Frequently asked questions

(Combines existing text from FAQ page plus “About HANCI” page)

• How do we define hunger and nutrition?

• What is the impact of hunger and undernutrition?
• Why measure commitment to reduce hunger and undernutrition?
• How is HANCI Donor Index constructed?

• How does HANCI add value to existing advocacy campaigns and accountability mechanisms?
• How is HANCI constructed?

• Why are hunger reduction commitment (HRCI) and nutrition commitment (NCI calculated as separate sub-indices?
• How were the countries included in HANCI selected?
• Why are some countries ranked lower in HANCI 2013 despite having improved on their scores from 2012?

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How do we define hunger and nutrition?

When we talk about nutrition in HANCI we are talking specifically about undernutrition. Hunger and undernutrition are related but are not the same thing.

Hunger is the result of an empty stomach, and caused by people having insufficient income or social and economic entitlements to access food. Hunger makes people more susceptible to disease and thus leads to increased illness and death. Hunger strongly undermines development. To ‘cope’ with hunger families can be forced to sell vital assets, such as farming tools, often perpetuating their vulnerability to hunger. Hunger can mean that children (particularly girls) are taken out of school so they can work, it causes communities to migrate away from their homes and, at worst, leads to permanent destitution, prostitution, and child trafficking. Hunger also contributes to the onset of armed conflict (Foresight report, 2011, p.3).

Undernutrition results from both a critical lack of nutrients in people’s diets and a weakened immune system. In a vicious cycle, poor nutritional intake can make people more susceptible to infectious diseases whilst exposure to disease can lower people’s appetite and nutrient absorption.

Undernutrition in the first 1000 days of a child’s life (from conception until the age of two) has lifelong and largely irreversible effects because it impairs a child’s physical and mental development. Undernutrition increases the risk of chronic diseases and premature death in adulthood, and negatively affects people’s lifelong ability to learn, be economically productive, earn income and sustain their livelihoods, and thus perpetuates poverty. In short, undernutrition undermines all aspects of development.

Undernutrition is not only a consequence of hunger, but can also exist in the absence of hunger, and can be caused by non-food factors.

What is the impact of hunger and undernutrition

In developing countries, hunger and undernutrition have hugely detrimental social and economic effects and thwart efforts to reduce poverty. For example when faced with hunger, families can be forced to sell vital possessions, such as farming tools, in order to buy food. Selling assets often perpetuates vulnerability to hunger. Moreover, hunger can mean that children (particularly girls) are taken out of school so they can work, may cause communities to leave their homes and, at worst, leads to permanent destitution, prostitution, and child trafficking. Hunger also contributes to the onset of armed conflict.

Undernutrition in the first 1000 days of a child’s life (from conception until the age of two) has lifelong and largely irreversible effects because it impairs a child’s physical and mental development. Undernutrition increases the risk of chronic diseases and premature death in adulthood. It affects people’s lifelong ability to learn, be economically productive, earn income and sustain their livelihoods, and thus perpetuates poverty. In short, hunger and undernutrition undermine all aspects of development.

Why measure commitment to reduce hunger and undernutrition?

Hunger and undernutrition are amongst the most persistent global development challenges. At the global level, insufficient progress has been made towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 1. Global numbers of undernourished people have been static at 870 million for the past 5 years and the prevalence of stunting has remained high in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa at around 40%. One in eight people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Undernutrition contributes to 2.6 million deaths of children under five each year – one third of the global total.

There are many reasons for insufficient progress in reducing hunger and undernutrition. One of these is a “lack of political will” or political prioritisation. Strong and high level political commitment is essential to prioritise the fight against hunger and undernutrition. HANCI measures political commitment to reducing hunger and undernutrition, among both developing and developed countries. Our hope is that this will:

• Enable civil society to exert greater pressure on governments and international policy makers to take action
• Encourage governments to evaluate their own efforts and to prioritise appropriate action

If we can achieve these goals we believe we can make a real contribution to increasing and intensifying action to reduce hunger and undernutrition.

