To ensure the success of a MSNP, it is paramount that a country has the capacity to work in a multisectoral manner around nutrition, measured by the nutrition knowledge, understanding, awareness, technical ability, management skills and adequacy of both human and financial resources. An understanding of a country’s existing nutrition capacity and current gaps, as well as challenges, limitations and opportunities, is crucial to successful implementation of an MSNP. To gain this understanding, it is important that a country undertake a capacity assessment, sometimes conducted as part of a contextual analysis.

The purpose of a capacity assessment for nutrition is to (1) understand the level of capacity available and the outstanding needs at national, subnational and local levels to enable scaling up of nutrition activities and (2) enable the development of strategic, relevant and specific recommendations to build the nutrition capacity of relevant service providers and institutions and create enabling environments at national, subnational and local levels for the successful implementation of the MSNP.

Adapted by Maximising the Quality of Scaling Up Nutrition Plus from the World Health Organization’s Landscape Analysis: Country Assessments tool, this capacity assessment tool is an example of a rapid one that could be used with national-level stakeholders or adapted further for use at the subnational level.