Scaling Up Nutrition - Learning and Evaluation (SUN LE) is a four-year project providing survey, research, evaluation, and data-dissemination services to the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ), USAID, and other cooperating partners to improve health and nutrition outcomes for Zambians.

In late 2010, the Zambian Government became one of the first countries in the world to join the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement – a global initiative uniting citizens, civil society, businesses, and governments in a worldwide exercise to end under-nutrition and child stunting.  SUN Zambia aims to improve child nutrition status by emphasizing a decrease in Zambia’s critically high rates of under-five stunting, currently at 40 percent. 

SUN LE supports Zambia’s SUN (currently in its second phase, SUN 2.0) 1000 most critical days program and stakeholders with key information and data to facilitate learning for improved program management, achieve SUN 2.0 nutrition goals, and support the program’s accountability through tracking outcomes. The project is implemented at the national level, and in 30 priority districts in 10 provinces.

SUN LE is an adjunct to another USAID-funded activity, Scaling Up Nutrition Technical Assistance (SUN TA), which provides empirical data to support the GRZ in SUN planning and costing, and in direct implementation of nutrition interventions at the district and ward levels. SUN LE also conducts biennial performance audits on SUN TA and the broader SUN 2.0 program.

USAID SUN LE evaluates the impact of USAID, cooperating partners, and GRZ initiatives to reduce childhood stunting and improve nutrition across the country.  USAID’s SUN LE encourages a culture of learning and adaptive management through baseline, mid-line, and end-line surveys, focused studies, and performance audits.

USAID’s SUN LE provides secretariat support to the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC).  The NFNC leads the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Technical Working Group (TWG) through an existing Government M&E system to allow for the sustainability of the TWG operations when the project ends.  NFNC facilitates information sharing across the TWG through an online platform.  This platform will remain in place indefinitely to encourage continued learning and sharing.  NFNC’s website will be a source for interactive data sharing and up-to-date, relevant publications and reports.

SUN LE conducts Provincial Coaches’ training, intended to cascade data-utilization skills and contribute to building a national culture of data-driven planning and decisions, to improve nutrition programming in the country.

JOURNEY TO SELF-RELIANCE

USAID believes every person, every community, and every country wants to be empowered to lead their own future. We support self-reliance by walking alongside our friends on their development journey, as evolving but enduring partners.  As partners on this journey, we are empowering host country governments and our partners to achieve locally-sustained results, helping countries mobilize public and private revenues, strengthening local capacities, and accelerating enterprise-driven development.  This approach fosters stable, resilient, and prosperous countries that are more self-reliant, and prioritizes enduring partnerships.