About us

Our vision is that by the end of 2025, the nutritional status of the most vulnerable people is protected in countries at risk of, or with, ongoing situations of fragility.

Our mission is to safeguard and improve the nutritional status of emergency affected populations by ensuring a response that is predictable, timely and effective at scale. 

Our core purpose is to enable country coordination mechanisms to achieve quality and appropriate nutrition response to emergencies. We support country coordination in strategic decision-making, planning and strategy development, capacity building on coordination and IM/KM, advocacy, monitoring and reporting, and contingency planning/preparedness. 

The purpose of a cluster is to help address identified gaps in the humanitarian response and enhance the quality of action

Clusters are groups of humanitarian organizations, both UN and non-UN, in each of the main sectors of humanitarian action, e.g. nutrition, health, WASH, and are designated by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). The Global Nutrition Cluster is one of 11 humanitarian clusters. 

At the global level, the aim of the cluster approach is to strengthen system-wide preparedness and technical capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies, and provide clear leadership and accountability in the main areas of humanitarian response. At country level, it aims to strengthen partnerships, and the predictability and accountability of international humanitarian action, by strengthening capacity and clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of humanitarian organizations, so people know what to do, when to do it and where so the most affected populations are not left out of the response.
 

The GNC is made up of two critical NiE support arms: coordination and information management and programme

The GNC Coordination Team (GNC CT) is the coordination arm of the GNC and provides leadership and stewardship for coordination and functions as the secretariat for the GNC. It is staffed by UNICEF and housed within UNICEF Geneva.​ It represents the GNC partners in global fora and provides strategic leadership, global guidance and operational support to country nutrition clusters/sectors. The GNC-CT ensures that UNICEF’s mandate as a Cluster Lead Agency (CLA) for Nutrition, vis a vis the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is fulfilled.

The GNC Programme Team (GNC PT) is the programme arm of the GNC and is made up of adept and skilled nutrition advisors who provide timely and appropriate support to nutrition actors within humanitarian contexts. Types of support cover IYCF-E, CVA, Wasting, NIS, and MAMI all with the intent to strengthen and improve the nutrition response. Support is provided both in-country and virtually through technical advice, facilitating consensus driven guidance, and providing specialized technical expertise. The GNC PT is led by UNICEF and co-led by Save the Children.

Click here to learn more about GNC support. Click here to request immediate support.

GNC Partners are entities (organizations, groups or individuals) committed to respecting fundamental humanitarian principles, working in Nutrition in Emergencies, who are willing to actively help the GNC fulfill its role and contribute to the GNC work plan. Observers are organisations that are interested in the GNC work, but are not actively contributing to the GNC work plan.  

At global level, the GNC has 51 partners and observers representing International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), research and development groups, academic institutions, UN agencies, donors and individuals. At a country level, in addition to global partners, local authorities, national NGOs and community based organisations are an integral part of each Nutrition Cluster.

The GNC-Strategic Advisory Group (GNC SAG) provides strategic guidance for the delivery of the GNC strategy. The SAG is composed of 12 seats, with permanent seats held by the GNC-CT, The GNC-PT, UNICEF-PG, WFP, WHO and UNHCR and rotational seats held by INGOs, country cluster coordinators, and resource partner representatives. The SAG SOP (including composition) is currently under review in light of the launch of the 2024-2025 GNC Localisation Roadmap. Changes in composition are expected.