How does HANCI add value to existing advocacy campaigns and accountability mechanisms?

Existing hunger indices compare countries‘ performance largely based on hunger and undernutrition outcomes. For example the Global Hunger Index assesses countries based on three indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate.

The Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index, as the name suggests, is an attempt to assess political commitment, but also to relate this to critical contextual factors. For developing countries this includes issues such as:

• The extent of the hunger and undernutrition problem within a developing country.
• That country’s ability to act on the problem – both in terms of its wealth and administrative capacity.

Similarly the HANCI Donor Index assesses country performance in the light of their ability to contribute to reducing hunger and undernutrition in the developing world. The index hence puts the absolute size of aid volumes and performance on policy pledges within context: countries having bigger shoulders need to carry a heavier burden.

How is HANCI constructed?

HANCI for developing countries compares and ranks the performance of 45 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). In both sets they are grouped under three themes:

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

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.

[You can explore how the index is structured, what indicators are used and why they were selected using our explore the indicators tool]

How is HANCI Donor Index constructed?

For the HANCI donor commitment index 23 OECD member countries are compared based on 14 indicators again 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

The indicators broadly assesses whether countries:

• Commit to and disburse financial assistance, do so enduringly, and keeping in mind their capacity to give support and the estimated funds needed to tackle the problems.
• Establish domestic policy action that is coherent with anti hunger and undernutrition objectives of its foreign aid policy (especially in relation to climate change and agricultural sector protection).
• Engage in international agreements and treaties that help address hunger and undernutrition.

Why are hunger reduction commitment (HRCI) and nutrition commitment (NCI) calculated as separate sub-indices?

This is because, for instance, support for women’s care practices and measures to improve sanitation are critical for improving nutrition, though less clearly related to hunger. Conversely, emergency food aid, or agricultural development programmes from donors can help to reduce hunger by increasing food availability, but are often not aimed at achieving a balanced diet.

Also 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.

The full list of indicators and links to the main data sources can be found using our [explore the indicators tool]. Further information on the methodology for constructing the index can also be found in the [full HANCI 2013 report (PDF 3 MB)].

How were the countries included in HANCI selected?

The 45 countries included in the HANCI developing country index do not represent all the countries with substantial populations suffering from hunger and undernutrition. Several countries were excluded from the HANCI because data was unavailable for selected indicators.

The full selection criteria for HANCI developing countries were:

• Countries being part of the ‘high burden’ countries for undernutrition identified in the Lancet Series 2008 and/or
• Countries being focus countries of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement and/or
• Countries having been included in HRCI 2011 and/or
• Countries in which partners such as the ONE Campaign and Save the Children operate (in order to optimise use of HANCI in hunger and nutrition advocacy).

The 23 donor countries in the donor commitment index correspond to OECD-Development Assistance Committee members, for which aid data is made publicly available.

Why are some countries ranked lower in HANCI 2013 despite having improved on their scores from 2012?

A country’s performance on the HANCI over time is affected by its own as well as the other countries baseline (2012) and 2013 performance on each indicator. Because a country’s rankings depend not just on its own score but also on those of other countries, some apparent anomalies occur. For instance we find countries that are improving in terms of scores, but are getting lower rankings:several countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Lesotho, Madagascar and Myanmar gained the same or slightly higher HANCI scores than in 2012, yet obtained lower rankings, as they were outpaced by other countries. Conversely, some countries such as Burkina Faso, China, Ghana, and our top and bottom ranked countries Guatemala and Guinea Bissau, and Uganda obtained the same or lower HANCI scores yet found themselves ranked similarly or slightly higher than in the previous year, as others showed faster deterioration of commitment. In order to understand absolute improvements or worsening of performance, readers should refer to individual indicators. These can be found by exploring the [countries section].