Newsletter from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

Dear Reader,

These are testing times for everyone working to improve diets, but it is also a time of opportunity.?

Development assistance has been a bedrock of nutrition work for decades, and today it is under pressure from many sides – paying for population movements, wars, conflict, and with reduced government spending in many donor countries.?

But nutrition, food, and the environment are increasingly recognised as being intertwined. Recently, The Economist weighed in with an opinion piece (Food for Thought July 13, 2024) arguing that investing in nutrition is a low-cost, high return investment which prevents death and boosts human capital from childhood to adulthood, improving IQs, and supporting growth. And at the last big climate negotiation, COP28 in the UAE, leaders finally recognised that food systems are a major source of emissions – 30%+ - and that the massive investments around climate can also be harnessed for better nutrition.

So we are now in a different world, one where huge opportunity exist for better nutrition if it builds on from the proven public service led interventions, around infant and maternal health, to the wider canvas of investment in sustainable food systems and healthier diets. ?

Why don’t development banks do more to support nutritious food value chains? How can we leverage multibillion public investment around the environment to strengthen food security and promote healthier diets? How can we support governments and donors to link public and private investment to better assist those in society who face food insecurity and vulnerability to climate shocks to improve their resilience, health and nutrition? ?

Next year in March, the French Government will host in Paris the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit which is organised every four years by the Olympic host to address these questions. We all need to engage and support this effort.

GAIN is?working?to deliver?impactful initiatives?which can make a contribution to reshaping diets for better nutrition outcomes for the 3 billion who cannot afford a healthy diet.?Below is a snapshot of?activities from?the first half of 2024.?We look forward to continuing to?share?our work and impact with you, and welcome your feedback.

Lawrence Haddad

Executive Director at GAIN

GAIN, in partnership with Incofin Investment, ushers in a new way of supporting food systems in Africa

This March, we launched the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F). Years in the making, N3F is ready to invest. It is a commercial fund that makes short - and medium-term loans to companies in nutritious food value chains located in any sub-Saharan African country with a moderate risk profile. Eligible companies should have had a minimum turnover of USD 1 million for the last three years and need to be profitable. Learn more.

EATSafe assures its legacy

March also saw the progression of the Codex Alimentarius Guidelines for Traditional Markets to a near-final stage. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally adopted food standards, guidelines, and codes of practice that aim to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in food trade. GAIN provided technical assistance for these guidelines to be developed provided extensive contributions of content and supported the national authorities leading the effort (Kenya and Bolivia). GAIN’s flagship project, ‘EatSafe’ also contributed to the 77th World Health Assembly deliberations on food safety. Hear our official statement here.

Fresh food markets take over Mozambique

GAIN built two food markets in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, one for a community of about 25,000 people lacking any food sales hub, and another in a central area managed through a public-private partnership. GAIN also helped create a group of mobile vegetable vendors ("nutribike") to distribute produce from these markets to other communities in Pemba. Learn more here.

50 Million Maternal Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) Sold in Bangladesh

Sales of maternal micronutrient supplements in Bangladesh hit 50 million. Collaborating with the Social Marketing Company of Bangladesh (SMC), “FullCare” was launched in July 2021 and despite challenges such as the COVID pandemic, reached this major milestone this year. It continues to be the only market-based MMS project worldwide delivering the UNICEF/WHO formulated product, and SMC has successfully rolled out FullCare across 62 districts and over 40,000 outlets. Explore GAIN Bangladesh here.

School feeding in Tanzania

Responding to the Tanzanian government’s requirement that schools should provide nutrient-rich staples (either industrially fortified or biofortified) in school meals, GAIN Tanzania has developed an interesting overlay of our Large Scale Food Fortification and Nutrient Enriched Crops programmes. Small millers are organised into associations?and given start-up seed capital, which facilitates a buy back revolving fund for purchasing dosifier machines. These machines?measure and dispense set amounts of vitamins, minerals, or other fortifying agents into food products?safely and within required fortification standards. Additionally, there is an option for a subsidised machine developed by GAIN and produced in-country. The fortification premix is supplied via GAIN’s Global Premix Facility. Learn More

Climate Change finds a place on the table at the 77th World Health Assembly

The WHA Resolution on Climate and Health has come at a perfect moment to re-emphasize these critical connections between food systems, climate change and human health. GAIN emphatically supports the call for coherent and holistic approaches to these interlinked challenges. Hear our official statement here.

Launched three related projects in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Mozambique

Through these projects, to increase access to foods with maximum nutrition for minimum environmental impact including lentils, tempeh, and small fish as part of the Nourishing Food Pathways programme, we at GAIN are working to address several environmental issues such as reducing food loss and waste, improving soil health, and increasing the resilience of the supply chain of nutritious foods. Not only do we hope the work in these selected value chains will have environmental benefits, but will also help to address nutrition challenges such as low protein/pulse consumption and micronutrient deficiencies. Learn more about Nourishing Food Pathways.

Successfully grew the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN) including securing new funding to provide greater support at the national level?

Following the launch of the?global baseline report?in October 2023, GAIN has continued to co-lead the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN). I-CAN is increasingly looking for opportunities to accelerate action at the national level and deep-dive reviews have been conducted in India, Ghana, and Zambia. The initiative has secured further funding to enable greater support at the national level going forward.?Learn more about I-CAN.

