Understanding the indicators

Developing Country Index

HANCI compares and ranks the performance of 45 developing countries based on 22 indicators of political commitment. The indicators are split between indicators of commitment to hunger reduction (10 indicators) and indicators relating to commitment to addressing undernutrition (12 indicators). By separately analysing nutrition commitment and hunger reduction commitment we identify how governments prioritise action on hunger and/or undernutrition. We also show how diverse political commitment levels relate to levels of hunger and undernutrition. In both sets they are grouped under three themes:

  • Laws (Legal frameworks - for example the level of constitutional protection of the right to food)
  • Policies (government programmes and policies - for example the extent to which nutrition features in national development policies/strategies)
  • Spending (public expenditures - for example the percentage of government budgets spent on agriculture)

This diagram shows the structure of the Index. Click on the themes to view the indicators.

Hunger Reduction Commitment Indicators - Public Spending

    Hunger Reduction Commitment Indicators - Policies

    • 1Security of access to land
      2013
      Assesses the existence of an institutional, legal and market framework for secure land tenure and the procedure for land acquisition and accessibility to all.
      The Ratings Scale goes from 6 (high) through 1 (low), as follows:
      6 - Good for an 3 years
      5 - Good
      4 - Moderately Satisfactory
      3 - Moderately Unsatisfactory
      2 - Unsatisfactory
      1 - Unsatisfactory for 3 years
      For coding details see p.6 of: http://www.ifad.org/gbdocs/eb/80/e/EB-2003-80-R-3.pdf
      Source:
      The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
      http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/IFD.xlsx
    • 2Civil registration of live births
      2001-2014
      Percentage of children under five years of age who were registered at the moment of the survey.
      Source:
      UNICEF: DHS/MICS
      http://www.childinfo.org/birth_registration_tables.php
    • 3Access to agri. extension services
      2013
      This indicator assesses to what extent the agricultural research and extension system is accessible to poor farmers, including women farmers, and is responsive to the needs and priorities of the poor farmers. Coding is done in the same manner as for the 'security of access to land' indicator. For coding details see p.8 of: http://www.ifad.org/gbdocs/eb/80/e/EB-2003-80-R-3.pdf
      Source:
      The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
      http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/IFD.xlsx
    • 4Status of safety nets
      2008-2014
      10 = Social safety nets are comprehensive.
      7 = Social safety nets are well developed, but do not cover all risks for all strata of the population.
      4 = Social safety nets are rudimentary and cover only few risks for a limited number of benefi ciaries.
      1 = Social safety nets do not exist.
      Source:
      Transformation Index of the Bertelsmann Stiftung (BTI)
      http://www.bti-project.org/index/

      Hunger Reduction Commitment Indicators - Laws

      • 1Constitutional right to food
        2006-2013
        Different levels in whcih the right to food is enshrined in constitutional law are identifeid in Vidar (2006): 5=High, 4=Medium High, 3=Medium, 2=Medium Low, 1=Low (see Annex III in the source document for more details about these categories)
        Source:
        FAO information paper
        http://www.fao.org/docrep/MEETING/007/J0574E.HTM
      • 2Women’s Economic rights
        2011
        The extent to which women have equal economic rights in law and in practice.

        (0) There are no economic rights for women under law and systematic discrimination based on sex may be built into the law. The government tolerates a high level of discrimination against women.

        (1) There are some economic rights for women under law. However, in practice, the government DOES NOT enforce the laws effectively or enforcement of laws is weak. The government tolerates a moderate level of discrimination against women.

        (2) There are some economic rights for women under law. In practice, the government DOES enforce these laws effectively. However, the government still tolerates a low level of discrimination against women.

        (3) All or nearly all of women's economic rights are guaranteed by law. In practice, the government fully and vigorously enforces these laws. The government tolerates none or almost no discrimination against women.
        Source:
        The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Data Project
        http://humanrightsdata.org/
      • 3Women’s access to agricultural land
        2014
        Score based on women’s legal rights and de facto rights to own and/or access agricultural land. Value based on the following scale:
        1: equal
        0.5: Women have equal legal rights but there are discriminatory practices against women’s access to and ownership of land in practice.
        0: Women have no/few legal rights to access or own land or access is severely restricted by discriminatory practices. (note: in HANCI calculation, this scoring is reversed for consistency)
        Source:
        OECD's Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB)
        http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=GIDDB2012#

