Government will fully integrate the National Information Platform for Nutrition (NiPN) into national systems and budgets, marking a formal shift from donor-supported operations to full state ownership, Permanent Secretary for Administration in the Office of the Vice President Lillian M. Kapusana has said.
Addressing the NiPN Zambia Legacy Event themed “From Evidence to Ownership: Securing NiPN Zambia’s Future,” this morning, the Permanent Secretary said the platform’s value is proven.
“The question is no longer whether NiPN is useful. The question is how we ensure NiPN is sustained, institutionalised, and fully owned by Zambia,” she said.
Mrs. Kapusana added that the transition is not automatic, but must be deliberate, coordinated, and sustained.
She noted that with stunting affecting 32 percent of children under five, evidence is critical to target interventions, prioritise districts, and guide investment.
The Permanent Secretary stressed that NiPN has moved government from merely collecting data to using it for policy decisions, accountability, and resource allocation.
Mrs. Kapusana reaffirmed government commitment to embed NiPN functions into state structures, retain local technical capacity, and align its outputs with planning and budgeting cycles.
She urged cooperating partners to reinforce national systems rather than parallel ones, and called on academia and civil society to maintain rigorous evidence and drive community-level accountability.
“The true value of evidence is in the decisions it informs, the resources it guides, and the lives it improves,” she said, officially endorsing NiPN’s continuation as a national public good.
Thursday, April 16, 2026.