Uganda SUN Business Network launches its strategy

Nutrition status in Uganda According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBS), Uganda has a high burden of malnutrition, with over 29% of children aged 6-59 months stunted, 4% wasted, 11% underweight, and another 4% overweight. More than one-third of all young children, or 2.4 million, are stunted, and half of children under five and one-quarter of child-bearing-age women are anemic. UBS also indicates that 3% of adolescents were overweight and 0.5% of adolescents.

With the above statistics, Uganda has made progress in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, with the concerted effort of multiple stakeholders, including the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the World Food Programme (WFP). However, chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition persist, with Uganda facing the triple burden of malnutrition, under-nutrition, and micronutrient deficiency. The country grapples with stunting and increasingly faces the emergence of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The SUN Movement

Uganda joined the Global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in 2011. The SUN Movement, led by country governments, brings together civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses, and researchers in collective efforts to improve nutrition. The SUN Business Network in Uganda was established in September 2022.

SBN’s purpose is to mobilise and strengthen the private sector to invest in improved business practices that contribute to better nutrition, with a particular focus on strengthening the role of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) given the high proportion of food that is produced and sold locally by these business actors.

The SBN strategy launch

The SUN Business Network Uganda on Thursday, June 22, launched its 8-year strategy to help in interventions that will additionally support the nutrition target for Vision 2040, to have zero prevalence of stunting. The Minister of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Hon Francis Mwebesa, officially launched the strategy in a gathering graced by the agencies and other stakeholders that support the vision of the network, as well as traders and industrialists in the food production chain.

SBN Uganda is part of a multi-stakeholder, government-led effort to implement the Uganda Nutrition Action Plan 2020/21–2024/25. This SBN Strategy will support the implementation of strategy 2.7 of the UNAPII, which is to increase the participation of trade, industry, and investment actors in scaling up nutrition. This SBN strategy recognises that businesses have comparative advantages in promoting good nutrition for all and also that nutrition provides opportunities for businesses to expand sales and profits.

SBN strategy

This strategy document presents an overview of the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network (SBN) Uganda, the context in which it is operating, its strategic priorities, governance arrangements, and budget. This first version of the Uganda SBN strategy serves as a working document to help guide national SBN and business action in the country. As such, this strategy is not a static document and will continue to evolve as more stakeholders get involved and the SBN’s knowledge and evidence base grows. SBN Uganda will regularly ‘test’ its strategic approach and underpinning program logical framework to ensure continuous improvement.

The vision of the strategy is aligned with the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement vision: ‘A country free of all forms of malnutrition by 2030.’

Strategic objectives:

1. To drive business action to sustainably enhance and scale up capacity and contributions to nutrition with a focus on safe, quality, nutritious, and affordable diets.
2. To strengthen business accountability through national, collaborative mechanisms to connect and support businesses in defining and tracking nutrition actions, together with all relevant business and non-business stakeholders, including other SUN Networks.
3. To sustainably engage with government actors and enable them to recognize the positive role of businesses in reaching nutrition goals by creating a supportive policy and regulatory environment for business action.
4. The purpose of the SBN strategy is to contribute to the reduction of malnutrition in all its forms by mobilizing the private sector in Uganda to commit to and invest in improved business practices that contribute to national nutrition priorities as reflected in the second Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (UNAPII) and the 3rd National Development Plan (NDPIII).

Click SBN Uganda Strategy – Final to download the strategy.