To develop Ethiopia's long-term capacity to manage and maintain a NIPN, it is important to identify existing capacities as well as any additional capacities needed to sustain the NIPN approach in the country. A Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA) was launched in 2018 to explore capacity gaps related to evidence-based policy making and the monitoring, evaluation, and research agenda of the National Nutrition Program (NNP). This process was initiated by a workshop, facilitated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which brought together 36 nutrition monitoring and research experts from various sectors and institutions in October 2018. Most of the workshop participants play a role in the National Nutrition Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Steering Committee, which also has an advisory role for NIPN

Ethiopia is implementing the second phase of its National Nutrition Programme Phase II (NNP-II) 2016- 2020. NNP-II is co-signed by 13 Ministries. It is governed by a multisectoral national coordination structure, consisting of the National Coordination Body at high political and decision-making level, and of the National Nutrition Technical Committee at technical and planning level. NIPN in Ethiopia is established under the umbrella of the national multisectoral nutrition program and its governance system. It aims to generate knowledge and lessons learned to guide the implementation
of NNP-II and support its contributing sectors

At country level, NIPN is rooted within existing institutions and national multisectoral coordination systems for nutrition. From the analysis of available and shared data, it generates evidence that is used by (sub-)national stakeholders for developing policy, designing programmes and allocating investments, through the NIPN operational cycle consisting of three elements that constantly revolve and feed into each other:

 NIPN approach is usually positioned to support a specific multisectoral nutrition policy or plan of action (MPPA). This focus is key to ensuring that the identified questions and subsequent analyses will respond to a specific need, that the
appropriate decision makers are being engaged early on in the process, and that the answers to the questions are actionable and have the potential to influence a particular decision. For countries without a multisectoral nutrition policy or plan of action, it is recommended that a strategic decision is made on which nutrition policy, strategy, plan of
action or possibly programme, the question formulation process will focus.

The first guidance note of this section, Setting up National Information Platform for Nutrition in a Country, describes a number of important steps and criteria to take into account during the preparation phase of a NIPN platform at country levelThe second note provides guidance and country experiences in Setting up a Multisectoral Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC provides a high-level and strategic link to the existing multisectoral nutrition coordination system and plays a key role in several steps of the NIPN operational cycle. (Watch the webinar on Setting up a Multisectoral Advisory Committee - 19/12/2018 - 45 min.) The third guidance note aims to identify the scope of capacities required for effective implementation of NIPN at country level, to provide guidance on how to assess existing capacity toimplement a NIPN in country and identify gaps, and to support the preparation of a country NIPN Capacity Development Plan.

National Information Platforms for Nutrition (NIPN) is an initiative of the European Commission supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The initiative aims to strengthen national capacity to manage and analyse information and data from all sectors which have an influence on nutrition and to disseminate and use information so as to better inform the strategic decisions countries are faced with to prevent undernutrition and its consequences. A Global Support Facility has been set up by the European Commission to coordinate the NIPN initiative, managed by the Agrinatura alliance and hosted by Agropolis International

An important part of the work of National Information Platforms for Nutrition (NIPN) is to produce evidence-based analysis to inform national policy makers and programme planners and to support their decisions. For the flow of information to be effective and efficient, there is a need (1) to develop and apply a communication plan for the NIPN and (2) adopt good practices for communicating with decision makers. The first guidance note in this section provides insight on how to design a communication plan for the NIPN, while the second guidance note highlights some practical considerations for communicating evidence to policy makers.

National Information Platforms for Nutrition (NIPN) is designed to support countries in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement to strengthen their capacity to bring together existing information on the nutritional status with information on factors that influence nutritional outcomes, including policies, programmes and investments, in order to track progress towards international global targets; to analyse data to understand better how malnutrition can be prevented, and to inform national policies and improve programmes