This synthesis report is based on a desk review on ‘Strengthening the Humanitarian and Development Nexus [HDN] for Nutrition’ and four country case studies from Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen conducted between 2017 and 2019. These studies respond to the recognition that protracted crises undermine the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, as meeting immediate lifesaving needs overwhelm available resources and leave insufficient capacity to address underlying risks and vulnerabilities to malnutrition. The focus is to articulate what wider policy shifts in humanitarian-development action mean for programming and the enabling environment to prevent and reduce undernutrition in protracted crises. Specifically, this report looks at:

• Identifying, sharing and promoting the uptake of examples of good practices in humanitarian and development programming.
• Identifying ways in which the HDN for nutrition can be strengthened to accelerate progress in reducing undernutrition.

This work focuses mainly on preventing and reducing wasting and stunting, rather than the equally important considerations around obesity, overweight and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Also not included in this analysis are the potential political solutions to protracted crises which may never be achieved whilst the underlying causes, including fragility and conflict, remain unaddressed.