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Quarterly Update: SUN Civil Society Network Q4 2016

Quarterly Update: SUN Civil Society Network Q4 2016

Quarterly Update: SUN Civil Society Network

This Quarterly Update shares the progress made by the SUN Civil Society Network from October – December 2016

January 19, 2017 - Last update: February 10, 2023

This Quarterly Update shares the progress made by the SUN Civil Society Network from October – December 2016 

Rwanda Learning Route

SUN CSN Learning Route 2016

In November the SUN CSN, in collaboration with SUN Alliance Rwanda and PROCASUR Corporation, launched the first international Learning Route exchange programme in Rwanda. This six day peer-to-peer learning exchange brought together alliances from 9 African countries; Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Rwanda.

The international exchange focused on learning from best practice in Scaling Up nutrition in Rwanda  and developing civil society capacity in key skill areas such as evidence based advocacy, communication for behavioural change and public-private partnership.

Outcomes and impact

  1. Each alliance has developed their own innovation plan – these are short plans of actions they can be applied in their home countries to implement some of their learning.
  2. Meeting with The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Odette Uwamariya who committed to working closely with civil society and other actors such as the UN and business to improve nutrition interventions and target inequalities between state outcomes for nutrition. She has also agreed to be the focal point for nutrition in the Government of Rwanda.
  3. Launch event where the Minister of Health, Dr. Diane Gashumba who praised the work of civil society and reaffirmed a commitment to tackling stunting in Rwanda.
  4. New relationships, links and plans developing across civil society in the region – as a result of the Learning Route the 9 countries have formed a regional coordination group to continue to share learning and identify joint advocacy opportunities.

To find out more about the Learning Route programme in Rwanda, please visit: http://suncivilsocietynet.wixsite.com/learningroute/rwanda-learning-route

Theory of Change Workshop

In November, the SUN Civil Society Network, with the support of Dalberg, hosted a two day Theory of Change Workshop. The aim of the workshop was to clearly define how we as a network will reach our objectives. Together with input from members of different CSAs, we analysed how we see change happening and how we, as the SUN CSN, will contribute towards this. The SUN CSN Draft Theory of Change is now available in English here.  Over the next few months we will be undergoing consultations with civil society alliances to review and refine this document.

Latest News from Civil Society Alliances

Indonesia  From 11th to 13th January, a two-day workshop is being organised by the SUN CSN with support from Save the Children and its partners in Indonesia. The workshop will help to build the capacity of Indonesian civil society to support government efforts to scale up nutrition in Indonesia. Representatives from SUN Civil Society Alliances in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan will also be attending to share their experiences of best practice, enable cross-learning and identify opportunities for regional collaboration.

Kyrgyzstan The alliance has successfully advocated for inclusion of an indicator on breastfeeding in the Ministry of Health’s list of national SDG indicators. This list will now go to the Government for consideration. There is a risk that some indicators to be eliminated but they are hopeful that the indicator on breastfeeding will remain- something which will be crucial for ongoing advocacy.

Kenya The alliance is establishing a SUN CSA chapter at sub-national level in Mombasa. They held a planning meeting to develop a ToR and six month work plan.

Liberia After a 2 day workshop from 24-25 October, with 45 CSOs (42 nationals and 3 INGO), a SUN CSA steering committee has been formed in Liberia. We look forward to working with you to Scale Up Nutrition in Liberia.

Madagascar In November, the HINA Civil Society Platform organised a ‘Solidarity Week for nutrition’, a major event bringing together the SUN movement in Madagascar. The events celebrated the achievements of HINA and called for a continued multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder approach to tackling malnutrition. The event was sponsored by the Prime Minister and was attended by members from across the SUN family in Madagascar, including government, private sector, academics, civil society and UN networks. The event, which was attended by more than 2000 visitors, showcased solutions being undertaken by these partners to combat malnutrition.

Malawi CSONA held a meeting with 30+ MPs, from a diverse range of sectors, to present the results of their Budget Analysis. In the space of 5 days they analysed 6 budgets selected cost centres.

Malawi and Tanzania PANITA the alliance in Tanzania & CSONA in Malawi had a week exchange visit on governance and growing the alliance. They also had a meeting with the government SUN focal person Mr Obey Assry. They also visited CSO members to share experiences.

Myanmar In November, the second Annual General Assembly of the SUN CSA network took place in Yangon. 85 participants from different NGOs came together with Government officials and representative of the Donors and UN networks. Participants shared experiences from their respective regions and identified key drivers of malnutrition. Participants also identified solutions for tackling the underlying causes of malnutrition and proposed concrete actions for action. The participants committed to increased collaboration, coordination and knowledge sharing.

