Policy Question Formulation

Policy Question Formulation

Policy Question Formulation

NiPN follows four steps to formulate policy relevant questions. A policy relevant question responds to a relevant demand and provides timely output for policy and program related decision-making.  The identified questions are then answered using existing data and information to support evidence-based decision making.policy

Figure 1: Steps in the identification of questions

Step 1: Identifying nutrition policy demand and initial question:  During this step, sectoral policy and program documents are reviewed to map out opportunities for influencing decisions by identifying priorities and time frame for decision. The document review is also supplemented with multisectoral key informant interviews. Questions identified will then be screened to make sure that questions can be answered by existing data and respond to relevant policy or program need.

Step 2: Formulating policy relevant questions: At this stage a consultative workshop with relevant multisectoral stakeholders is organized to prioritize questions and reach a consensus.

Step 3: Refining questions to be answered with available data and capacity: The NIPN team accesses data availability for the proposed questions and produces a final list of questions that can be answered at this time. To facilitate this step EPHI-NIPN has conducted data mapping to identify data sources for selected indicators.

Step 4: Finalizing and validating questions: The final list of questions are then presented to the Monitoring Evaluation and Research Steering committee (MER-SC) and the NIPN Advisory Committee. The NIPN Advisory Committee will validate the questions.