Sight and Life, on behalf of DSM, is a partner in the "Affordable Nutritious Food for Women" (ANF4W) project in Ghana which is co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) (through the develoPPP.de framework) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The project runs from February 2013 to May 2015, and is being coordinated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH together with Sight and Life. Ajinomoto, McCann Health and GAIN are third-party partners in this project. The main objectives of ANF4W Ghana are twofold:
- To create 2-3 food product prototypes with the right micronutrient formula to be produced by the local Ghanaian food processing industry;
- To create a social marketing strategy targeted at women of reproductive age in order to increase their overall nutrition awareness (intervention-and product unspecific).
The project is well under way. We began with a thorough assessment of all core project areas. Since January 2014, we have completed an analysis of the agriculture value chain, an assessment of the food regulatory process; we have examined in detail the current market distribution channels and distribution models at the base of the pyramid. An ethnographic research in two key regions is ongoing as well as a landscape analysis of the local food processing sector. GIZ and Sight and Life have applied for additional donor funding, but the decision is still pending. The receipt of additional funds will extend the project to 2017, and will allow us to significantly expand and scale up activities including an acceptability study of the final food prototypes, a willingness-to-pay study, and a dietary assessments in various regions so as to better tailor the product to specific needs on the ground. We shall also test the efficacy and effectiveness of the food product when it is distributed through different channels.
Sight and Life builds on DSM's other programs related to building nutritional capacity, such as:
WFP Partnership:
20.6 million WFP beneficiaries were reached with improved nutrition by the partnership in 2013 (including nearly 100% of the 11.8 million beneficiaries who are pregnant and lactating women and children under 5). A total of 9 nutritional products have been created/reformulated. The partnership is responsible for nutrition capacity trainings and manuals created and 55 DSM volunteers have participated in volunteer assignments. Thus far, nearly 4 million euros of external funding has been granted. The goal is to reach 25-30 million beneficiaries annually by 2015.
World Vision International Partnership:
Aim is to reduce the prevalence of stunting among the 165 million stunted children worldwide, mostly through staple food fortification (not targeted directly towards women and newborns). The first project builds capacity with millers in Tanzania.
Unicef Partnership:
The partnership will focus on projects piloting and implementing micronutrient powders in Madagascar and Nigeria for 6-23 month old children.
Amsterdam Initiative Against Malnutrition
DSM is involved in a project to fortify dairy products and one to distribute micronutrient powders in Kenya.
SUN Business Network
DSM's CEO, Feike Sijbesma, is co-chair of the Scaling up Nutrition's Business Network. DSM is actively involved in the recruitment of other private sector companies who can contribute to scaling solutions to improve global nutrition. The commitments announced for the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact and Sun Business Network are:
- DSM plans to help provide effective nutrition interventions to 50 million beneficiaries (pregnant and lactating woman and children under two) per year by 2020. DSM expects to reach these beneficiaries through its existing public-private partnerships, such as with the World Food Programme, Vitamin Angels and World Vision International as well as advocacy and using its sphere of influence.
- DSM will offer Compact signatories and their suppliers access to the products of its Nutrition Improvement Program (NIP), the partner of choice in the global fight against malnutrition in the developing world, at rates comparable to those available to NGO's and International Organizations. With the Compact signatories recruited, DSM will also work to define a supplier and community outreach program to advocate the Nutrition for Growth agenda and explore the supply of its Nutrition Improvement Program products through these channels.
- DSM also plans to assist Compact signatories in defining or enhancing a corporate nutrition policy focusing on healthy, balanced diets and the promotion of breast feeding policies, including 'nutrition audits' to measure the quality of fortified foods and the effectiveness of interventions.
- NIP's product portfolio offers nutritious, safe and affordable solutions tailored to the needs of pregnant and lactating women, children and adults in the form of micronutrient powder and multivitamin tablets, amongst others.
- Through its Nutrition Improvement Program, DSM already contributes technical expertise to support public-private partnerships with the World Food Programme, World Vision, Project Laser Beam, Partners in Food Solutions, GAIN, Vitamin Angels and the Amsterdam Initiative against Malnutrition.
- DSM's own humanitarian think tank Sight and Life provides nutrition science and evidence-based advocacy.
