The United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) is the food and nutrition policy harmonization forum of the United Nations.
The UNSCN was created in 1977 as the ACC Subcommittee on Nutrition. At that time it was accountable to the Administrative Committee on Coordination of the UN (ACC). As a result of the UN Reform of the ACC (which was renamed as the Chief Executives Board CEB), the Subcommittee continued its functions as the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN). It reported to the CEB.
The UNSCN 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 UNSCN structures and functions exist to support the overall effort, to do what no single agency, acting alone, can do.
The UNSCN is governed by a Chair and an Executive Committee. Michel Mordasini (Vice-President of IFAD) is the twelfth Chair since the SCN was established in 1977. He chairs the Executive Committee which includes key nutrition actors in the UN agencies.
The Secretariat is hosted by FAO in Rome, headed by the UNSCN Executive Secretary and staffed by one Technical Officer and one administrative position. It carries out tasks assigned by the UNSCN, supports the Chair in executing his or her executive functions, facilitates the work of the Executive Committee, and acts dynamically to strengthen networking and ensure follow-up.
The UNSCN vision is a world free from hunger and malnutrition, where there are no longer impediments to human development.
The mandate of the UNSCN is to promote cooperation among UN agencies and partner organizations in support of community, national, regional, and international efforts to end malnutrition in all of its forms in this generation. It will do this by refining the direction, increasing the scale and strengthening the coherence and impact of actions against malnutrition world wide, and raise awareness of nutrition problems and mobilize commitment to solve them at global, regional and national levels.