SUN Experiences: Lessons from Pakistan

An ENN article by Muhammad Aslam Shaheen is SUN Focal Point in Pakistan and Dr. Ali Ahmad Khan is Programme Officer for the SUN Secretariat, Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, Pakistan.

Background

In Pakistan, the nutritional status of children under five years of age is extremely poor. At a national level almost 40% are underweight. Over half the children are affected by stunting and about 9% by wasting. There are significant provincial variations in these rates in Pakistan and the prevalence of stunting appears to be associated with the overall level of development of the provinces, being lowest in Punjab and highest in Balochistan Province.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan joined the SUN Movement in April 2013. The Chief of Nutrition is the SUN Focal Point and deals with technical and operational matters related to the Movement. His efforts are in line with the Pakistan Vision 2025 and guidance is provided by the Members, Secretary and Minister for the Ministry of Planning Development and Reform. The SUN Movement in Pakistan is currently working under the direction of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, the government body that regulates almost all programmes and proposals related to federal and provincial departments.

A SUN Core Group (or National Nutrition Committee) (NNC) has been formed which is the equivalent to the SUN multistakeholder platform and consists of 15 key members of development partners and ministries who steer the process forward in the country. In addition, six specific networks (Government, UN, Donor, Civil Society Alliance, Business Network and Academia and Research) have been formed for streamlined efforts to scale up nutrition in the country.

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Learn more about Scaling Up Nutrition in Pakistan

The Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) and support to the SUN Movement

ENN is a UK registered charity which was set up to improve practice and strengthen the institutional memory of agencies involved in the emergency food and nutrition sectors. ENN focuses on communities in crisis, typically humanitarian emergencies. ENN enables nutrition networking and learning to build the evidence base for nutrition programming in three ways:

• Field Exchange (FEX), an online and print publication on nutrition and food security in emergencies and high burden contexts. Field Exchange is printed three times per year.
• Nutrition Exchange (NEX), is an online publication of short, easy to read articles on nutrition programme experiences and learning. Nutrition is summarised information from the flagship publication, Field Exchange.
• en-net, a free and open resource that helps practitioners access technical advice for operational challenges through the online forum. A specific area for SUN en-net was launched in 2015. Visit SUN en-net ►

ENN is part of the DFID funded Technical Assistance for Nutrition (TAN) programme under which ENN is providing knowledge management services to the SUN Movement in Phase Two (2016-2020). ENN is focused on capturing, curating and disseminating knowledge and learning about nutrition scale up with a focus on high burden and fragile and conflict affected states. Three regional specialists and a Knowledge Management Coordinator are working with country level SUN actors (government, UN, donors, civil society, business and academia) to capture what is being learnt about the scale up of nutrition specific and sensitive activities.