In the first half of 2025, the Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) as a leading civil society voice on nutrition, delivered impactful interventions spanning policy engagement, evidence-based advocacy, capacity building, digital system upgrades and technical assistance to other African Civil Society Alliances (CSAs). These achievements reflect a deliberate push to influence nutrition governance, financing, and policy implementation, with outcomes that support the National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Nutrition (NMPAN) and contribute to achieving national and global nutrition targets whilst positioning CS-SUNN not only as a national change agent but also as a key player in Africa’s multisectoral nutrition ecosystem.

Global Nutrition Solidarity: Technical Assistance to Kenya, Tanzania, and CS-SUNN’s Role at the 2025 N4G

As part of its commitment to advancing nutrition systems across Africa, CS-SUNN in May 2025 provided technical assistance to sister Civil Society Alliances (CSAs)—SUN CSA Kenya and PANITA Tanzania—under the Partnership for Improving Nigeria Nutrition Systems (PINNS) 3.0 project, focusing on strengthening the institutionalization of these CSAs.

In Kenya, CS-SUNN:

  • Supported the design and implementation of a baseline study to assess institutional readiness, financing structures, and policy advocacy capacities for MMS programming.
  • Co-developed a results framework with milestones for MMS integration into Kenya’s national nutrition strategy.
  • Facilitated technical exchange sessions and shared advocacy tools that have been effective in Nigeria.

In Tanzania, CS-SUNN:

  • Conducted an organizational capacity assessment (OCA) for PANITA, evaluating governance, program management, and stakeholder coordination.
  • Co-led knowledge-sharing workshops to strengthen PANITA’s advocacy voice in national dialogues and MMS policy inclusion.
  • Provided targeted support in the development of a country-specific MMS scale-up roadmap, including domestic resource mobilization strategies.

These South-South partnerships are emblematic of CS-SUNN’s leadership in Africa’s nutrition space and directly support SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals, SDG 2 Zero Hunger and WHO’s Global Nutrition Targets 2025.

Cross-border engagements also positioned CS-SUNN to support Nigeria’s delegation at the 2025 Nutrition for Growth Summit in Paris held in March. In a historic first, CS-SUNN co-organized and led an official side event titled “Closing the Financing Gap for Nutrition through Country-Specific Commitments and Accountability”, in partnership with SDG2 Advocacy Hub, N4D, and the SUN Civil Society Network. This event featured global experts and government officials from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania, the Gates Foundation, and the World Bank.  The event facilitated cross-country peer learning and allowed Nigerian voices—such as SUN Focal Point Mrs. Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi (mni), SSA to the President on Public Health Mrs. Uju Rochas-Anwukah, and Hon. Chike Okafor, Chair of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security—to articulate the country’s multi-level approach to tackling malnutrition. It further served as a powerful platform to advance conversations on country-driven financing strategies and accountability for nutrition. Discussions focused on unlocking domestic financing, institutionalizing accountability, and repositioning nutrition within national development priorities.

 

System Strengthening: Upgrading Nigeria’s Nutrition Performance Management System (PMS)

In April 2025, CS-SUNN facilitated the successful upgrade and revalidation of the Performance Management System (PMS)—a digital platform now owned by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and used by MDAs to report and analyse quarterly performance on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

Through a Training-of-Trainers (ToT) workshop held May this year in Abuja, CS-SUNN also supported the FMBEP to build the capacity of MDAs to navigate the upgraded platform, identify and resolve bugs, and generate real-time reports aligned with the national nutrition monitoring framework.

Key outcomes of the PMS training include:

  • Enhanced dashboard design with colour-coded analytics for performance tracking.
  • Introduction of mobile app access and offline functionality to improve data reporting in hard-to-reach areas.
  • Improved user interface, login protocols, and integration with Power BI for visualization.

This intervention has strengthened Nigeria’s capacity for evidence-based decision-making and accountability in nutrition programming at both federal and state levels.

 

State-Level Advocacy: Advancing Maternal Protection and Nutrition Financing in Nigeria.

In Borno State, Katsina, Sokoto, Kano and Niger states CS-SUNN with support from UNICEF (from February to March 2025) led a series of advocacy visits and hosted high-level breakfast meetings with key decision-makers from the Ministries of Health, Budget, Women Affairs, Agriculture, Head of service and other key MDAs. The dialogues focused on:

  • The adoption of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) as a sustainable financing mechanism.
  • Extension of paid maternity leave to six months to support exclusive breastfeeding.
  • Timely release of nutrition funds and integration of nutrition indicators into state planning frameworks.

Only recent these advocacies have yielded results with the Cross River and Niger State governments approving 6 months paid maternity leave for civil servants.

 

CS-SUNN Marks IWD 2025: Celebrating Civil Society Voice for Women’s empowerment to advance Nutrition

To commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025, CS-SUNN launched an advocacy campaign in March 2-25 that elevated the voices of Nigerian women, particularly at the grassroots level, in alignment with the global theme for the year. The campaign sought to spotlight the lived realities, contributions, and aspirations of women as critical drivers of nutrition outcomes across homes and communities.

Key components of the campaign included:

  • Tales of Nigerian Women Blog Series: A collection of compelling blog articles was published, titled “Tales of Nigerian Women.” These pieces documented real-life stories from grassroots women across Nigeria—highlighting how they are navigating issues around food access, child nutrition, and community leadership. The stories served as advocacy tools and were widely circulated to humanize nutrition.
  • User generated responses on IWD: CS-SUNN collated and widely disseminated over 50 powerful messages and calls to action from participants across the country, advocating for women’s rights, Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) practices, and women’s empowerment as critical drivers for advancing nutrition outcomes in Nigeria.

 

Deepening Civil Society Sub-National Engagements: Empowering State Chapters for Grassroots Impact

In Abia State, CS-SUNN successfully launched its state chapter and inaugurated a coalition of 25 member organizations expanding its presence to 30 states plus the FCT. The chapter has since become a catalyst for policy dialogue, leading to commitments from the State House of Assembly to develop a nutrition policy framework and explore opportunities for domestic funding for nutrition programmes.

As part of its commitment to strengthening nutrition at the grassroots, CS-SUNN’s Delta State Chapter enhanced the capacity of its member organizations through targeted trainings on basic proposal writing, project management, and homestead gardening. The homestead gardening component was promoted as a sustainable strategy to boost household-level food and nutrition security, particularly in underserved communities.

In Oyo State, CS-SUNN supported the successful hosting of the Annual Public Lecture in honour of Professor Rasaki Sanusi, held in Ibadan. Themed “Food Price Inflation and Nutrition Security: Innovative Solutions for Low- and Middle-Income Households in Nigeria,” the lecture convened stakeholders from academia, government, and civil society. Discussions centered on practical, nutrition-sensitive strategies for navigating rising food costs, including backyard gardening, consumption of alternative protein sources, micronutrient-rich local foods, and indigenous food swaps. The event amplified the urgent need for context-appropriate solutions to mitigate the impact of food price inflation on vulnerable populations.

Upcoming Strategic Activities

In the coming quarters, CS-SUNN will conduct a formative study to establish baseline data on anaemia funding commitments through the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and assess the uptake of Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) across focal states.

Additionally, CS-SUNN will support the integration of the Performance Management System (PMS) into the Nigeria Food and Nutrition Information System (NFNIS) dashboard to improve data coordination and accountability.

The alliance will also review national and state policies to identify gaps and ensure the effective integration of the National Guideline for Women and Girls’ Empowerment for Optimal Nutrition into relevant nutrition and gender frameworks.