At CS-SUNN, we are dedicated to unraveling the intricate relationship between nutrition and the SDGs, illuminating the pathways toward a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable world. Explore this platform to discover how nutrition acts as a linchpin for achieving these global aspirations and the various ways in which we are working to turn these goals into realities.
No Poverty
Poverty is both a cause and effect of malnutrition. Poverty creates conditions that lead to poor consumption and use of nutrients by the body, while poor nutrition damages development and productivity, fueling poverty. CS-SUNN contributes to breaking the cycle of poverty, by promoting better nutrition from the first 1,000 days, throughout childhood and adolescence, up to adulthood. Ensuring that all people, especially the most vulnerable, have access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food is the core of CS-SUNN's mission.
Zero Hunger
CS-SUNN seeks to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms, including underweight, wasting, stunting, overweight, obesity, and micronutrient malnutrition. CS-SUNN's objective is to ensure all people, especially the most vulnerable, demand and have access to enough available, affordable, nutritious, and safe food, year-round. To achieve this, CS-SUNN works through national, regional, and global alliances that provide technical, financial, and policy support to a wide range of public and private organizations, focusing attention on where people get their food from: markets.
Good Health and Well-Being
Better nutrition brings better health and well-being, boosting people’s chances of benefiting from the nutrients they eat. Health systems can be platforms to deliver improved nutrition, for instance, by providing services to encourage breastfeeding; or to help prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like type 2 diabetes. Better nutrition reduces the burden on health services. Where health services are already weak, they risk being overwhelmed by rising rates of NCDs.
Gender Equality
Gender equality recognizes the diversity of different groups of women and men. It is not just a women’s issue; it must also involve and fully engage men. Globally, the chances of being food insecure are higher for women than men, furthermore, women are more vulnerable to certain forms of malnutrition than men. CS-SUNN seeks to make all its programs gender aware and, where relevant and feasible, move towards gender-sensitive or transformative programming, always with the end goal of improving nutrition.
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Policies supporting productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation are key to strong food systems. Cases in point are, CS-SUNN’s Marketplace for Nutritious Foods program, which focuses on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the nutritious food value chain in developing profitable business models and sustainably bringing nutritious and safe foods to market. While the Workforce Nutrition Program focuses on improving nutrition for garment and tea workers.
Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Innovation is one of CS-SUNN’s core values, as supporting and nurturing it has proven to be essential to driving better nutrition within food systems. CS-SUNN works with a range of stakeholders to identify innovations that could change food systems in emerging markets to improve access to safe and nutritious foods. For example, CS-SUNN’s Marketplace for Nutritious Foods program helps to drive increased availability and affordability of nutritious foods such as fish, fruit, and vegetables.
Reduced Inequalities
Better nutrition has intergenerational effects and can help decrease inequality. CS-SUNN’s main target beneficiaries are those on low incomes. Growing the incomes of the bottom 40% means creating the opportunity for all to realize their right to good nutrition as a prerequisite to education and training. Without tackling micronutrient deficiency and stunting, inequality will persist. Good nutrition, especially in the first 1,000 days of life, can increase children's potential and shape future outcomes.
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Our world is urbanizing, and people with all forms of malnutrition call urban areas "home". Urban food and health environments are among the most unequal and unhealthy, but they also provide multiple entry points for policy, program, and business action. CS-SUNN works with cities' multiple stakeholders, including city governments, SMEs, other businesses, and civil society, to rebalance local food systems and improve food environments, now and for the future, through the Urban Governance for Nutrition program.
Responsible Consumption and Production
CS-SUNN is working to support enterprises to increase dietary diversity and the availability of nutritious and safe foods through research, post-harvest loss reduction, and financing programs. CS-SUNN's work on food loss and waste aligns with target 12: halving per capita food waste globally. Bringing together small businesses to learn from each other, co-develop innovative solutions, and come together helps spur the development of cold chain infrastructures, which are key to making perishable, nutritious foods more available and affordable.
Life Below Water
Fish is an important source of nutrition. CS-SUNN believes that a sustainable supply of fish can increase its availability and affordability for low-income consumers. CS-SUNN supports several fish companies in Kenya, Mozambique, and Rwanda through our Marketplace for Nutritious Foods program. In addition, CS-SUNN's Postharvest Loss Reduction program in Indonesia focuses on working with local companies to reduce fish losses to boost the availability and affordability of this important, nutritious food.
Partnerships
CS-SUNN agrees that strengthening the means of SDG implementation through partnerships, capacity, data, accountability, financing, and coherence, as described in this goal, is key. CS-SUNN works in alliances to provide technical, financial, and policy support to the key participants in food systems—governments, the private sector, and consumers—to make these systems more nutrition-sensitive. Working at the intersection of the various elements of food systems, CS-SUNN is well positioned to advance progress in developing food systems for a healthy world.