Impact

How and what we do to measure our impact is fundamental to our mission to end malnutrition.

Below you will find a snapshot of our achievements for the year 2017-2018.

For a detailed statement on our approach, read the full document:
Achieving impact at GAIN (4.6 MB)

 

Top-level impact

At the highest and hardest impact level - improving the consumption of nutritious food - we are currently contributing to 31 million people consuming enough additional nutritious food. By 2022, we want this number to be 163 million.

To achieve top-level impact, we need to see results in three strategic areas: stronger demand, lower-cost supply, and a policy and legislative environment that favours nutritious food and disfavours less nutritious food.

Demand

Increased consumer demand for nutritious and safe food

Food choices are influenced by knowledge, tradition, culture, convenience, price and availability. Our work to increase demand shapes choices for healthy food options.

FruitsIndia

Women working on tea estates in Assam reported that they now consume more diverse diets – an important indicator of the adequacy of vitamin and mineral intake. This programme is now being adapted and expanded in other Indian States, as well as in Kenya and Ghana.

BreastfeedingIndonesia

In East Java, a unique behaviour change campaign resulted in an increase in the proportion of women exclusively breastfeeding their children and improved the intake of diverse nutritious foods after 6 months of age.

Access

Increased availability and affordability of nutritious and safe food

We work with businesses to making more affordable nutritious and safe foods available to those who need them most.

OilIndia

Together with our partners, we have supported industry to supply enough fortified oil to reach 316 million people.

MilkIndia

We helped dairy cooperatives to produce enough fortified milk to reach 11.5 million people.

LeafKenya

The Seeds of Prosperity programme reached 14,000 workers with better food and nutrition messages.

Enabling environment

Improved market incentives, rules and regulations that encourage the production and consumption of nutritious and safe food

We work with governments to make it easier for businesses to do positive things for nutrition and harder to do negative things.

WheatBangladesh

We worked with the Ministry of Industry to support the development of a National Fortification Unit, which will help ensure staple foods produced by the Bangladeshi industry include legally-required levels of vitamins and minerals.

SaltEthiopia

We worked with partners to promote salt iodisation. Now all imported and locally-produced salt is iodised, preventing goitre and other diseases.

DollarKenya

We organised the first Nutrition Africa Investor Forum in Nairobi, which brought together more than 50 small and medium-sized enterprises to present proposals of over USD 80 million to investors.

Wider influencing

Delivering effective programmes is one way to achieve these strategic objectives. Mobilising resources under the control of GAIN and its partners to transform food systems for more nutritious foods is another way. To help shape and influence choices, we seek to engage with various actors through multi-stakeholder dialogue, the generation of data, evidence and knowledge, the development of new tools and approaches, as well as support and capacity development of key individuals, organisations and institutions within the food system.

Working with our partners, our 2018 achievements include:

Co-convening

We convened more than 30 events at national and global level on policy issues around nutrition and food systems. Those included:

Impact

  • Adolescent Nutrition with the World Health Organization (WHO)
  • Food Safety with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
  • Child Diets with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
  • Business Accountability with the Consumer Goods Forum.

Knowledge mobilisation

Globally, we disseminated original research findings, reviews, and perspectives. In particular, we published:

  • 34 peer-reviewed journal articles
  • 11 book chapters
  • 23 technical reports
  • 36 conference presentations
  • 41 blogs.
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We are committed to measuring our performance. We do this for a number of reasons. First, we hold ourselves accountable to people who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Second, our donors and investors need to understand our performance, so they can have faith that their investments are well made. Third, our partners need to see that we are impactful so that we can add value to their work. Finally, our staff and Board need to know that we are having a positive impact on people’s lives. For most of us, working for GAIN is not a job, it is a solemn commitment to accelerate the advancement of nutrition.