Business Case development

Maximising the Quality of Scaling Up Nutrition (MQSUN+) supports the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) in the development of Business Cases to implement targeted programmes to improve nutrition outcomes. A Business Case sets out the rationale for choosing a project, programme or approach to funding (referred to collectively as an intervention). It aims to provide a consistent approach to the choices and design of DFID interventions. Such nutrition interventions may include infant and young child feeding, dietary diversity for women and children, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health systems strengthening and improved nutrition-related services for vulnerable populations. A Business Case includes five inter-dependent cases:

  • A strategic case outlines the context and need for the intervention, including the expected impact and outcomes;
  • An appraisal case outlines the options for addressing the needed intervention;
  • A commercial case outlines the best option that is commercially viable and good value for money;
  • A financial case outlines the affordability of the intervention according to the principles of financial management for public funds; and
  • A management case outlines the arrangements required for successful delivery of the intervention, including monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

MQSUN+, and its predecessor MQSUN, has supported Business Case development, for example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda. This included strong strategic cases; appraisal cases to reflect the potential for government ownership; logical framework indicators and risk assessment; and management cases, including accountability mechanisms.