The N4G Summit is a two-day global flagship moment for stakeholders, such as academic institutions and think tanks, governments, and civil society to make and showcase strong actionable commitments aimed at ending malnutrition in all its forms and ensuring that all people have access to safe and nutritious diets. Right now, the world needs a dramatic scale up of long-term policy, programmatic, and financial investment in nutrition interventions in addition to immediate response in the face of rising malnutrition. Academic institutions have an incredibly important role to play in ensuring that the latest evidence informs policy, practice, and programmes to improve nutrition outcomes for all people.

Originating in 2013, N4G has become a global reminder of the strength and resilience of Olympic athletes. Every four years, the Olympic host, takes on the role of the host of the Summit and calls on member states, governments, philanthropies, the private sector, academic and research institutions, think tanks, civil society organistaions, and multilaterals to make bold and new commitments to end malnutrition. The summit is guided by ten Principles of Engagement. This year, due to COVID-19, the vast majority of the Summit will be held virtually.

The Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium (ST4N), formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a unique collaboration of over 50 leading experts in the areas of nutrition, economics, health, and food systems, representing more than 35 organizations from across the globe.

ST4N developed an innovative model to estimate the impact of the pandemic on nutrition outcomes for women and children. Given the ongoing disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Consortium feels that the situation will be more similar to the most pessimistic estimates. Our research indicates that an additional 13.6 million more children will become wasted (low weight for height), 3.6 million children will become stunted (low height for age) and an additional 283,000 children will die from malnutrition by 2022. In addition, an additional 4.8 million more women will suffer from anemia. The additional burden of childhood stunting, and child mortality alone translates to future productivity losses among working-age adults of close to $44 billion.

With these projections, it is imperative that we act together. You can find more information relating to our work in this Nature Food article and summarized in our policy brief: A Resilient Future: Investing Today to Safeguard Tomorrow.

All stakeholders are invited to contribute a commitment to end malnutrition. As part of the N4G Outreach Group, we invite you to consider making new and SMART commitments in alignment with national priorities and in accordance with the N4G pledging criteria, if you have not already done so. Commitments such as new research partnerships, advocacy agendas, alliances and other actions on nutrition would be of immense value. The expertise of world-class academic organizations is needed more than ever to accelerate political momentum.

This year's Summit has three focus pillars around which commitments can be made: Integrating nutrition into Universal Health Coverage, Food Systems Transformation for Nutrition and Addressing Malnutrition in Fragile Contexts. For more information on these focus pillars see The Nutrition for Growth Commitment Guide. The WHO also has a helpful summary and list of resources on integrating nutrition into Universal health coverage.

All commitments will be recorded in the Compact which is the outcome document of the Tokyo N4G Summit. To facilitate the commitment registration process for the Year of Action, the Global Nutrition Report has developed a series of tools (see below) which have been endorsed by the Government of Japan and are in alignment with the N4G Commitment-Making Guide, the N4G Vision and Roadmap and the GNR N4G Commitment Tracker. Pledges can be publicly announced at key N4G Events in 2021 and can be made at any time in the lead to the Summit. Ideally, final commitments would be submitted by mid to late-November 2021. Given this short time frame, if your organization is considering a commitment and would like further support, please feel free to contact us using the information below.

The Government of Japan, the N4G Secretariat, and all partners supporting the organization of the Summit, stand ready to support you to formulate and register your commitment. The Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium will be facilitating a webinar to talk you through Summit details and the commitment making process

The following resources are designed to aid all stakeholders in the commitment-making process:

• Nutrition for Growth Commitment Guide: New N4G commitments made during the Year of Action before December 8, 2021 should be recorded in the Commitment Registration page and Form.

• The Nutrition Accountability Framework is a web-based accountability platform which classifies nutrition actions, methods to qualify commitments on nutrition and, provides tracking tools.

• N4G commitments made at the 2013 and 2017 Summits will continue to be recorded and tracked through the Global Nutrition Report Commitment Tracker.

The Government of Japan will be reaching out in the coming weeks to stakeholders with formal invitations to the Summit, which is why we ask for a contact within your organization.

If you are interested in making a commitment or attending the virtual summit. Your personal information will be sent through the official N4G Outreach Group to the Secretariat working to support the Government of Japan. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at ST4N-N4G@micronutrientforum.org

Individuals who wish to attend the summit can also send their contact details such as email, title & region to ST4N-N4G@micronutrientforum.com. An invitation will then be sent once registration opens.