Project: Establishing a sustainable market for the development of a locally produced, complementary food product in Liberia
State of development: Current
Stage of development: Scoping
Type of instrument — Impact Bond: No; Outcomes Fund: Yes; Social Impact Incentives (SIINC): No; Social Impact Guarantee: No; Payment-by-results (no pre-financing): Yes; Technical Assistance and Market-building program: No; Other: 
Rationale for using outcome-based finance: The programme introduces innovative strategies by linking smallholder farmers with SMEs for nutritious food production, simultaneously fostering economic growth and addressing malnutrition. Potential scalability lies in leveraging established partnerships and replicable models, expanding market linkages and climate-resilient practices. Financial sustainability hinges on outcome funding and potential investments, securing long-term viability. Cost-effectiveness is maximized through streamlined operations, technology adoption, and sharing best practices. As outcomes-based initiatives progress, a follow-on scale-up phase could capitalize on data-driven insights, lessons learned, and refined methodologies. This holistic approach ensures innovation, scalability, financial stability, and efficient cost management, driving impactful and sustainable growth.
Key challenges to launch: "The project faces several key pain points that hinder its progress and potential impact. These include limited financial resources to further the design and launch of the project. Additionally, conducting independent impact assessments entails substantial costs. The absence of adequate funding has prevented a more advanced development of the programme design and limited engagement with potential stakeholders.
The Accelerator presents a transformative solution to these challenges. The funds will be strategically allocated to kickstart comprehensive feasibility studies and independent impact assessments, providing robust data to support the project design and track progress, evaluate effectiveness, and make informed decisions. This grant has the potential to propel the initiative forward, enabling timely implementation and ultimately a more significant impact on improving nutrition. Ultimately, funding from the Accelerator is a catalyst that will drive the project's success by addressing these critical pain points and unlocking its full potential for positive change."
Social/developmental challenge: Malnutrition is a significant problem in Liberia, especially among children under 5, and it has been worsened by a combination of factors including Conflict, COVID-19, and Climate change. These issues have had far-reaching effects on the country's economic viability. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted food supply chains and strained already limited resources for families. Climate change has further impacted Liberia's agriculture and food systems, causing unpredictable flooding and droughts that disrupt food production. This has contributed to an economic crisis, further affecting small and medium-scale enterprises linked to agriculture and nutritious food production. To address these challenges this initiative is seeking to enhance local production of nutritious food by engaging with women and youth-led SMEs to strengthen the food systems value chain by nurturing local expertise in food processing and nutrition, communities will be empowered to take charge of their nutritional needs, fostering long-term resilience against food security challenges
Expected intervention model: "We are proposing an innovative initiative aimed at addressing food insecurity and malnutrition among vulnerable populations in Liberia, particularly children under 5. The proposed concept involves partnering with small-scale local food producers to develop a cost-effective and marketable product that can serve as a food supplement in line with small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplementation (SQ-LNS), supporting families in providing their children with an affordable, sustainable optimal diet.
Our project seeks to optimise local production of nutritious food through market linkages and capacity building for smallholder farmers, with a strong emphasis on climate-resilient practices. By fostering partnerships between smallholder farmers, SMEs, and other stakeholders, we aim to create decent work opportunities for the local community while building resilience to climate change impacts. 
By working with Mothers Support Groups already active within their communities, the initiative will also expand nutrition education outreach to reach more mothers and increase demand for the complementary food product. These groups will be instrumental in helping mothers adapt to seasonal food availability, ensuring they can consistently offer their children a nutritionally complete diet.
This initiative, driven by collaboration, innovation, and evidence-based strategies, holds the potential to create lasting positive change, improving lives and contributing to Liberia's sustainable development."
Policy sectors — Employment and private sector development: No; Education: No; Social protection: No; Criminal justice: No; Health: No; Agriculture: Yes; Environment and climate change: Yes; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: No; Energy: No; Humanitarian: No; Early Childhood Education: No; Other: 
Primary SDG goal: 2,8,13
Country income classification of beneficiaries — Low-income: Yes; Lower-middle-income: No; Upper-middle-income: No; High-income: No
Notes: Data for this pipeline project was last updated in August 2023
Delivery location: Liberia