The Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Movement is a global effort to eliminate malnutrition, based on the principle that everyone has a right to food and good nutrition. The Movement’s vision is to, by 2030, ensure a world free from malnutrition in all its forms.
Led by governments and supported by organisations and individuals – collective action ensures every child, adolescent, mother and family can realise their right to food and nutrition, reach their full potential and shape sustainable and prosperous societies. The ‘SUN approach’ encourages all supporters of the Movement to leave ‘egos and logos’ behind, to align efforts and work together to support SUN countries’ national plans to scale up nutrition, during the first 1,000 days – from a mother’s pregnancy to her child’s second birthday.
The Movement is unique by bringing different groups of people together – governments, civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and scientists. It is transforming the way in which people work together by empowering people to put in place effective systems and to increase investments. SUN member countries and their supporters are working towards the World Health Assembly targets on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition by 2030, in addition to relevant targets for preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases.
Our collective efforts are led by the 61 SUN countries that have made their commitments to end malnutrition in all its forms. These countries have built – or in the process of building – national nutrition plans that bring together sectors and stakeholders in a whole-of-government approach to address malnutrition. These plans are the authoritative guidance to all those supporting the Movement to make their most effective contributions to scaling up nutrition.
Sharing and learning – a unique added value of the SUN Movement
Specific to the SUN Movement’s approach is its commitment to champion country leadership not only through promotion of national nutrition plans but also through support for sharing and learning across SUN countries. The Movement seeks to help build a worldwide community of action based on the lessons being learnt and knowledge acquired in SUN countries. One of the most unique added values of the Movement is this commitment to: 1.) help capture the knowledge and experience of SUN countries in order to support other countries to pave their own paths towards the elimination of all forms of malnutrition and; 2.) to work with partners to build consensus that will enable SUN countries to advance their national nutrition priorities where there is a knowledge gap (e.g. nutrition-sensitive financing, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, humanitarian-development nexus, cost-effectiveness of multi-sectoral interventions, etc.)
For this reason, numerous efforts have been initiated, reinforced or called upon to support SUN countries to learn, to teach, to inspire, to engage and to explore with one another the best approaches to scale up nutrition.
The SUN Movement Secretariat works with the four SUN Networks (civil society, United Nations, donors and business) alongside partners to capture, manage and exchange information, experience and knowledge from all SUN countries. Whist these efforts have been integral to the Movement’s success to date, SUN countries are not always clear how to tap into the wealth of information and knowledge held by other countries, the Secretariat, SUN Networks and partners.
SUN countries also often lack the time and technology to spontaneously access virtual platforms or initiate exchanges without support. Follow-up to past learning opportunities is often challenging and sometimes the breadth and multiplicity of sources is overwhelming. Further, as people move on to new positions critical institutional knowledge and understanding of the ‘SUN approach’ is too often lost.
Building an effective knowledge management strategy to inform the development of a SUN Academy
2020 marks the last year of the SUN Movement’s Strategy and Roadmap (2016-2020). In late 2019, a team of independent consultants began the process of a strategic review of the SUN Movement, to help chart the course of the next phase of the SUN Movement (2021-2025).
The SUN Movement Coordinator, a UN Assistant Secretary General, oversees implementation of the Strategy and Roadmap, leads the SUN Movement Secretariat and represents the SUN Movement globally.