        Nutrition Commitment Indicators - Public Spending

        • 1Nutrition budget
          2012-2014
          0 = no budgets or where no confirming information could be found; 0.5 = sectoral budgets for nutrition; 1 = separate budget line for nutrition
          Source:
          SUN country summary reports (not in public domain); SUN country fiche; IDS Nutrition Governance; Save the Children Nutrition Barometer; WHO Landscape Analysis.
          http://www.ids.ac.uk/nutritiongovernance

          Nutrition Commitment Indicators - Policies

          • 1Vitamin A coverage
            2011-2013
            The percentage of children aged 6-59 months who received 2 high doses of vitamin A supplements within the last year.
            Source:
            MICS4 Indicators, UNICEF field offices and WHO, Countdown 2015 reports, author calculations based on country DHS data
            http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index_countrystats.html
          • 2Governments promote complementary feeding
            2010-2014
            Whether governments promote complementary feeding practices of children aged 6–9 months and continued breastfeeding of children at ages 12–15 and 20–23 months. 0 = no; 1= yes
            Source:
            Sun Reports/world breast feeding trends initiative
            http://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/docs/INDICATOR-1.pdf
          • 3Access to drinking water
            2012
            The percentage of population with access to an improved drinking-water source.
            Source:
            WHO Nutrition Landscape Information System
            http://apps.who.int/nutrition/landscape/report.aspx
          • 4Access to sanitation
            2011-2012
            The percentage of population with access to improved sanitation facilities.
            Source:
            World Bank Database
            http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.ACSN
          • 5Extent of nutrition features in national dev. policies/strategies
            2013-2014
            The total count of key search terms in a selected policy document divided by the number of pages in the document. Search terms: nutritio*.*; undernutrition/under-nutrition; malnutrition/mal-nutrition nutrient; diet*.*; stunt*.*; wasting/wasted; short-for-age; short for age; height-for-age; height for age; weight-for-age; weight for age; weight for height; weight-for-height; Underweight; under-weight; Low birth weight; Thinness; Micro-nutrient; micronutrient; 1000 days; one thousand days; Breastfeed*.*; Behavior change; behaviour change; Iron deficiency anaemi/anemi; Zinc; Deworm; de-worm; Vitamin A; Supplementary feed; complementary feed.
            Source:
            web-based searches.
            See appendix AH in HANCI 2012 report for a list of documents consulted for each country.
          • 10National nutrition survey
            2012-2014
            Has there been a Demographic and Health Survey / Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey /comparable national nutrition survey in the past three years? 1: Yes if the survey was dated 2009 or thereafter, or currently underway. 0: No new survey undertaken after 2009
            Source:
            UNICEF
            http://www.childinfo.org/mics4_surveys.html

            Nutrition Commitment Indicators - Laws

            • 1Enshrine ICBMS in domestic law
              2014
              The extent to which the International Code for Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes is enshrined in law. 9 = ICBMS is fully in law.
              8 = Many provisions of ICBMS are in law.
              7 = Few provisions are in law.
              6 = Voluntary adoption of all, or nearly all provisions of the ICBMS.
              5 = Some provisions voluntary.
              4 = Measure drafted awaiting final approval.
              3 = Being studied.
              2 = Action to end free breastmilk substitutes.
              1 = No action.
              Source:
              Unicef (unpublished) data accessed via Global Nutrition Report (2014)
              http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/files/State_of_the_Code_by_Country_April2011.pdf
                    

              We include indicators that allow the index to assess ‘curative’ action (efforts that seek to address immediate needs) as well as ‘preventive’ action (efforts to avert hunger and undernutrition, to reduce food insecurity and to prevent people from becoming malnourished). Consequently, some of our proxy indicators measure interventions that are not primarily instituted to combat hunger or undernutrition (e.g. civil registration of births or investments in public health). Nevertheless, governments recognise that these efforts do contribute to hunger reduction and improved nutrition statuses in the short, medium and long term, and are therefore included in the index.

              Donor Country Index

              The donor country indicators looks at 23 OECD member countries and are compared based on 14 indicators which are split between indicators of commitment to hunger reduction (9 indicators) and indicators relating to commitment to addressing undernutrition (5 indicators). These are grouped under 2 themes:

              • Policies, programmes and legal
              • Public expenditures

              You can read more about these on the Donor Index pages