SUN Movement experiences in Indonesia

Nina Sardjunani is SUN Lead Group member, and Endang L. Achadi, Professsor in the Faculty of Public Health, University of Indonesia.

Background

Undernutrition rates in Indonesia are high with stunting and wasting affecting 37% and 12% of children under five respectively. There is large regional variation in stunting prevalence, with rates as high as 58% in some parts of the country. Overweight/obesity is also increasingly becoming a significant concern, with 14% of children under five, 20% of children aged five to 12 years, and 33% of women over 18 classified as overweight/obese.

The Republic of Indonesia joined the SUN Movement in 2011 at a time when the Ministry of Health and the Coordinating Ministry of People’s Welfare began the ‘First 1,000 Days of Life Movement’ and Bappenas (the Ministry of National Development Planning) decided to formulate a SUN Policy Framework. This article describes how political and policy commitment was obtained from relevant ministries in Indonesia and led to a Presidential Decree approved and launched in October 2013. The SUN principles were included in the five-year National Medium Term Development Plans for 2015-2019, and the National Action Plan on Food and Nutrition was aligned to the SUN Common Results Framework (CRF) by engaging 13 ministries and two national board/agencies in the process so that nutrition was addressed by multiple stakeholders. The Presidential Decree also mandated the establishment of a coordinating mechanism for a multi-stakeholder, high-level Task Force led by the Ministry of People’s Welfare.

Nutrition-sensitive programmes are in place. These include the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing programme to build water and sanitation facilities, the Ministry of Industry food fortification programmes, and the Ministry of Trade stabilisation of food prices. Both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions have been costed through the budget allocation for each programme and the integration of this into the National Action Plan.

Stakeholder Networks of the Indonesia SUN Movement have also been established under the SUN technical team and include the UN Country Network, the SUN Business Network, the SUN Civil Society Alliance, and the Donor and UN Country Network on Nutrition.

Six Working Groups (Campaign, Advocacy, Training, Planning and Budgeting, Partnership and Environmental Risk Factor Study) have been established and are supported by an Expert Team. Each Working Group convenes meetings to discuss their strategies and programmes. The Networks reflect the SUN approach: government, UN, donor agencies and international agencies are grouped as one network; civil society organisations comprised of academia, professional organisations and NGOs are grouped as a second; and business as a third network.

Some of the implementation challenges linked to the current context include limitations in food availability and diversity due to reduced domestic food production, poor food access due to the decline in purchasing power caused by poverty and unstable food prices, and Indonesia’s double burden of malnutrition. The authors also remark on how Indonesia’s recognition of its current double burden of malnutrition situation has led to a multi-stakeholder approach and considerable buy in at presidential level, but also that significant challenges remain for increased decentralisation at district level to implement the National Plans.