SCALING UP NUTRITION (SUN) ALLIANCE RWADA: SUN Civil Society Efforts | October 2016

SUN Alliance creation SUN Alliance in Rwanda creation   In 2014, SUN Alliance was created, bringing together many of the CSOs working on nutrition in the country. To date, SUN Alliance includes 79 civil society members from both local and international CSOs and academia, all actively engaged in scaling up nutrition at country level, whether through programmes directly focusing on nutrition (known as ‘nutrition-specific’ programmes) or programmes that revolve around other sectors but that integrate nutrition aspects (known as “nutrition sensitive” programmes). SUN Civil Society Efforts | April 2016

Challenges Resources(human, finance, materials) especially at district level Misunderstanding on nutrition: Lack of skills in how to access diversed diet Cultural barriers Insufficient Coordination at all level: Insufficient information sharing between different actors in nutrition Food access: in poor households, Climate change SUN Civil Society Efforts | April 2016

Lessons learnt through the work of SUN Alliance Importance of political will and commitment to eliminate malnutrition Collaboration between stakeholders at all levels Decentralization of programs towards combating malnutrition: DPEM committees at district levels Involvement of all relevant Sectors in nutrition effort to eliminate malnutrition: Education, Agriculture, Health, gender,Finance,desaster management SUN Civil Society Efforts | April 2016

Key achievement Awareness raising campaign on nutrition status in Rwanda(2015 and still ongoing) Stakeholders and actions mapping(2015) Advocacy towards Policy makers(2016 and still in progress) Advocacy for improved multi-stakeholder coordination Resource mobilization in progress Learning route (ongoing) SUN Civil Society Efforts | April 2016

Call of action Increased allocation of budget to nutrition activities at National and District level Appoint qualified Nutritionist in Health centers To include nutrition activities in District performance contracts up to family level. Strengthen nutrition education and counseling for behavior change in feeding, WASH and maternal child health. SUN Civil Society Efforts | April 2016

Thank you! Photo: Adam Hinton/Save the Children