UN names UNICEF veteran to lead Scaling Up Nutrition Movement

Afshan Khan will serve as the next coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced Monday. Khan is currently UNICEF regional director for Europe and Central Asia, as well as the special coordinator for the refugee and migrant response in Europe. She replaces Gerda Verburg, who held the position for more than six years and under whose tenure four countries and four Indian states joined the movement. The Scaling Up Nutrition, or SUN, Movement is a country-driven network that includes U.N. agencies, civil society, donors, businesses, and researchers, all of which work together to support countries in achieving their nutrition targets. “I’m thrilled to welcome Afshan Khan into this important role,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, chair of the SUN Lead Group. “She brings with her extensive experience within the UN system and across civil society, in addition to a proven drive for results that has especially benefited the most vulnerable.” Khan will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the SUN Movement’s third phase, which began in 2021 and lasts until 2025. The movement, which currently comprises 65 countries and four Indian states, focuses on country-led approaches to improving nutrition security by creating “focal points” inside governments that are responsible for pushing for better food and nutrition policy. “In her new assignment, she will work to ensure the execution of the Scaling up Nutrition strategy at the global level by building partnerships, and galvanizing engagement and commitment to end malnutrition in all its forms,” the U.N. said in a press release announcing the appointment. What’s on the rest of Khan’s résumé? While Khan has a wealth of U.N. system experience, she has little in food and nutrition system-focused roles. In contrast, prior to leading the movement, Verburg had served as the Netherlands’ agriculture minister as well as its ambassador to the U.N.’s Rome-based food organizations and served as chair of the U.N. Committee on World Food Security. Khan joined UNICEF in 1989 in Mozambique and has served in a variety of other positions with the organization, including director of emergency programs; director of public sector alliances and resource mobilization; and representative in Jamaica. She also had assignments with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee for Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, the executive office of the U.N. Secretary-General, and the United Nations Development Group. Outside the U.N., Khan served as the CEO of Women for Women International from 2012 to 2014. When will she take office? The coordinator role has been vacant since December 2022, when Verburg left the Geneva-based position to return to the Netherlands. A spokesperson for the SUN Movement said Khan’s start date is yet to be announced.