Updates from the Secretariat
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The SUN Civil Society Network launches a webinar learning series on private sector engagement, accountability and safeguards
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During the Nutrition for Growth Summit – Paris 2025, the SUN CSN made a commitment to support civil society actors in strengthening their capacity to navigate private sector engagement safely and strategically.
As such, a webinar learning series was launched in August 2026 on private sector engagement, accountability and safeguards.
The first webinar took place during World Breastfeeding Week and used breastfeeding protection and support as a timely entry point to explore the spectrum of private sector engagement in nutrition. The session included reflections on safeguards, conflict of interest and public interest; practical experiences from Vietnam on different models of private sector engagement including BMS Code monitoring, breastfeeding-friendly workplaces, private health facilities and emergency settings; and an accountability perspective on evidence and company practices.
On the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week, the CSN developed a breastfeeding advocacy toolkit as a practical resource for Civil Society Alliances to connect breastfeeding protection with private sector engagement, accountability and safeguards.
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CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Pilot Nutrition Dialogues on private sector engagement in nutrition
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Following the first webinar on private sector engagement, the CSN launched a call for proposals inviting recognised SUN Civil Society Alliances to pilot country-led Nutrition Dialogues on private sector engagement in nutrition. The aim is to help civil society organisations better understand the private sector’s impact on nutrition and assess where and how engagement can contribute positively to nutrition outcomes, while ensuring that decisions remain grounded in evidence, public interest and appropriate safeguards. The Dialogues will help CSAs determine when collaboration may add value, when monitoring or accountability is needed, and when stronger regulation or clear red lines may be required.
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The road from Paris to Lagos and beyond: Scaling up youth-led, community-informed policymaking across the SUN Movement
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In July 2026, the SUN Civil Society Network convened Civil Society Alliance and Youth representatives from 8 countries for an in-person peer-learning workshop in Lagos, Nigeria to deliver youth-led community-informed nutrition policymaking in their own countries.
Planned and delivered by the SUNCSN Secretariat and co-hosted by the Nigeria CSA, CS-SUNN, the workshop followed an inclusive model with every session being co-facilitated with at least one participant, who brought their own knowledge and experience into the design, and encouraged their peers to do the same.
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Nutrition Journal Club – Seeds of Change in Nutrition Webinar
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The SUN CSN Secretariat reached out to previous recipients of the SUN CSN Seed Fund grants to explore what the long term sustainable impact these grants have had. Three CSAs – Ghana, Pakistan and Ecuador submitted their impact presentations and were invited to present at the Save the Children UK Nutrition Journal Club, which brings together stakeholders from across the nutrition sector to share learning and emerging evidence.
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Region Spotlight: Latin America & the Caribbean
Regional Exchange for SUN Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean – Brasília
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The regional meeting for SUN countries in Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Brasilia, Brazil on 10-14 August 2026 within the framework of South-South cooperation and technical assistance under the EU4SUN project, funded by the European Union and implemented by FIAP. The meeting brought together government representatives from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Peru, alongside delegates from the SUN Movement, FIAP, and the SUN Civil Society Network—represented by senior regional advisor Carolina Turriago, as well as María Eugenia Villalobos (Costa Rica) and Juan Pablo Guzmán (Ecuador).
The meeting focused on strengthening technical capacities and leadership in governance, nutrition integration, and innovation. Through exchanges with Brazilian authorities and institutions, participants learned firsthand how the country has successfully mainstreamed nutrition into its public policies by coordinating, planning, financing, and monitoring intersectoral mechanisms to ensure sustainable results.
For the SUN Civil Society Network, the exchange with the National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (CONSEA), a participatory mechanism integrated into decision-making processes was inspiring. CONSEA demonstrated how civil society can play a central role in shaping public policy, lending legitimacy, relevance, and continuity to state actions. In Brazil, civil society participation is no longer a matter of debate, but rather a fundamental pillar for protecting the progress achieved and ensuring that policies respond to the needs of the citizenry. |
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The Aliansa Sosiedade Sivil ba Nutrisaun (ASSN), the Civil society alliance for Nutrition in Timor Leste, delivered a capacity-building training for its members on August 13-14. The training, supported by the Civil Society Support Office (GASC), aimed to enhance the technical capacity of civil society members in education and counseling on optimal infant and young child feeding, as well as understanding the monitoring mechanisms for nutrition budget allocation in Timor-Leste.