Nigeria CS-SUNN hosted a panel discussion on nutrition messaging and advocacy; telling the nutrition story. Panel members included Head of Nutrition at the Federal Ministry of Health, Head of Nutrition at the World Bank Nigeria, UNICEF Nutrition Adviser and senior members of the press. CS-SUNN also held a 2-day retreat for legislators and policy makers in Niger State to discuss 2016-17 health budget implications for child and family health in the state.

Pakistan As part of their #InvestInNutrition campaign, SUN CSA Pakistan asked members of the public to send in their photographs & selfies with the message #InvestinNutrition. Check out some of the activity on the SUNCSA, Pak Facebook Page and Twitter. The campaign received mass media coverage including television, radio and newspaper. This newspaper paper supplement, which highlights the Right to Food, was published in the Daily Nation on Universal Children’s Day: http://nation.com.pk/E-Paper/islamabad/2016-11-20/page-13

Rwanda The alliance held 2 days of roundtables to discuss the role of private sector and fortification in scaling up nutrition in Rwanda. In addition to Civil Society and Private sector representatives, the discussions also brought together representatives from Government, UN agencies and Academia. An outcome document with 12 key recommendations was developed.

Sierra Leone On international Human Rights Day FAO, SUNI and Parliamentarians met to discuss how to enshrine the Right to Food in the national constitution and education system. 40 Parliamentarians and representatives from civil society and media participated. On behalf of the Parliamentarians, the Chair Roselyn Smith committed to take ownership of the  Right to Food  sections  in the draft constitution to push this forward in Parliament. Parliamentarians urged civil society to engage communities on Right to Food to inform them of their roles and responsibility in this process. SUN CSP was also involved in validating a right to food teaching manual at Njala University campus in Southern Sierra Leone.

South Sudan An alliance is beginning to take shape in South Sudan and we look forward to supporting them in improving food security and nutrition in their country.

Senegal The alliance has been working to increase engagement with decision makers in Senegal. They are specifically calling on the government to maintain or even surpass its commitment to increase funding for nutrition by at least $2.8 billion a year.

Tanzania PANITA hosted the inaugural awards ceremony for their ‘Journalist Excellence in Reporting on Nutrition’ Competition, with the Deputy Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports as the guest of honour.  The award was introduced as a way to incentivise more reporting on nutrition issues, something which is critical for increasing community awareness around nutrition and for holding governments to account.

Zambia The alliance successful presented their 2017 Nutrition Budget Analysis before the Parliamentary Expanded Committee on Estimates and Expenditure.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Save the Date – Learning Route Innovation Plans Webinar, 31st January 2017

Time: 9:00 – 12:00 (London, GMT) Location: https://wvi.webex.com/wvi-en/j.php?MTID=m0e363169bb4570f0f8c9ed1e11e6125b

On Tuesday the 31st January, you are invited to join the SUN Civil Society Network Webinar “Fostering Learning and Innovation in Nutrition”. This Webinar follows the Learning Route in Rwanda in November, and aims to continue supporting country-country learning. Since returning from the Learning Route, SUN CSAs have been developing their own ‘innovation plans’.  This webinar is an opportunity to hear more about these plans, find out the winner of the Innovation Plan Award and identify opportunities for continued collaboration. You can join the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1690908921201282/

The full agenda and further information can be found here: http://suncivilsocietynet.wixsite.com/learningroute/single-post/2017/01/04/Fostering-Learning-and-Innovation-in-Nutrition-WEBINAR

Apply for the Asia Learning Route

Applications for the Asia Learning Route country host are now open. The hosting partner will play a key role in the Learning Route through identifying and showcasing best practice nutrition innovations in their country. Apply to become the country host by completing the application form here: http://suncivilsocietynet.wixsite.com/learningroute/asia-country-host

The deadline for applications is 20th January 2017.

Our calendar of upcoming events is here – please add your events or send them to us for inclusion: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f_0JZ44lqTxo8HGyJ1QnlpXgXjgmheHATQ-wDFMxzbw/edit#gid=1386864986

Other news:

  • Staff changes: Megan Pennell joined us in October as the new SUN CSN Country Support Adviser.
  • Changes in the SUN CSN operational oversight committee membership: Due to changes in positions, the membership of the SUN CSN Steering has been updated. Vice-chair Marie Rumsby has moved to Global Citizen and will be replaced by Katherine Richards from Save the Children. However, we are pleased that Marie will still be staying on as a member of the steering group in her new role.

Learn more about the SUN Civil Society Network

Details

SUN Global Support System
SUN Civil Society Network