- Home
- Mandate
- Structure
- Chair
- Steering Committee
- Constituencies
- Working Groups
- Task Forces
- Secretariat
- SCN and the Private Sector
- Activities
- Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
- Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN)
- Nutrition & NCD
- Food & Nutrition
Resource Portal - Harmonized Training Package
- Nutrition and Climate change eGroup
- The SCN Network
- Annual Sessions & Meetings
- Publications
- Statements
- Nut-Working
- Awards
- Announcements
- UNSCN Working Groups
- UNSCN Task Forces
- Links
SCN Structure
The SCN is mandated to promote cooperation among UN agencies and partner organizations in support of community, national, regional, and international efforts to end hunger and malnutrition in all forms in this generation. The SCN structures and functions exist to support the overall effort, to do what no single agency, acting alone, can do.
The SCN is governed by a Chair and a Steering Committee. Ramiro Lopes da Silva (Deputy Executive Director of WFP) is the eleventh Chair since the SCN was established in 1977. He chairs the Steering Committee which includes key nutrition actors in the UN agencies and representatives of the Bilateral and NGO/Civil Society constituencies.
The SCN network is open to all and includes most of the major players in the international food and nutrition arena. SCN membership is primarily determined by institutional affiliation among its three constituencies, namely the UN Agencies, the Bilateral Partners (donor and recipient countries together representing their governments) and the Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations (NGO/CSO).
Through thematic Working Groups, participants take an active role in the work of the SCN, promoting the successful implementation of programmes, sharing advocacy and review tasks in the substantive areas deemed of greatest importance by the collective SCN body.
In 2006, the Steering Committee established three Task Forces that address cross-cutting areas such as advocacy and monitoring.
The Secretariat is hosted by WHO in Geneva, headed by the SCN Executive Secretary and staffed by two Technical Officers and one administrative position. It carries out tasks assigned by the SCN, supports the Chair in executing his or her executive functions, facilitates the work of the Steering Committee, and acts dynamically to strengthen networking and ensure follow-up.
The SCN acknowledges the private commercial sector, and especially the food and drink and associated industries, as important actors engaged in nutrition related activities. The SCN has developed guidelines for interacting with the private sector, especially those industries with commercial interest in the nutritional nature and quality of food and drink, with the intention among other issues of being open and clear about potential conflicts of interest, and ensuring that these aspects are adequately managed. Read more about the SCN and interaction with the Private Sector.
Follow us on Twitter