this supplement was made possible by the generous support of the american people through the support of the office of health , infectious diseases , and nutrition , bureau for global health , u.s .
agency for international development ( usaid ) , under the terms of grant number ghag000600002 to the global alliance for improved nutrition ( gain ) and by the bill and melinda gates foundation .
the contents are the responsibility of gain and do not necessarily reflect the views of usaid , the united states government or the bill and melinda gates foundation .
 abstractthe few available studies of programme effectiveness in nutrition find that programmes are less effective than would be predicted from the efficacy trials that are the basis for evidencebased programming . 
 some of these are due to gaps in utilisation within households . to a greater extent 
 , these gaps can be attributed to problems in programme design and implementation .  
 implementation research in nutrition is an emerging area of study aimed at addressing this problem , by building an evidence base and a sound theory to design and implement programmes that will effectively deliver nutrition interventions . 
 the purpose of this supplement to maternal & child nutrition is to contribute to this growing area of implementation research . 
 the series of papers presented and the reflections for policymaking and programmes , combined with the reflections on the application of ethnography to this area of inquiry , illustrate the value of systematic research undertaken for the purpose of supporting the design of nutrition interventions that are appropriate for the specific populations in which they are undertaken . 
  2015 blackwell publishing ltd 
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