What is Scaling Up Nutrition?
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) is a multi-stakeholder movement to reduce hunger and undernutrition and contribute to the realization of all the Millennium Development Goals, with a specific focus on the critical window of opportunity between pregnancy and age two. SUN is not a new institution, initiative or financial mechanism. Instead the movement brings organizations together across sectors to support national plans to scale up nutrition by helping to ensure that financial and technical resources are accessible, coordinated, predictable and ready to go to scale. The SUN movement focuses on promoting the implementation of evidenced-based nutrition interventions, scaling up successful practices, as well as integrating nutrition goals into broader efforts in critical sectors such as public health, social protection, and food and agriculture.
Successful, sustainable efforts to improve nutrition must be anchored at the national level, with national-level officials owning and leading tailored efforts to address malnutrition. The SUN movement is built through the engagement of nations affected by undernutrition. At the center of the movement is national level leadership that coordinates both national and international efforts, with the SUN movement committed to aligning financial and technical support with these country plans. Leadership at the national level ensures that priorities and programs are designed and implemented in a way that meets the needs of various regions and populations within the country and enables the scale up of sustainable efforts.
Why a global movement to improve nutrition?
Evidence proves that by ensuring adequate nutrition during the ‘critical window of opportunity’ or 1,000 days from pregnancy to age two, irreversible and long-term limitations on children’s health and cognitive and physical development can be prevented. Improving nutrition is a precondition to achieving goals of eradicating poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating disease—which all contribute to a stronger future for communities and nations. These effects are lasting, as improving nourishment for today’s infants and young children is actually supporting the growth and development of the next generation of people that will drive a nation’s progress.
National and international organizations, civil society, the private sector, donors and other key institutions all play a role in addressing undernutrition and have agreed to join efforts in this common cause. One focus of the SUN movement is a group of 13 evidence-based, cost-effective direct nutrition interventions that fall into three general areas of investment—1) promoting optimal feeding and caring practices, such as breastfeeding; 2) increasing the intake of vitamins and minerals through both supplements and fortification; and 3) therapeutic feeding to prevent moderate undernutrition and treat both moderate and severe undernutrition. These interventions can add value to existing programmes and projects at national and local levels and must be linked to local interventions to enable affected households to fulfill the food and health needs of mothers and children.
Another focus of the SUN movement is the recognition that to sustain progress in improving nutrition, we must look beyond direct nutrition activities. Central to SUN is the importance of nutrition to leverage and optimize broader development efforts. The effects of undernutrition reach across sectors; therefore, efforts to improve nutrition should also engage multiple sectors, such as agriculture, education and economic development. This can be achieved by linking direct nutrition interventions with appropriate sectoral support at their delivery level; conducting potential nutrition impact assessments during the planning phase of development efforts; or ensuring that nutrition indicators are included on the list of desirable outcomes of various policies. Integrating nutrition into development efforts not only furthers nutrition, but an investment in nutrition in turn ultimately amplifies the effects of investments in other sectors, helping to strengthen the health and economies of nations.
What are the SUN framework and roadmap?
The foundation for the SUN movement is the SUN Framework, which outlines core priorities, elements and actions necessary to address malnutrition. The SUN Framework is not a prescriptive plan, rather it is a foundational structure from which national plans can be built and tailored. The SUN Roadmap serves to move the Framework into action, providing the principles and direction for increased support for countries as they scale up nutrition efforts across a range of sectors. The SUN Roadmap encourages a coherent approach amongst national leaders and stakeholders to promote coordinated actions and increase the effectiveness of efforts.
Who is supporting the SUN movement?
SUN is a global movement that brings together broad constituencies of stakeholders in a partnership with shared vision, goals and the priority of initiating action to address malnutrition. The movement’s strategic direction is currently provided by a Transition Team of cross-sector, multi-partner leaders from developing and developed countries, CSOs, NGOs, the business sector, academia and the United Nations System.
A Transition Team, informed by an interim Country Partner Reference Group of focal points from countries scaling up nutrition, along with a UN Reference Group, provides the technical expertise and tools to support efforts at the national level. The Transition Team is organized into six task forces, each focusing on specific key elements of SUN in order to establish a foundation for the movement by mobilizing the support of relevant stakeholders, developing useful resources and ensuring SUN sustainability. The task forces are working to develop in-country capabilities; strengthen the engagement of civil society, development partners and the private sector; monitor progress; and support effective communications and advocacy activities.
What types of resources are available to scale up nutrition?
Nutrition must be prioritized and funded at the international, national and local levels, which requires commitment and support from developing country governments, donors, civil society, development agencies and the private sector. The Transition Team task forces are ready to help national authorities seeking to scale up nutrition. Efforts will be developed and coordinated based on national need. Often, this will involve a shift in approach, rather than requiring new programming and resources. When national plans are developed, stakeholders engaged in the SUN movement will work with country officials to determine how to best align resources.
How is SUN connected to other ongoing initiatives and programs?
The SUN movement brings a broad representation of organizations, initiatives and programs together with a common vision and shared goal—creating a strong connection between the ideas SUN concepts and the partners that play a key role in putting these ideas into action. Partners identify and leverage what they can do best to support scaling up nutrition; converging efforts to maximize impact and generate lasting change. Spurring new initiatives and integrating SUN principles into ongoing initiatives is key to the global dissemination and implementation of effective nutrition interventions.
How does SUN link with REACH and the SCN?
In the last year, SUN has played a determining role in bringing nutrition at the forefront of the political agenda at global and country level. It has catalyzed inter-sectoral partnerships, as well as government involvement, and contributed to resource mobilization.
At country level, the SUN movement is pursuing much of the same objectives as the REACH partnership and can therefore build on the experience and tools generated by REACH in the last three years, accelerating joint efforts and enhancing advocacy.
At global level, the SUN movement draws heavily on the experience and technical assistance of the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition and its members, thereby stimulating relevant components of the SCN Strategic Framework http://www.unscn.org/files/Core_documents/SCN_Strategic_Framework_2006-2010.pdf
A core group of institutions and staff with long-standing commitment to improved nutrition are active in SCN, REACH and SUN, therefore ensuring synergies and continuity.