The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement’s 2013 Progress Report pointed to the importance of in-country resource availability and mobilization, and highlighted the challenges countries face in tracking resources destined for nutrition programming (SUN 2013a). The success of national nutrition plans relies heavily on adequate funding, but because of its multi‑sectoral nature, planning and budgeting for nutrition work is not easy. In addition, despite recognition that creating and sustaining financial support for nutrition is critical, data on nutrition allocations remain limited. Nutrition advocates lack access to accurate and timely financial data, which impacts their ability to ensure adequate nutrition resources.

To address these important gaps, SUN developed a three-step approach to report on nutrition-relevant allocations in national budgets. In addition, based on SUN’s approach, the USAID-funded Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) project has developed an easy-to-use tool that breaks SUN’s three steps into seven detailed actions. Like SUN’s approach, SPRING’s tool is designed for nutrition stakeholders, to help them determine where the funding for nutrition is, understand existing resource gaps, and advocate for adequate budgets.