About the Nutrition Cluster

The Somalia Nutrition Cluster is a coordination mechanism that aims to ensure effective and strategic emergency nutrition responses. The cluster mainly focuses on overall response coordination, partner capacity-building, assessment and emergency preparedness, and improving coverage of emergency nutrition programmes. The Somalia nutrition-response programming uses agreed priorities. It is mainly undertaken by UN agencies, and international and national non-governmental organizations with donor support.

The cluster is guided by the following objectives:

  1. To contribute to the reduction of malnutrition related sickness and mortality among vulnerable boys, girls, pregnant and lactating women through systematic equal access to integrated curative and preventive food-based nutrition interventions;
  2. To improve women, boys and girl’s access to evidence-based and feasible nutrition and nutrition related resilience activities, available through the Basic Nutrition Services Package (BNSP) interventions linking nutrition to Health, WASH, Food Security, Education and Child Protection programmes;
  3. To contribute to the availability of timely and quality community and health centre-based nutrition information, programme coverage and operational research (OR) into responses to the causes of malnutrition and related problems.
  4. To strengthen the coordination and capacity of all nutrition partners including communities and line ministries to deliver quality and sustainable emergency nutrition services through a variety of approaches.

The cluster is responsible for sharing information with its members and other stakeholders, and conducting interagency and multi-cluster situation assessments in Somalia using standard guidelines. The cluster is also responsible for developing the nutrition response package that addresses emergency and non- emergency issues influencing nutrition on a regular basis. The cluster facilitates technical support, and the development of protocols and guidelines for programme implementation, in line with international standards and appropriate Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials for use in stakeholders’ nutrition response.

The cluster advocates mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues into nutrition programming, such as gender, age, HIV/AIDs and human rights. It also advocates innovative strategies for providing nutrition services to vulnerable women and children in highly insecure locations. Appropriate inter-cluster strategies to address the underlying causes of malnutrition are at the core of the cluster’s function.