SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition) is a global movement that connects governments, civil society organizations, United Nations organizations, donors, businesses and researchers in a collective effort to improve nutrition. SUN was launched in 2010 and to date, 54 countries worldwide have joined the movement, especially in countries with high rates of stunting in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Many countries joining SUN have made remarkable achievements in advocating for the development of nutrition-related policies and mobilizing domestic and foreign resources to expand nutrition activities and improve stunting in children.

Logo of The SUN Movement

According to SUN guidelines, SUN member countries will need to do the following:

• Develop or review national policies, strategies and action plans to scale up nutrition programmes (including both specific interventions and programmes that relate to/affect nutrition)
• Nominate/elect a national focal point responsible for ensuring whole-of-government efforts are coordinated and external support is brought in.
• Nominate/elect a donor convenor to connect the donor community and encourage the direction of financial and technical support for national programs.
• Form or strengthen cross-sectoral cooperation among relevant ministries such as agriculture, health, education, social security, women, local governments and social organizations, businesses, universities, research institutes, donors and the United Nations system (Multi-stakeholder platform). Usually, countries will have a coordinating committee and a working group.
• Conduct regular capacity analyses of country and partner nutrition to identify capacity gaps and set priorities for resource mobilization.
• Consider the costs of specific nutrition interventions and development strategies that impact nutrition as a basis for monitoring financial costs and mobilizing resources

Vietnam officially joined The SUN Movement (Scaling Up Nutrition) in January 2014. SUN Vietnam is currently established on the basis of the Nutrition Cluster co-chaired by the Institute of Nutrition and UNICEF with the participation of government agencies, social organizations, United Nations agencies and domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations.

See more information about SUN Vietnam at

http://scalingupnutrition.org/sun-countries/vietnam