To launch the “Sembrando Incidencia” project, the civil society alliance in Costa Rica delivered a training session to students from the UCIMED Faculty of Nutrition on facilitating “Nutrition Dialogues” with adolescents from the Santa Bárbara de Heredia High School, where the project is being implemented. Through a leadership workshop, they listened to the young people’s ideas on food diets, identifying their key needs, and transforming those needs into proposals capable of driving change in their community.
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SUN CSA Philippines celebrated the National Nutrition month with the theme: Protect Nutrition and the Environment. CSA members led and participated in various nutrition webinars,workshops, campaigns and provided messages of support. Undersecretary of the Department of Health, Dr. Albert Francis Domingo has been appointed as the new Executive Director IV of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), a crucial development in the engagement of the Philippines in the Scaling Up Nutrition as he takes on the SUN focal point role in the Philippines.
The National Assembly, in partnership with UNICEF and CSA Mauritania, launched a two-day workshop in Nouakchott aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Parliamentary Group on Nutrition. Held under the theme “Investing in nutrition to accelerate human capital development in Mauritania,” the workshop gathered members of parliament, representatives from relevant government ministries, technical and financial partners, and civil society stakeholders to deepen parliamentarians’ understanding of nutritional issues and to promote more effective public policies in this area.
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Opportunities & Resources
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Integrating food and health systems for climate-resilient nutrition webinar on the 2026 Global Nutrition Report
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How can countries protect and improve healthy diets and nutrition as climate change and other shocks increasingly impacts both food and health systems?
The Global Nutrition Report and the SUN CSN are hosting a discussion to explore the latest evidence on climate, food systems, health systems and nutrition, to hear from country leaders, civil society and nutrition champions from around the world, and to discuss practical actions to build more climate-resilient nutrition.
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Global Conscious Food Systems Summit
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The Royal Government of Bhutan, CoFSA and UNDP are hosting the first Global Conscious Food Systems Summit, 31 August – 4 September 2026 in Bhutan.
This landmark gathering advances a new paradigm for food systems transformation—one that recognizes culture, values, spirituality, happiness, and inner development as catalysts for systemic change.
The Summit aims to build movement, collective action, and investment around the inner dimension of food systems transformation, accelerating progress toward sustainability, justice, and wellbeing.
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SUN CSN Fundingraising Tools
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Access to timely and relevant funding information is critical for the sustainability and impact of African NGOs. Part of the monthly roundup of funding opportunities tailored for African NGOs, the African NGO Fundraising Hub developed the list for August & September 2026 including grant calls, open proposals, and other funding initiatives that support African NGOs’ diverse missions and priorities.
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Launch of the 4th HLPE-FSN note on Critical, emerging & enduring issues for food security and nutrition
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There is wide agreement on the need to transform food systems and the elements required to support such transformation, yet there are often conflicting views on how best to achieve this goal.
Which are the critical and emerging issues affecting food security and nutrition? How do they overlap and intersect? The Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) has identified ten themes at the forefront of the major challenges facing food systems today.
The ten issues will be presented in an hybrid event, on 4 September, 14:00-16:30 CEST. Interpretation will be available in Arabic, Chinese, French, English, Russian and Spanish.
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NutriCast: Using AI to Forecast and Mitigate Malnutrition
and Hunger
What if we could predict where food crises will hit hardest – and act before hunger worsens?
That is the vision behind NutriCast, a new collaboration between Save the Children and Helios AI. By combining Helios’ advanced forecasting capabilities with our expertise in food security, livelihoods and nutrition, NutriCast will help governments and humanitarian actors anticipate and mitigate crises before they escalate. The platform brings together climate and commodity forecasts with Save the Children’s Household Economy Analysis (HEA) and Cost of the Diet (CotD) tools in a single decision-support system.
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How to Analyze, Track and Influence Public Budgets
for Children’s Rights
Developed as part of the How to Child Rights series by Child Rights Connect, in collaboration with Save the Children, this Guidance equips civil society organizations and other stakeholders with practical knowledge and tools to understand, analyze, track, and influence public budgets from a child rights perspective.
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GLOBAL NUTRITION CLUSTER STRATEGY
2026–2029
Over the past two decades, the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) has continually evolved to meet the nutrition needs of communities affected by crises by strengthening in-country coordination, developing standardised tools and guidance, and forging partnerships with those closest to emergencies to further localisation. They have released their strategy for 2026-2029.
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