Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage investments in nutrition under the World Bank's Human Capital Project in order to (1) reduce rates of stunting, and (2) promote economic growth worldwide.

We use our position on the World Bank Board, as the leading contributor to the International Development Association (IDA), to push for increased, high-quality World Bank investments in nutrition. For example, we worked with the World Bank as they designed the Human Capital Project to ensure the inclusion of nutrition as one of the Human Capital Index’s key indicators. We expect the Index and Project to have a positive impact on nutrition indicators and consequent impact on economic development.

We have been advocating for the next IDA replenishment (IDA19) to increase support to human capital, including nutrition, across its key priorities, such as gender and fragility, conflict and violence. Under the current replenishment (IDA18), IDA plans to reach 180 to 200 million people with basic nutrition services, as a result of its growing portfolio of IDA investments in nutrition.

We also work closely with the Bank as a partner in encouraging others to invest. To this end, we co-hosted a high-level event in 2017 alongside the World Bank Group to encourage the international community to make new commitments to nutrition. We are also working with the Bank on substantive preparations for the Tokyo Global Nutrition Summit 2020 which will be a critical moment to secure new global commitments to tackling malnutrition through to 2030.