SUN-Civil Society Alliance: PPAF elected as Chair, Executive Council member for two years

Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) has been elected as Chair and an Executive Council member for the next two years by the Executive Council Member Organizations of SUN-Civil Society Alliance. The first Executive Council meeting was hosted and chaired by PPAF in its premises recently, which 13-member organisations and the SUN-CSA Secretariat participated.
Recently, a second Executive Council election was formed by the SUN-CSA Secretariat, in which 15 national/international organizations were elected as Executive Council members through a secret ballot amongst 156 leading civil society organisations working on nutrition all over Pakistan.
Pakistan signed the global SUN (Scaling up Nutrition) Movement - a unique movement founded on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition - in 2013. SUN-CSA Pak is a national nutrition civil society network created with the goal to promote sustainable improvement and the nutritional status of the people of Pakistan. This would be done by creating a strong, coordinated and vibrant civil society constituency which would support further development and wider implementation of the nutrition agenda.
Qazi Azmat Isa, CEO PPAF, while sharing national indicators, pointed out that in Pakistan, under-nutrition is a distressing situation; 44% of children's growth is stunted and 40% of children are underweight. Now through this platform there is a need to devise a way forward and to recognise how EC members and Secretariat - in their own and organisational capacities - will play a role in eliminating malnutrition and food poverty in Pakistan.
Dr Naseer Muhammad Nizamani, the Country Director Nutrition International Pakistan and the General Secretary of SUN-CSA Pak shared that the current malnutrition crisis in Pakistan has been estimated to cost the economy $7.6 billion annually, which is nearly 3% of Pakistan Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He highlighted that the second phase of SUN-CSA's strategy is to remain focused on translating momentum into results, for those who suffer due to malnutrition. It presents a practical vision of how we can all work together toward the vision of a world without malnutrition, by 2030.
SUN-CSA Pak has also developed its five year strategic plan (2016-2020) in light of the global SUN-CSA movement strategy, in which activities are clubbed under four broad categories/themes; "Advocacy & Awareness Raising," "Monitoring and Accountability," "Networking" and "Capacity Building of Members."
Samia Liaqat Ali Khan - Senior Group Head at PPAF &Chairperson of SUN-CSA - concluded the meeting and thanked Executive Council members for showing confidence in PPAF. She emphasised the need for a three-fold approach linking capacity and knowledge, building and advocacy as well as a grass roots implementation of nutrition-focused activities. She expressed her hope for working in close collaboration with all Executive Council members to take SUN-CSA Pak's contribution in the fight against malnutrition to all new heights.-PR