70% of the food on our plates comes from smallholder farmers. Yet only 7.5% of them receive technical assistance. In an environment of economic and climate shocks, this is endangering people’s livelihoods and the food systems they sustaim. PERUSÁN – the SUN civil society alliance in Peru – is connecting farmers, nutritionists, communities and policymakers […]
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SUN CSN reports on progress against our N4G commitments
One year after registering our Nutrition for Growth commitments in the Nutrition Accountability Framework, SUN CSN has submitted its first progress update. This is an important accountability milestone as we continue working towards our 2028 ambitions: strengthening cross-country learning between civil society alliances, supporting youth leaders to deliver community-informed advocacy, and advancing civil society advocacy […]
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Closing the gender nutrition gap: lessons from Viet Nam
In Viet Nam, women play a central role in agriculture, food systems and community life. In many contexts, they are not only producers, but also decision-makers and drivers of change. Yet, despite this strong participation, gaps in nutrition, health and access to resources persist – particularly as climate shocks place increasing pressure on livelihoods and food systems. This video […]
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Budgeting for nutrition: How civil society advocacy in Malawi is getting resources to communities
CSONA, the SUN civil society alliance in Malawi, is proving that advocacy works. By partnering with parliamentary nutrition champions and the SUN Civil Society Network, they’ve fought to secure a bigger national nutrition budget – and to make sure those resources actually reach the districts that need them most. But this isn’t just a story […]
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From commitment to action: civil-society led accountability for nutrition results. Reflections from the East and Southern Africa regional workshop.
From 2–6 March 2026, representatives from 17 Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Civil Society Alliances (CSAs), including 12 from East and Southern Africa (ESA) and five from Anglophone West, Central Africa, and the Islands (WCAI), convened in Gaborone for a regional workshop under the theme ‘strengthening accountable food systems for nutrition security and health’, hosted by Food Bank Botswana. Coming at an important moment – […]
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Applications are now open for the SUN CSN Nutrition Dialogues Youth Advocacy Fund!
Overview The SUN Civil Society Network is offering grants of up to €10,000 to Civil Society Alliances (CSAs) for youth-led community dialogues on nutrition. This funding will amplify the voices of marginalised young people and community members, transforming local conversations into concrete policy asks that influence nutrition decision-making from local to global levels. This opportunity builds on the momentum of the Nutrition […]
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SUN Civil Society Network launches SUN CSN 4.0 Strategy to accelerate locally led nutrition action (2026–2030)
The Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network (SUN CSN) has officially launched its new five-year strategy, SUN CSN 4.0, setting out a bold, locally led roadmap for advancing nutrition outcomes worldwide from 2026 to 2030. The strategy aligns with the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement 4.0 framework while clearly defining SUN CSN’s unique mandate within the […]
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The Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network at a turning point
As 2025 comes to a close, we look back on a year of extraordinary commitment and collective impact across the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network (SUN CSN). It has been a year marked by global turbulence, shrinking civic space, widening inequalities and an unprecedented contraction in funding. Yet, despite these challenges, civil society has shown remarkable resilience. Our […]
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Nourish to Flourish: Putting nutrition at the heart of social development
Originally published by UN Nutrition. From 4–6 November 2025, leaders gathered in Doha, Qatar, for the Second World Summit on Social Development (WSSD). Convened by the UN General Assembly, the Summit renewed global commitments to the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the 2030 Agenda. Nourish to Flourish Against this backdrop, UN-Nutrition, together with the Governments of the Netherlands and Brazil, co-organised […]
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Youth Assembly capacity development session: Understanding the role of nutrition and healthy diets in agrifood systems transformation
This article was originally published by the World Food Forum. The World Food Forum (WFF)’s Youth Assembly, in collaboration with the SUN Civil Society Network, Act4Food and McGill Youth Advisory Delegation, hosted a youth-led capacity development session titled “Understanding the role of nutrition and healthy diets in agrifood systems transformation”. Held virtually on 11 August 2025, […]
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This article was originally published by the World Food Forum.
The World Food Forum (WFF)’s Youth Assembly, in collaboration with the SUN Civil Society Network, Act4Food and McGill Youth Advisory Delegation, hosted a youth-led capacity development session titled “Understanding the role of nutrition and healthy diets in agrifood systems transformation”. Held virtually on 11 August 2025, the event gathered over 200 youth leaders, policymakers and experts to discuss how nutrition and healthy diets can transform agrifood systems.
Valeria Morales, a member of the WFF Youth Policy Board (YPB), opened the session, welcoming participants and highlighting the central role of youth in advocating for accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate healthy diets. She delivered the presentation introducing the joint statement by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on principles of healthy diets: adequate, balanced, moderate and diverse. Drawing from her own work with Indigenous communities in the Amazon region, she stressed the importance of integrating cultural appropriateness into nutrition frameworks, while ensuring access and affordability remain central to action.
Expanding the discussion, Atul Upadhaya, Nutrition Specialist and former President of the Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA), presented “Healthy diets from farm to fork: A youth call to action”, and highlighted the direct linkages between healthy diets, sustainability and resilience, underlining youth as drivers of agrifood systems transformation.
To reinforce participants’ understanding, Fawa Bagoudou, a member of the WFF Young Scientists Group, moderated a quiz covering the principles of healthy diets, barriers to access and key statistics, including the sobering fact that 2.6 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2024.
The session then spotlighted youth-led initiatives. Sean Counihan, Senior Advocacy and Youth Adviser at the SUN Civil Society Network, shared lessons from the Youth Leaders for Nutrition Programme, emphasizing the role of community dialogues in driving policy change. Ayesha Khan from Act4Food and Jeanne Gonelle from the McGill Youth Advisory Delegation followed, presenting models of collective youth action and youth informed policy advocacy that are strengthening the global movement for equitable nutrition.
Participants were then divided into three breakout groups by region, to reflect on the meaning of healthy diets in their own contexts. Using interactive tools, they discussed the challenges their communities face in achieving healthy diets including affordability, food literacy, processed food industries, political instability, infrastructure barriers and rising food prices. Each group also shared ideas on the kinds of support needed, such as expanded nutrition education, community gardens, policy reforms and stronger multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Moderators from each breakout group returned with concise summaries of key highlights, showcasing the diversity of youth perspectives while underscoring common priorities for action.
In closing, Alexandros Tataridas, a member of the YPB stressed the importance of equipping youth with evidence-based knowledge to advocate for systemic change. “Understanding healthy diets is not just about personal choices, it is about reimagining entire agrifood systems to work for people and the planet”, he emphasized, inviting participants to continue engaging in upcoming Youth Assembly consultations.
Insights from this session will contribute to the WFF Youth Assembly’s year-long process, feeding into a set of youth recommendations on nutrition and agrifood systems transformation to be presented at global policy forums in 2025 and beyond.
