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Every year, as part of the CSN small grant competition, we offer CSAs the chance to win a grant in order to foster and stimulate innovation and learning within the network. These MEAL & SUS grants are designed to focus on monitoring, evaluation and learning in order to create sustainable and long lasting work. This year’s recipients are Feed the Children in collaboration with SUN Civil Society Alliance Kenya and Youth lead 4 Nutrition Kenya,Disaster and Environmental Management Trust and Civil Society Organizations Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (ZCSOSUNA), Nutres in El Salvador, Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) and Alliance SUN Côte d’Ivoire.

• Country: Nigeria
• Led by: Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN)
• For more info contact: https://cs-sunn.org/
• Project focus and innovations: Develop and test MEAL and fundraising systems in 2 stated, piloting responsive feedback mechanisms.

Project Goals

CS-SUNN, in Nigeria, is piloting the establishment of a MEAL system and a fundraising mechanism in two states: Kwara and Oyo. This will be rolled out during the 3-month period of this project and aims to be scaled up in all the other 34 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory over a two-year period after the pilot. A strong MEAL system will help CS-SUNN to catalyse change in the Nutrition space in Nigeria both at national and sub-national levels.

CS-SUNN aims to put in place an independent reporting mechanism for Nutrition in Nigeria which is reliable, on time, inclusive and authoritative

Once this initiative is national, it will be possible for CS-SUNN to lead in the development of Nigerian National Nutrition Reports annually, which will help SUN Platforms to work hard in Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria, and help Nigeria stay on track to reach SDGs and WHA targets on Nutrition.

Project Outline

The MEAL cluster for each of the two pilot states will develop a MEAL policy, a MEAL plan and MEAL tools during the pilot phase. The Fund-Raising cluster for each state will develop a Fund-Raising policy, a plan and tools for Fund-Raising. The capacity of the clusters will be enhanced to use the documents they have developed. The documents will be used effectively by each state CS-SUNN branch to carry out monitoring and evaluation of Nutrition interventions and results documented so that state level reports can be developed for each state annually from 2021.

CS-SUNN MEAL Policy, Strategy and Tools will be developed at Sub-national level. Lessons learnt will be used in scaling up nationally. A national level MEAL strategy will then be developed which will guide CS-SUNN in carrying out comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Accountability with the help of MEAL clusters formed in Kwara and Oyo states.

The development of a communication strategy is also proposed which will include the use of evidence-based information from the MEAL strategy to develop communication materials to inform and influence specific target audiences to support and sustain the activities of the alliance. Activities will include production of communication materials, targeted dissemination of communication materials to specific audiences and the use of various techniques to communicate evidence so that target audience can take better actions towards sustaining momentum for nutrition in the two states; Kwara and Oyo. This will increase the CSAs capacity to communicate with impact.

Fund-Raising Clusters will be formed in each state; Kwara and Oyo to raise funds for CS-SUNN especially for the MEAL work and to ensure that CS-SUNN is able to continue its data management activities sustainably.

Disseminating results and innovation CS-SUNN will assess the effectiveness of the projects by developing key performance indicators to track and monitor the capabilities gained by the member CSOs over time. Indicators will include a number of state coalitions reporting on the appraisal tool quarterly, a number of member coalitions with action plans to approach donors and a percentage of member organizations receiving funding.

CS-SUNN is a member of various nutrition committees, platforms and working groups at the subnational, national, and regional levels. Results from the project will be shared across the board. Results from the project will be highlighted in its monthly Newsletter –Nigeria Nutrition Update, social media platforms and with the Civil Society Network Secretariat.

Best practices and milestone results will be developed into articles that can be shared locally and globally via the Website.

Looking to the future

This project will position Nigerian CSA to occupy a strategic position to continually advocate with Governments in Nigeria at National and sub-national levels with impact. CS-SUNN aims to be a reliable, go-to Organization for Nutrition Knowledge management especially at sub-national level. It will also help member organizations at state level to gain the visibility and relevance to advocate with impact.

CS-SUNN is currently donor-supported and does not have funds to carry out evidence-generation apart from money related to projects. This opportunity will not only strengthen the alliance but will enable the alliance to raise funds internally and deploy the funds to strengthen its advocacy to state governments by presenting reliable data. It will strengthen the state branches to be able to carry out interventions on their own.