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This blog by Stuart Gillespie was originally featured on the Transform Nutrition website and reflects on the special edition of the Global Food Security Journal on Stories of Change. What knowledge is needed to ride a bike? Is it enough to have a manual? Of course not……

In June 2017, the Elsevier Journal Global Food Security published for the first time, a special edition dedicated to the experiential learnings of Stories of Change in Nutrition. This edition builds on the book “Nourishing Millions: Stories of Change”, launched in 2016 as part of the Stories of Change (SoC) initiative.

Launched in July 2018, Nutrition Exchange Issue 8 features articles on community kitchens and school feeding programmes in Lebanon; Ecuador’s policies to tackle overweight and obesity; efforts in Pakistan to ‘fill the nutrient gap’; initiatives to make agriculture ‘nutrition-sensitive’ in Ethiopia and Zambia; and many other ‘good reads’.

From 1-7 August 2017, the annual World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) will be celebrated across the globe. Coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), WBW thrusts the need to protect, promote and support breastfeeding, into the spotlight.

On 26 July 2017, an event examining SUN Movement progress and partnerships was held at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. The event included a panel of experts working in or with SUN Countries and concluded with questions and answers from the audience.

On 24 July 2017, UN chiefs met with Yemen Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher during a visit to Yemen and witnessed the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the country. They committed to step up combined efforts of their agencies to help the people of Yemen

On 25 July 2017, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched a new Country Strategic Plan in Tanzania. The plan aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and has a specific focus on two of the Sustainable Development Goals – SDG2 and SDG17.

In July 2017, a 2-day dialogue in Sierra Leone brought together parliamentarians and supporters to promote, protect and support breastfeeding. At the workshop at Tokeh beach, the group of officials of the Parliamentary Health and Legislative Committees, Directorate of Food & Nutrition, the Ministry of Health & Sanitation, the SUN Secretariat, Action Against Hunger, UNICEF and partners reviewed the situation of nutrition among children in Sierra Leone and revisited the draft Code on Breastmilk substitutes.

On 24 July 2017, the government of Sudan signed a four-year $72 million agricultural programme with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The goals of the 2017-2020 Country Programming Framework (CPF) to be achieved after three years include..

On 23 July 2017, senior United Nations officials met with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh to discuss cooperation of the UN agencies in the country. UN chiefs Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme and Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF, committed to supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on malnutrition.

During a workshop in July 2017, UNICEF announced recent results stating that Ethiopia has reduced the rate of child malnutrition for children aged 6 to 23 months by 20 percent in sixteen years. The results, dropping from 58 percent in 2000 to 38 percent in 2016, represent significant progress in the fight against malnutrition for the nation.

In July 2017, the World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed US$4.5 million of funding from the European Commission to increase the quality and availability of nutritious food in Niger.

On 30 June 2017, the European Commission – Development & Cooperation, held a conference in Brussels on the European Union (EU) commitment to the SUN Movement and it’s country-led approach to ending malnutrition in all its forms.

On 8 June 2017, the SUN Business Network in Nigeria held a 1-day workshop on “Nutrition Communication and Social Media Marketing” to build the capacity of Network members to deliver good nutrition messages and grow their businesses. The workshop comes at a time where the increase in the use of the internet and social media, especially on information relating to food and nutritional products, has become imperative to strengthen nutrition education with the guidance of communication tools and strategies.

On 4 July 2017, the SUN Business Network (SBN) in Nigeria celebrated their one year anniversary with a grand event in Lagos where they presented their 3-5 year Strategic Business Plan in partnership with Accenture Development. The one-year anniversary titled, “Nutrition: Everyone’s Business”, brought together people from their 61 member companies, in addition to supporters from the United Nations and Civil Society Networks, six government ministries and leaders from industry bodies including the Dean of Lagos Business Schoo

Feature: West and Central African Parliamentarians came together in Burkina Faso to rally behind nutrition as the engine of the SDGs. ENGLISH

On 7 July 2017, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) released a new report revealing the social and economic costs of undernutrition in the nation. The study emphasises the significant losses incurred each year through increased healthcare costs, additional burdens to the education system and reduced workforce productivity. This is estimated at 1.637 billion Congolese francs, or more than $1 billion a year.