Continued to fly the flag for nutrition within food systems, health, and climate spaces??

GAIN played an important role in coordinating food systems actors by creating event resources and communication channels at COP28. Our team are also engaging with the Baku Presidency for COP29, where health is expected to feature prominently, and where we hope to continue advocating for inclusion of environment-nutrition considerations.??At the 77th?World Health Assembly, GAIN helped organise an I-CAN roundtable with participation from Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Germany, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, and representatives of WHO, SUN, UNOPS, and other partners to share insights on opportunities to integrate nutrition and environment in national policies following the adoption of the Climate and Health resolution.? Learn more about GAIN at COP28.

Youth Leadership Steps Forward

Youth Leadership Initiative which aims to support young people to elevate, collaborate, and act for healthier, just, and more sustainable food systems through youth-led collective action. It is now being rolled out through ACT4FOOD and in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Tanzania. Find out more about ACT4FOOD.

Fortify the Future

GAIN successfully reached 1.5 billion people with fortified and biofortified foods, surpassing our initial target for 2027. Given this achievement, we revised our numbers, striving towards giving 1.65 billion people healthier diets. Find out more about advocating for food fortification.

Women in the Workforce

Our Workforce Nutrition programmes in Malawi, Kenya, and India showed significant increase in diet quality across all settings. We saw improvements of 50% to 78% In India ?and 36% to 71% in Malawi,? of women consuming diverse nutritious foods.

Find out more about workforce nutrition here.

Empowering Decisions with Dashboards

The Food Systems Dashboard has launched its first five? subnational food systems dashboards, in Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan - providing detailed data which often needed to inform policies and programmes across governments

Check out the Food Systems Dashboard here.

At GAIN, publications and reports are vital as they offer rigorously researched data and analysis, which are essential for designing effective and targeted programmes. These documents also play a critical role in shaping policy decisions by presenting evidence-based recommendations to policymakers, thereby helping to implement sustainable and impactful nutritional interventions. In the last six months, we’ve published multiple pieces covering a range of diverse themes. Find out more here.

?Some key papers over the last six months:

1. Food Systems Countdown Policy Report
2. Working Paper: Impact of Gender Norms on Children’s Diets
3. Turning resolution into action: Implementing the World Health Assembly Resolution on Food Fortification

Act4Food founder and champion wins the Global Citizen Prize

Sophie Healy-Thow, GAIN's Youth Campaign Coordinator was awarded with the Global Citizen Prize for her work in advancing food security and mobilising youth to join the movement through Act4Food. This is a youth-led campaign which mobilises the power of young people to call for a global food system which provides everyone with access to safe, affordable, and nutritious diets, while simultaneously protecting nature, tackling climate change, and promoting human rights. Act4Food itself went through an extensive re-brand process and a new cohort of leaders was inaugurated.

GAIN is highly performing in the gender equality and diversity rankings

GAIN has received recognition as very high performer in the 2024 Global Health 50/50 Report. This report presents a detailed analysis of gender equality and diversity in global health leadership across 201 organisations active in global health. Drawing on seven years of annual assessments, and for the first time reviewing the data for the nonprofit (UN, multi- and bi-laterals, NGOs, etc) and the for-profit sectors separately, the Report finds that important progress has been made, including reaching gender parity among nonprofit board members. More here.

Africa School Feeding Day?

March began with Africa School Feeding Day themed “Investing in Home Grown School Feeding to transform education systems - for an inclusive and prosperous future of the African Continent”. Here is how GAIN in Tanzania is investing in homegrown school feeding and improving nutrition for students.?Read the full blog here.

International Women’s Day?

On Women’s Day, we celebrated the remarkable contributions of women and girls in the food system and beyond. This year, we released a powerful episode of the Interview Cruncher, featuring experts Anthony Wenndt, Beatrice Gakuba, and Lujain Alqodamani discussing equity in global food systems. Watch it here: Interview Cruncher?

GAIN Green Week?

At GAIN, we celebrated Earth Day by launching the second edition of GAIN Green Week. We're committed to contributing actively to global sustainability. #GAINGreenWeek amplifies our efforts and reaffirms our dedication to sustainability in all our operations.?Colleagues across GAIN's offices observed the week by observing/sharing individual and workplace practices that are good for the planet.

World Food Safety Day

Food Safety is a major issue across our food system. GAIN has long recognised the importance of integrating food safety into our work. This year’s theme, prepare for the unexpected, highlighted the importance of anticipating unforeseen incidents in food safety and strengthening our reaction to them through policies, consumer awareness, and accessibility. How can we prepare for the unexpected? Find out more here.

World MSME Day

With the important role Micro and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) play in reducing malnutrition and improving food systems around the world, GAIN partners with governments, the civil society, among others, to provide targeted interventions towards MSMEs to strengthen their capacity to produce and make safe nutritious foods accessible and affordable to the very poor. This year on World MSME Day, GAIN ran a month-long campaign to champion the power of SMEs in food systems. Learn more here.

Read our latest blogs.

Find out what’s happening across GAIN.

Visit our event page to find out what’s coming next!

Thank you for staying informed with us! Don't miss out on future updates – subscribe now for more insightful content delivered straight to your inbox.?