classified as No Progress if no efforts have been made since the last reporting (or since baseline). It is classified as Not Reached if the end date has passed and the target is not reported as reached.

Goals may also receive a status of Withdrew, No Response, or Progress Not Able to Be Assessed. Goals are classified Withdrew if the commitment-maker has withdrawn the goal or indicated that they no longer wish to report progress towards their commitment. Goals are classified as No Response if the commitment-maker does not report progress towards their commitment during the progress reporting window. Goals are classified as Progress Not Able to Be Assessed if despite the commitment-maker’s active participation in the process, they provided no baseline data at registration nor during progress reporting, or they report that the indicator has not been measured since the commitment was registered or they do not provide the required information about the indicator’s updated or latest level or status.

During the assessment process, the GNR may contact commitment-makers to request additional information or clarifications on the submitted data, seeking response within 7 calendar days of the request being sent to the commitment-maker. Before publishing the progress assessment in the NAF Tracker, the GNR shares the result with the commitment-maker, providing an opportunity for an expeditious review (within 7 calendar days of the request being sent to the commitment-maker).

Results from the progress assessment are published in the NAF Tracker once progress reports are processed. Commitment-makers may reach out to [email protected] with any questions about this process.

Per the methodology above, the progress reporting assessment can lead to seven outcomes, as outlined in Table 1. Outcomes 1 and 2 are positive. Outcome 3 indicates an opportunity to improve if the end date has not passed. Outcome 4 indicates an opportunity to plan towards a different commitment goal in the future. Outcomes 5–7 indicate a commitment goal that cannot be assessed for various reasons.

Tables 2–5 provide examples of progress assessment for the following kind of goals:

• Table 2: Commitment goals expressed as absolute number(s), e.g. number of people, number of households, number of products.
• Table 3: Commitment goals expressed as a percentage, e.g. proportion of people, prevalence in the population, proportion of products.
• Table 4: Commitment goals for non-numerical binary outcomes, e.g. yes/no, presence/absence.
• Table 5: Financial commitment goals (currency, total amount, annual amount, cumulative amount), e.g. total USD spent.

Please note that the examples below do not include ‘Withdrew’, ‘No Response’, and ‘Progress Not Able to Be Assessed’ outcomes.