Hello SUN Movement Secretariat,

We are pleased to provide the latest news and information from the SUN Movement to support you in achieving your nutrition targets.

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ENGAGE

This new e-learning course developed by the SUN Movement in collaboration with FAO offers guidance on the development of an advocacy strategy for a multisectoral and multistakeholder approach to nutrition. In particular, it provides assistance in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of an effective advocacy strategy for the engagement of diverse sectors and stakeholders in nutrition initiatives. The course, available on the FAO e-learning academy, will address methodologies and techniques tailored to the specific needs of the various stakeholders and sectors, acknowledging their pivotal role in addressing malnutrition at the national level.

Enrol now and get your certificate!

Help shape the scope of a forthcoming report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the UN Committee on World Food Security by participating in an online consultation. The feedback posted will inform a zero draft on preserving, strengthening and promoting indigenous peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems. Comments may be posted in English, French and Spanish until 13 December 2024.

NEWS

The newly appointed SUN Movement Executive Committee elected Hon. Neema Lugangira, Member of Parliament from Tanzania, and Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate and Food at Columbia University, USA, as its new Co-Chairs. 

The election took place during the Executive Committee meeting on October 8, 2024. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Committee, one Co-Chair was elected from among Executive Committee representatives from SUN countries (Hon. Neema Lugagnira), while the other (Prof. Jessica Fanzo) was elected from among the remaining members.

Hon. Neema Lugangira and Prof. Jessica Fanzo will serve as Co-Chairs for a non-renewable two-year term ending in July 2026.

The fight for global nutrition is a fight for gender equality. It will be impossible to achieve one without the other. The United Nations Children Fund, UN Women, SUN Movement and Stronger Foundations for Nutrition teamed up to amplify this key message at an event held at the margins of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Grounded in robust data, they pushed for multi-stakeholder/sectoral solutions that can deliver the double dividend of an equitable and well-nourished world.

As the first mobilising partner, CSN will play a pivotal role in elevating voices, particularly those of women, children, and young people. SUN CSN's specific objective is to bring these voices to the forefront at the N4G Summit in March 2025. By focusing on ‘lived experiences of being nourished,’ participants will share their views on how to reduce malnutrition levels in their communities and explore priorities for improving local nutrition outcomes.

With present overlapping crises threatening nutrition and eroding government budgets for social programmes, tools that countries can utilize to support evidence-based decision-making and efficient allocation of resources are all the more pertinent. The UN-Nutrition Secretariat and the SUN Movement Regional Hub for West Africa organized a peer learning workshop to take stock of recent experiences with UN-Nutrition tools and services to address the coordination challenges in Francophone Africa. The time was ripe for reflection given the continued flux of country requests for these analytics and current resource squeeze.

In its eighth annual Goalkeepers report released on 17 September, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation urged world leaders to increase global health spending where it is needed most in order to boost children’s health and nutrition, especially in the face of the global climate crisis.

The Goalkeepers report, “A Race to Nourish a Warming World,” projects that without immediate global action, climate change will condemn an additional 40 million children to stunting and 28 million more to wasting between 2024 and 2050. Scaling up solutions now can avoid this outcome, while also building resilience to climate change and spurring much-needed economic growth.

RESOURCES

Investment Framework for Nutrition 2024

Despite progress over the past decades, child malnutrition remains high and adult obesity rates are increasing. Investments to scale up high-impact nutrition interventions could save the lives of 6.2 million children under age five and prevent 980,000 stillbirths over the next decade. Such programs would also avert 27 million cases of child stunting and 144 million cases of maternal anemia. Both undernutrition and obesity are obstacles to human capital, economic productivity, and an equitable, prosperous world. The economic benefits of nutrition interventions far outweigh the costs of inaction.

The 2024 Global Report on Food Crises Mid-Year Update shows worsening nutrition situation in various SUN countries

This update unveiled new figures on acute food insecurity and acute malnutrition as well as trends over time. It reflects a consensus-based assessment of the 16 GRFC partners, including six United Nations agencies (FAO, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOCHA and WFP) and other platforms with UN engagement, such as the Food Security and Global Nutrition Clusters. According to the report, alarming increases in child wasting were observed in eight countries, seven of which partake in the SUN Movement.

Achieving win-wins through health taxes

Despite their proven effectiveness, taxes on alcohol, sugar sweetened beverages and tobacco are underutilized. This new brief, developed by the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Non-communicable Diseases, makes the case for such taxes, showing how they support health, economic and equity gains while generating government revenue that can be used for public investments and programmes. It outlines a stepwise framework for related policy formulation, implementation and monitoring to help countries combat noncommunicable diseases.

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Photo credits: UN Women, WHO, WFP, FAO, Maurizio Constanzo, Oxfam, UNICEF, UN Nutrition