USAID Advancing Nutrition supported the Ministry of Health in Mozambique (MISAU) to develop a first-of-its-kind comprehensive supervision tool for nutrition services. The creation of the supervision tool is part of an ongoing effort, led by the Government of the Republic of Mozambique (GRM), to strengthen human resources (HR) capacity to plan, manage, and deliver nutrition services throughout the country.

Ideally, a nutritionist would help plan, manage, and oversee nutrition services at the central, provincial, and district levels within a health system, while nutrition technicians deliver nutrition services at lower-level facilities alongside maternal and child health nurses and other cadres. However, in Mozambique, the reality falls short of these ideal staffing levels. MISAU identified gaps in human resources capacity to plan, manage, and deliver nutrition services at every level, from national to community. Since August of 2019, USAID Advancing Nutrition has been working with MISAU to address these gaps by building HR capacity at the national level, specifically for planning and management of nutrition programming, including supervision and monitoring.

As part of this work, the project finalized a comprehensive supervision tool for nutrition services in late 2021, incorporating the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and Mozambique’s Nutrition Rehabilitation Program quality standards. This tool will enable health workers to assess the quality of nutrition service delivery at the facility level. USAID Advancing Nutrition will also work with MISAU to develop a training module based on technical competences to improve staff data collection and use of the new supervision tool. Working together, USAID Advancing Nutrition and Transform Nutrition (TN), led by Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo, will ensure that the new tool is incorporated into TN’s electronic reporting processes. Learn more about USAID Advancing Nutrition’s work in Mozambique.