Its mission, goals and scope are set out clearly in its Terms of Reference, with concrete deliverables — a national monitoring and evaluation framework, a stakeholder mapping, and a capacity-building plan — and defined reporting lines to the National Nutrition Coordinating Committee. Its role is to provide guidance, advice and recommendations, working through persuasion and influence rather than instruction: the Terms of Reference give it no binding authority over members, which is the intended design of a technical working group rather than a gap in it. On financial resources it influences decisions rather than managing budgets itself. Strengthening the routes by which its advice is taken up is identified as the corresponding priority.

The Working Group is tasked with the following roles (building blocks):

• Agenda setting: advocacy and dialogue; decision making on goals and strategic priorities

• Policy formulation and decision making: providing technical advice; coordinating the policy development and planning process; developing policies for consideration by relevant authorities

• Implementation: coordinating policy and programme implementation; influencing decisions on financial resources, without managing the budget itself

• Monitoring and evaluation: monitoring, evaluation and reporting