Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted in Part
Ensure long-term financial support for RUTF/MMS and pledge £50m to the Child Nutrition Fund.
Recommendation
The Government should work with governments and organisations to ensure continued long-term, predictable financial support for Ready-to use Therapeutic Foods and Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation packs, to address the needs of children and pregnant women in humanitarian situations. This should support local production, where possible, and partner with national governments in the promotion of their use. In addition, we recommend the Government take advantage of the match- funding mechanism of the Child Nutrition Fund as part of its Nutrition for Growth pledge, to mobilise domestic resources and philanthropic funding to address malnutrition. To take full advantage of this, we recommend the Government pledge at least £50 million to the Child Nutrition Fund, as part of its Nutrition for Growth pledge, to maximise these opportunities. (Recommendation, Paragraph 79)
Government Response Summary
The government partially agrees, accepting the importance of predictable, long-term funding for nutrition commodities, local production, and partnership. They highlight existing significant contributions to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and successful support for local RUTF production, but defer a decision on a specific £50 million pledge pending the Spending Review.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
Partially Agree. The decision on what the UK will spend its future ODA budget on is being worked through following the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.5% of GNI currently to 0.3% in 2027. We will be taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money and will set out our spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review. We are therefore not in a position to agree or disagree to the recommendation regarding any future pledge to the Child Nutrition Fund. The FCDO agrees on the importance of ensuring that funding for key nutrition commodities and services is predictable and long-term and that, to support sustainability, this should be done in partnership with national governments and support local production wherever possible. This is why the UK is proud to have co-founded the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) which we continue to support as a member of its steering committee. FCDO investment in the CNF so far totals over £15 million. The CNF has used FCDO’s and others’ contributions to leverage an additional $33 million in domestic contributions from several high-burden countries. Our wider investments through the Child Wasting and Innovation Programme (CWIP) have also supported the diversification of the local supplier base for key commodities which has led to an increase in proportion of RUTF coming from local producers in West and Central Africa from 26% in 2019 to 78% in 2024. Our CWIP investments have also supported eleven national governments to integrate RUTF into national supply chain systems and the generation of evidence around more cost-effective formulations of RUTF using locally available ingredients.