Our approach: Stronger together as multiple sectors and stakeholders

Nutrition indicators are important, albeit not the whole story. Driven by evidence, SUN aims to understand how countries are building the systems needed to tackle malnutrition: how diverse groups are coming together on shared platforms, what laws are being passed, what programmes implemented, and how much money is being spent.

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Nutrition indicators are important, albeit not the whole story. Driven by evidence, SUN aims to understand how countries are building the systems needed to tackle malnutrition: how diverse groups are coming together on shared platforms, what laws are being passed, what programmes implemented, and how much money is being spent.

Defeating malnutrition, united with multiple sectors and stakeholders in a truly coherent approach, is no longer an abstract aspiration – it is the new normal.

SUN Movement 2015 progress report

SUN countries are breaking down boundaries between sectors and stakeholders, developing a systems approach to nutrition. Each of the 62 SUN countries lead their own unique national SUN Movement, where actors are joining forces for joint advocacy, alignment, and investment in adapting successful strategies for eliminating all forms of malnutrition.

Across the board, countries that joined the SUN Movement early (2010-2011) consistently show higher performance in all domains than latter joining countries. However, whereas most people have reported their work as completed (or nearly) in bringing people together and ensuring a coherent policy and legal framework, slower progress have been seen in aligning actions around common results and scaling up resources.

  • 57 SUN countries (or 92%) have national multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) in place, helping establish an environment where good nutrition can prosper. This figure was at 10 SUN countries (or 53%) in 2010. In 2020, a whopping 48 SUN countries also have these platforms at the sub-national level.
  • 49 countries (79%) have a national nutrition plan which brings together sectors and stakeholders in a whole-of-government approach to address malnutrition. In 2012, 17 (or 60%) countries had costed plans.
  • 51 SUN countries (or 82%) track public financial allocations for nutrition, with to identify gaps between what funding is needed to fight malnutrition, and what is actually spent.

SUN countries are bringing thousands of stakeholders, and the right stakeholders, to the table for lasting impact.

  • This includes a SUN Civil Society Network of over 3,000 organisations; a SUN Business Network, which includes some 900 small, medium, and large enterprises; 16 UN agencies representing the UN Network for SUN (now known as UN Nutrition); and a group of international donors and foundations that form the SUN Donor Network.
  • At the country level, there are 53 Civil Society Networks, the SUN Business Network supports 45 countries, with 25 national SUN Business Networks (up from 13 in 2019), and 42 SUN countries have an appointed donor convener. 61 SUN countries have established UN Networks. In 2011, 13 SUN countries had a donor convener, 4 countries had formalised their civil society engagement and 6 countries worked with business.

At the end of the second phase, the majority of SUN countries have the right policies, plans and systems in place for scaling up nutrition, but the scaling up, alignment and disbursement of funding remains a major challenge for many SUN countries. Since 2014 SUN countries have been asked to self-assess their advancement towards our strategic objectives, known as the SUN Movement Joint-Assessment, which – despite COVID-19 – an impressive 49 SUN countries undertook between August and October 2020.