Why do we need a new CSN strategy? The Civil Society Network 3.0 strategy (2021-2025) constitutes an essential guide to rally all civil society members’ collective efforts behind a strong mission and vision. The CSN 3.0 strategy was designed for the Network by the Network, in alignment with the overall SUN Movement 3.0 strategy. As such, the […]
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KNOW IT, BE IT, DO IT: Learning exchange brought together leaders of the SUN Movement of Latin America and the Caribbean
The First learning exchange “Listening to the Voice of Civil Society in Latin America and the Caribbean”, of the civil society alliances that are part of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN Movement), held in December 2020 and January 2021, allowed leaders from more than 10 countries to share their successful experiences in the fight against […]
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CONCLUSIONES del WEBINAR 11-dic-2020
MODERADORA: Carolina Turriago Las recomendaciones y reflexiones recibidas de los panelistas para tener en cuenta en los ejercicios de incidencia de la sociedad civil son: Es clave la incidencia a más alto nivel (presidentes y equipos de gobierno). Ello tiene mayor impacto, pues los países tienen múltiples prioridades, y que los mandatarios tengan compromiso y […]
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Primer Encuentro de Interaprendizaje ‘Escuchando la voz de la sociedad civil de Latinoamérica y el Caribe’
El Primer Encuentro de Interaprendizaje “Escuchando la voz de la sociedad civil en Latinoamérica y el Caribe”, de las alianzas de la sociedad civil que forman parte del Scaling Up Nutrition (Movimiento SUN), se realizó el 9, 11 y 14 de diciembre, con participación de diferentes representantes de organizaciones de la sociedad civil y el […]
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Intercambio Virtual de Aprendizaje “Escuchando la Voz de la Red de la Sociedad Civil de Latinoamérica y el Caribe” ¡Regístrese para el evento de aprendizaje y bloquee su calendario! La Red de la Sociedad Civil de Latinoamérica y el Caribe del Movimiento SUN estará desarrollando un intercambio de aprendizaje muy innovador sobre experiencias exitosas implementadas […]
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Virtual Learning Exchange “Listening to the Voice of the Latin American and Caribbean Civil Society Network” Sign up for the learning event and block your calendar! The Latin American and Caribbean SUN Civil Society Regional Group is organizing an innovative virtual learning exchange building on successful experiences on advocacy and multi-stakeholders and multi-sectorial nutrition coordination. […]
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Nutrition Can’t Wait: Asia Coordination Group Launch Advocacy Campaign
By: Irshad Danish, Nutrition International and Alison Farnham MA, MMedSci, Action for Development Background Nutrition Can’t Wait – The COVID-19 pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. Low and lower middle-income countries are more affected. Their existing poor development indicators and fragile […]
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Asia Regional Group unites – all for one, one for all!
Blog by May Thukha Soe, Co Chair of SUN CSA Myanmar. “This July, Civil Society Alliances (CSAs) across the Asia region – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, and Philippines – gathered in the beautiful city of Kathmandu, Nepal for the SUN Civil Society Network Asia Learning Exchange. “ The objective of the […]
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Lessons from civil society resilience as we face COVID-19
“Adapt, Improvise, Overcome – the human spirit will always survive” These are the words of advice a colleague who worked in Ebola affected areas sent to me at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I expected something much more technical and practical. He is right of course. At a certain point, it’s the spirit and […]
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What I’ve learnt from SUN nutrition champions
The SUN CSN Secretariat, along with our West and Central African nutrition champions, Action Contre La Faim, and representatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have been working hard over the past few months to make sure that our West and Central Africa regional workshop is a resounding success. We are currently in Abidjan facilitating a three-day […]
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The SUN CSN Secretariat, along with our West and Central African nutrition champions, Action Contre La Faim, and representatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have been working hard over the past few months to make sure that our West and Central Africa regional workshop is a resounding success. We are currently in Abidjan facilitating a three-day workshop with representatives from 19 countries including Nigeria, Sierra Leone Senegal, Mali, Benin and Burkino Faso. A huge number of SUN delegates are in attendance and over the past few days, we have had some fantastic sessions on MEAL, nutrition advocacy and preparing for N4G.
It has been a huge learning curve for me, and it hasn’t helped my already over-saturated brain that the meetings have been in French. I find if I concentrate really hard, I can just about understand what people are saying. But as the laughter which followed my introductory sentence showed, my speaking leaves something to be desired. However, after two days of meetings and presentations, countless questions and a permanently bemused expression, there are a few things which have finally begun to sink in.
1. PEOPLE REALLY CARE ABOUT THIS WORK
And they should! If there is one thing which I will take away from this workshop, it is that everyone is working incredibly hard. From championing women in leadership roles in Sierra Leone to creating a proposed plan for universal health coverage in Mali, nutrition work at the national and sub-national level is happening all across West and Central Africa. Every representative we have heard from is fiercely passionate about the projects they are working on and are amazingly close to the work, all the way from community-level projects to encouraging heads of state to become nutrition champions.
2. CIVIL SOCIETY HAS A REALLY IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY
All of the representatives here work for Civil Society organisations but work closely alongside parliamentarians and donors to draw up and push for both nutrition-specific and sensitive plans. In areas where nutrition is sidelined, civil society organisations put pressure on policymakers to implement nutrition plans and their role cannot be underestimated.
3. DATA AND ACCOUNTABILITY ARE INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT
It seems obvious right? If you want to prove or measure the success of a project you should be able to quantify it. But as nutrition champions push for nutrition to play more of a role in government development plans, the role of monitoring and evaluating becomes ever more important. Using scorecards in some instances has been seen to improve the case for nutrition when put in front of ministers and leaders. Equally, with an increase in available data, we will be able to better demonstrate the extent of the problem in many countries.
4. BUDGET ANALYSIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY INTERESTING!
Now I’m not an economist (I know that will come as a shock to many of you). But being able to analyse a government budget and confirm which parts of the plan have been implemented is crucial when dealing with government nutrition plans. The process itself seems to involve a deep dive into government ministries development plans and, despite a lot of adding up, can also be a real insight into political decisions and changes.
Overall, it’s been very exciting to see nutrition champions from all over the region of West and Central Africa coming together to share ideas and agree on actions for the future of nutrition in the region and it has certainly encouraged me to practice my French.
