The Power of Nutrition

The Power of Nutrition is an independent charitable foundation registered in the United Kingdom which seeks to tackle global undernutrition and prevent childhood stunting in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Established in 2015, it promotes investment in nutrition by providing a platform to build partnerships between funders, such as foundations, high net worth individuals and corporations, and implementors. The foundation’s implementing partners include UNICEF and the World Bank. The foundation helps to scale-up a series of proven nutrition interventions and strengthen public health systems.
The foundation aims to unlock one billion dollars in new financing to tackle child undernutrition in some of the world’s poorest countries by 2022. It is intended that this will help to meet the World Health Organisation’s Global Nutrition Targets which seek to achieve a 40% reduction in child stunting and to reduce wasting to less than 5% by 2025. 
The foundation currently supports 11 programmes in Tanzania, Liberia, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Madagascar, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, India and Indonesia. Since it was founded in 2015, it has supported over 28 million people to access health and nutrition services.
== History and Background ==
The Power of Nutrition was formed in 2015 by The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Department for International Development, the UBS Optimus Foundation, UNICEF and the World Bank. It was launched in April 2015 at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank. The Power of Nutrition’s first investment of $20 million was approved by its Board in May 2015, into a $44 million programme with the World Bank in Tanzania.
In 2017, the foundation was selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as an accelerator partner, in recognition of its work to accelerate progress towards reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Martin Short has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Power of Nutrition since 2015. The Director of Investments is Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi.
== Nutrition ==
The foundation focuses on reducing instances of undernutrition in women and children, in order to prevent stunting in children. Stunting negatively affects a child’s health, makes them more susceptible to disease and infection, and it can negatively impact their mental and physical development.
Through its programmes, the Power of Nutrition supports the scaling-up of 11 evidence-based nutrition interventions. These include iron and Folic Acid Supplementation for women of reproductive age, Vitamin A supplementation for children, food fortification, support for breastfeeding, the promotion of handwashing with soap, deworming, and the management and prevention of Severe Acute Malnutrition.
== Programmes ==
The Power of Nutrition funds large-scale nutrition programmes in countries with the highest burden of undernutrition, where stunting rates are 30% or higher. It seeks to invest in countries where national governments have shown a clear commitment to tackling undernutrition, and where there is investor interest and implementor capability.
The foundation works through national governments to help ensure delivery at scale, and to help develop systems that will deliver long-term, sustainable progress. It also works in-country with implementing partners. To date, these include UNICEF, the World Bank, Save the Children, Action Against Hunger, CARE and Nutrition International.
== Partnerships ==
The Power of Nutrition’s funding model invites investment from both the public and private sector as it promises to match and multiply any new funding it raises for nutrition by four times, in order to increase the scale of its programmes. The foundation’s funding partners include the Children’s Investment Fund foundation, Department for International Development, Comic Relief, Comic Relief USA, Medicor Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation, Jacobs Foundation, the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nutrition International, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Tata Trusts, The Eleanor Crook Foundation, Rotary Foundation, Asia Philanthropy Circle, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) and Unilever.
== External Links ==
* The Power of Nutrition official website
* The Power of Nutrition on Twitter
* The Power of Nutrition on Linkedin
* The Power of Nutrition on Facebook
== References ==
Category:Foundations
Category:Charities based in the United Kingdom
Category:Foundations based in the United Kingdom
Category:Organizations established in 2015
Category:Undernutrition in children