UN Network for SUN bands together in Burkina Faso to formulate a UN Nutrition Agenda in pursuit of nutrition gains

Following months of strategic inter-agency work undertaken through a participative process by the members of the UN Network for SUN, the Heads of Agencies endorsed the Joint UN Nutrition Agenda for Burkina Faso, 2016–2020 (Agenda commun des Nations Unies pour la nutrition au Burkina Faso 2016–2020) during a UN Country Team meeting held on 7 June 2017. This helped to give nutrition visibility at the highest level within the United Nations in-country, beyond the five UN agencies (FAO, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP and WHO) which are engaged in the UN Network for SUN (UNN) there. It also reinforced the need for employing and enabling a multi-sectoral approach and collective effort to reduce stunting.

Initiated in early 2016 with the launch of the UN Nutrition Inventory exercise, successive phases of the process unfolded later that year and extended into 2017. Results from the Inventory were leveraged to frame the ensuing work on the UN Nutrition Agenda. They also helped to position the work on the joint agenda within the context of the country’s new national Multi-sectoral Strategic Plan for Nutrition (2016-2020), bolstering the government-led spirit of the SUN Movement. A two-day UNN retreat was organised in mid-July (2016), with the support of REACH, which culminated in the consensus to elaborate a UN Nutrition Agenda. Efforts to draft the Agenda quickly followed suit, whereby REACH – both the global Secretariat and country facilitators – continued to facilitate the process and other UN actors engaged (e.g. UNDP and UNHCR).

The joint agenda articulates four priority areas for achieving an ambitious stunting target of 15.0% by 2020. These areas include:

• strengthening nutrition governance;
• improving infant and young child feeding;
• strengthening health systems; and
• strengthening nutrition-sensitive actions.

Learn more about how REACH is supporting the SUN Movement in Burkina Faso on the REACH website.