MANILA, Philippines – United Nations Secretary-General Antonió Guterres has appointed Filipina agriculture entrepreneur Cherrie Atilano as a high-level ambassador to the UN’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, which seeks to eliminate all forms of malnutrition across the world by 2030.

Atilano received the appointment for her work in combating malnutrition in the Philippines through community initiatives focusing on rural development and sustainable agriculture. She will serve as ambassador to the UN’s SUN movement until 2021.

As a UN ambassador, Atilano is tasked to support the efforts of 60 countries, including the Philippines, to combat malnutrition. Atilano is also in charge of providing “strategic oversight” and accountability for the project’s results.

Atilano has earned several awards for her work to promote food security and sustainable agriculture in the Philippines. Among these awards include The Outstanding Young Men and Women (TOYM) in 2018, first Awardee of Women of the Future Social Entrepreneur in SouthEast Asia, and was named one of The Outstanding Women in the Nation Service (TOWNS) in 2016.

Atilano also serves as an Advisory Board Member of the World Bank Solutions for Youth Employment. 

Atilano currently serves as CEO and president of Agrea Agricultural Systems Internaional Inc based in Marinduque. The company seeks to create “the first replicable model of a one-island economy that is zero hunger, zero waste, and zero insufficiency.” (WATCH: Making agriculture a viable career for millennials)

Atilano is joined by other UN SUN ambassadors, including Henrietta Fore (Unicef executive director), Shenggen Fan (International Food Policy Research Institute director general), Inger Ashing (Save the Children CEO), and 23 other global leaders. – Rappler.com