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 an appropriate 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.

Click here have a quick look at "Who is the GNC". 

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 support arms: coordination and information management and NiE technical

The GNC Coordination Team 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 Technical Alliance is the technical arm of the GNC and is made up of adept and skilled nutrition advisors who provide timely and appropriate technical 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 by providing technical advice, facilitating consensus driven guidance, and providing specialized technical expertise. The TA is led by UNICEF and co-led by Save the Children.

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.

GNC Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) provides strategic support to guide direction of GNC affairs. The SAG is composed of representatives from GNC partners: three NGO partners, four UN agencies (UNICEF, WFP and UNHCR are standing members), two donor representatives and one Nutrition Cluster Coordinator.

The Rapid Response Team (RRT) is one option for sourcing surge/temporary support for Clusters and AoRs. The RRT ensures that high level deployable surge staff are secured to ensure that the cluster functions can be supported or established in the event of a sudden onset crisis or if an existing crisis escalates dramatically. Either remote or in-country support is provided for up to three weeks to strengthen the coordination and information management capacity of any country during nutrition in emergencies and humanitarian crises, when requested. The RRT consists of four experienced professionals - two Nutrition Cluster Coordinators and two Information Management Officers - with the proven technical capacity and nutrition expertise to support countries in meeting the needs and priorities of at risk and crisis affected people. RRT members can provide dedicated surge capacity to any country office and are available within 72 hours (pending visa requirements), enabling a timely and coordinated nutrition response.

If longer term support is needed, please click here to read about the support options available. However, keep in mind that it is the responsibility of the country office to organise for and recruit a longer-term NCC or IMO. Please contact us to request support.