Improving nutrition for women and young children has always been at the core of USAID’s nutrition and health programs. This chapter presents the history of cross-cutting approaches USAID has advanced to better deliver nutrition services and improve dietary practices and nutritional status. The chapter begins by describing USAID efforts to address maternal nutrition and three components of infant and young child nutrition: breastfeeding, complementary feeding and the nutritional care of sick or severely malnourished children. These represent four of the Essential Nutrition Actions mentioned in Chapter One. The chapter then describes two hallmarks of USAID’s nutrition activities: a community-based focus that includes growth monitoring and promotion, and USAID’s innovations in social and behavior change.