Highlights

Child malnutrition and poverty are inextricably linked and should be tackled together, including and especially in contexts facing recurrent and multiple shocks. UNICEF’s Programming Guidance “Building synergies between child nutrition and social protection to address malnutrition and poverty”(2024) aims to provide guidance to assist managers and practitioners to support governments to intentionally develop synergies between child nutrition and social protection. Actions and approaches to building synergies between child nutrition and social protection are context specific. However, evidence and practice allow us to propose a set of principles and a programme framework based on five entry points and ten actions across evidence, policies, governance and the design and implementation of programmes . Practical examples are included throughout the document and additional considerations are outlined for humanitarian and fragile contexts.