In October 2019, Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance (SUN CSA) Vietnam launched in Hanoi. The inauguration event brought together 25 participants from civil society organizations, the Government Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, Ministry of Health, National Institute of Nutrition, Women’s Union, and other stakeholder agencies.

SUN CSA Vietnam, part of the global SUN Movement, is a coalition of civil society organizations with a shared vision of improving nutrition in Vietnam. There are currently nine civil society member organizations: HealthBridge Foundation of Canada, Save the Children, World Vision, Plan International, ChildFund, Alive & Thrive, Helen Keller International, Centre for Community Health Promotion, and MCNV. HealthBridge is the co-chair of the Alliance.

The goal of SUN CSA Vietnam is to mobilize civil society organizations and work with the Government and other stakeholders to amplify nutrition as a development priority and sustain commitments and budget allocations, while aligning national priorities to effectively tackle all forms of malnutrition in Vietnam. The Alliance also presents an opportunity to bring civil society organizations together and support them to participate in key nutrition policy processes and engage with policymakers at national and subnational levels toward improving nutrition outcomes for all Vietnamese people, especially for women and children.

Recently, SUN CSA received a grant from the SUN Movement to implement a nutrition project between March and December 2020. This project has 3 components: 1) improve maternal and child nutrition care services in an industrial zone in Hai Phong province; 2) capacity building for SUN CSA members; and 3) advocacy during the development of the National Nutrition Strategy 2021-2030. SUN CSA completed a capacity assessment to examine the needs of the members.

The Alliance is also working with the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs to focus on the first 1000 days in their government plan for ethnic minority people from 2020-2030. In addition, SUN CSA is working with Care and UN Women to identify advocacy opportunities related to workplace lactation room(s).