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National nutrition information systems are essential for assessing the current status and measuring changes in nutritional status of populations, tracking the progress of actions and prioritising efforts toward improving nutrition.

The SUN Movement Strategy and Roadmap (2016-2020) calls for improved access and use of financial resources for nutrition. As a step towards the SUN Movement’s pursuit of this objective, a mapping was undertaken in 2016 of multilateral external (i.e. non-domestic) investments to improve awareness and understanding of nutrition funding sources and how to access them.

Ten high-impact nutrition-specific interventions are identified in the Framework for actions to achieve optimum foetal and child nutrition development. Calls for investment in these interventions continue to grow, most notably, at the groundbreaking Human Capital Summit on the opening day of the 2016 World Bank Annual Meetings.

SUN Countries are working towards demonstrating better use of financial data through improved advocacy, planning and impact which will lead to increased resources from both domestic and external sources. They doing this by regularly and transparently tracking nutrition budget allocations against multi-sectoral nutrition plans.

As of 2017, over two-thirds of SUN Countries have undertaken the SUN Movement Budget Analysis Exercise and the experience is proving to be valuable for cross-country learning exchange and engagement between sectors.

Multi-sectoral nutrition plans endorsed at the highest level, guide collective implementation and resource allocation. Across the SUN Movement, these are often identified as the Common Results Framework (CRF). How this is documented is unique to each country and many include national targets and include actions which have been costed. Regardless of where or how it manifests itself, each step and interaction in the process of negotiating a CRF, add a significant amount of value to the national policy and budget cycle, and to developing the enabling environment for all stakeholders to engage and share common goals.

Costing of individual nutrition investments is an essential step in the process of mobilising resources, whether external or internal to a country. A number of global level efforts to calculate the cost have been undertaken to advocate for increased and more effective investments in nutrition.

In addition, a number of efforts have been made to cost actions within a country’s CRF and the methodologies that can be utilised to undertake costing across nutrition sensitive sectors. A costed CRF is not an end in itself: it is a tool in the process of conceptualising, planning, and initiating action. Subsequently, in June 2015, the Common Results Framework Planning Tool was launched to better understand costed nutrition actions in SUN Countries.

Nutrition champions are integral to building and sustaining political commitment for nutrition. In over 30 SUN Countries, high profile individuals are doing their utmost to make nutrition matter for everyone, everywhere. Each SUN Movement nutrition champion contributes to an increasingly global group of nutrition champions who are galvanizing political attention toward improving nutrition. As high-level champions, their advocacy not only benefits their own nations, but their efforts can inspire other countries that are part of the Movement.

Parliaments have a critical role in influencing budgetary decisions for nutrition throughout the budget cycle. An increasing number of SUN Countries are recognizing the critical role that parliamentarians play in securing necessary laws, policies, financing and equitable implementation of nutrition actions. Actions have included letters from parliamentarians to Permanent Secretaries to ensure nutrition is a political priority of the administration and encouraging Ministers of Finance to host consultations on nutrition investments.

The UN Food Systems Summit, held during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2021 set the stage for global food systems transformation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The Youth Leaders for Nutrition programme was launched in 2018 by the SUN Civil Society Network, in partnership with Save the Children UK, RESULTS UK, and Global Citizen.