Strengthening Country Commitment to Human Development

Technical and economic issues get the lion's share of attention in designing nutrition and other poverty reduction programs. Yet such programs often fail or falter not just for technical or economic reasons, but because politicians, bureaucrats, or communities are not committed to implementing them well. The purpose this book is to draw attention to this gap in analysis and planning and to suggest practical ways, based on country experience, to build commitment. The author argues that assessing and strengthening country commitment should become a new field of professional practice, to be addressed as systematically as epidemiological and economic analysis are today. This new field requires expertise in strategic communication, political and policy analysis, and organizational behavior. Using a variety of country examples of programs that have done well and badly, the author suggests practical ways to assess and strengthen commitment, and proposes an agenda for learning by doing.