Cross Cutting Themes
Cross-cutting themes are co-benefits of work that we do with the primary aim of healthier diets for all.
These cross-cutting themes are often co-benefits of work that we do with the primary aim of improving nutrition, with food safety an obvious example and (food systems) resilience another. Two further prioritised cross-cutting themes—environment and gender—also have the potential to benefit from GAIN interventions, but they can also be seen as powerful contextual factors that could undo global and national progress in nutrition and food security. The last two prioritised cross-cutting themes cast a spotlight on population groups who are typically under-represented in programmatic work even though they carry a heavy burden of malnutrition: people living in extreme poverty, and the young.
Consolidate and generate knowledge
Develop and test food safety
Generate evidence of intervention effectiveness
By highlighting these issues throughout our work, GAIN hopes to accelerate progress in the battle against malnutrition and to contribute to work on other sustainable development goals.
Food Safety
Achieving optimal health and nutrition requires people to be both well-nourished and protected from foodborne hazards. We have long recognised the importance of integrating food safety into our work.
Gender
At the core of GAIN's mission to enhance healthier diets and food systems is a commitment to gender equality, ensuring that all individuals, regardless of gender, have equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities.
Environment
At GAIN we consider how our work to increase access to healthy diets for all intersects with several dimensions of environmental sustainability including climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, water quality and scarcity, soil degradation and plastic waste.
Youth
We consider the specific needs and capacities of youth to foster their holistic development, empower them as agents of change, and contribute to building healthier and more sustainable food systems.
Reaching the poorest
We seek to intentionally, specifically, and equitably promote consumption of healthier diets for people experiencing poverty and related vulnerabilities.
Resilience
At GAIN, we view the resilience of food systems as the cornerstone to ensure access to nutritious and sustainable diets for all, especially for the most vulnerable.
Saul Morris
Director of Programme Services
Penjani Mkambula
Chief Technical Officer
Nourishing Futures: The Opportunity of Investing in Child Nutrition
“Be the voice of the children” - that was a key messages of a panel discussion held at the 2024 Sankalp Africa Summit on a sunny morning in Nairobi. It focused on how investors and those who work with them can adapt their approaches to better support children’s nutrition. Among the five panellists — representing GAIN, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, Save the Children, and a local enterprise, Shalem Investment Limited — the motivation for doing this was clear. Children are the future, comprising nearly half of the African population at present and growing fast — expected to reach 1 billion by 2055. They thus have the potential to accelerate development not only in Africa but worldwide. But that potential is currently limited by malnutrition.
Supporting Entrepreneurs to Adopt Scalable Techniques to Improve Nutrition for Low-income Consumers
Since most people get a large portion of their food from the private sector, private-sector companies can play a key role in improving nutrition by bringing more safe and nutritious products to market, in forms that are appealing and affordable to consumers. This is ever more important in Nigeria today, where annual food inflation in December 2023 reached 28% - putting healthy diets beyond the reach of many lower-income consumers.
GAIN Interview Cruncher: Tackling Equity in our Food Systems
In this Interview Cruncher, we'll address the specific challenges faced by women and girls within food systems, exploring how these imbalances contribute to health inequities and malnutrition risks. We'll examine the urgency of addressing these issues in light of missed SDG targets and the role of human rights in fostering equality.
Paving the way to improved nutrition with fortified school meals for students in Tanzania
Around 130’000 school children in Tanzania are benefiting from eating fortified nutrient-dense meals through an initiative led by the Global Alliance of Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to help address the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in the countryWith a population of 64 million, Tanzania suffers from high rates of micronutrient deficiencies with one-third of children deficient in iron and vitamin A. Lack in such micronutrients for teenagers and young adults could impair their growth, learning capacity and development, and put them at risk of non-communicable diseases with consequential impact in later life.GAIN celebrates International
Women's Day 2024
#InspireInclusion
What is International Women's Day?
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8th every year.
IWD is a global event dedicated to recognising the achievements of women across various fields, promoting gender equality, and raising awareness about the challenges women continue to face worldwide.
It has been consistently celebrated by numerous organisations, governments, and communities around the globe, including GAIN.
It serves as a celebration of achievements but also a call for action, IWD encourages individuals, organisations, and governments to take concrete steps towards addressing these gender disparity issues.
This year's theme "Invest in women: Accelerate progress #InspireInclusion" means not only empowering women to break through barriers but also to accelerate progress for all, creating a world of inclusive growth, shared success, and equity.
Explore some of GAIN's past International Women's Day
GAIN Interview Cruncher: Tackling Equity in our Food Systems
In this Interview Cruncher, we address the specific challenges faced by women and girls within food systems, exploring how these imbalances contribute to health inequities, unhealthy diets, and malnutrition risks. We'll examine the urgency of addressing these issues in light of missed SDG targets and the role of human rights in fostering equality.
Discussion covers the magnitude of the problem, including global trends and policy implications for equity. We explore the holistic solutions from a human rights perspective, focusing on support strategies for women and girls, the importance of data and behavioral change, and strategies for transforming food systems to enhance economic opportunities, food security, and equitable access to healthy diets globally.
EmpowerHer: Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs
Strengthening and equipping women-led businesses and entrepreneurs is a cornerstone of GAIN's gender work. Ensuring support, technical work and empowerment at at the centre of our work, below we present profiles of successful women who have been part of the work of the SUN Business Network.
View business as more than just profit-making; it's a journey of continuous learning and growth. Invest in upgrading your products, and services and expanding your network.
Seize every opportunity to talk about your work and its impact on the community. Remain consistent in what you are doing and do it to your very best by learning and unlearning till your brand speaks for itself.
Women entrepreneurs should emphasise their business narrative, engage in mentorship, collaborate with similar organizations, and showcase women's unique strengths.
SBN's trainings are very impactful, and I've taken part in all of them. It's hard for me to single one out because they are all interconnected and, in my view, they complement each other and have helped me to have a much broader vision of my business.
CASCADE is Inspiring Inclusion
CAtalyzing Strengthened policy aCtion for heAlthy Diets and ResiliencE (CASCADE) is a Dutch-funded project whose goal is to improve food security and contribute to the reduction of malnutrition of at least 5 million women of reproductive age and children under five in Benin, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. Leads of CASCADE share how the programme is empowering women.
The Story of Joana, a Vegetable Seller in Mozambique
Joana Celestina is a vendor at the central market in Mozambique: "After losing my husband, and with a family to look after, I had to wipe away my tears and battle to provide for my family. I realised I needed to be the breadwinner of the family, and I became a vendor at the Munhava Market in Beira city".
COP29
- Baku, Azerbaijan, Global
The 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP29) will convene in November 2024. The summit is held by the United Nations as a way to bring diplomats, heads of state and climate advocates together to form an international response to climate change. COP29 will be GAIN's fourth COP, and our second as an accredited NGO.
Reaching Lower-Income Consumers with Nutritious Foods: Selling in Flexible Quantities and Cutting Packaging
Vending food products in flexible quantities (i.e., loose, as opposed to in packages) is commonly used worldwide in both traditional and formal retail outlets. While it has other advantages (e.g., reducing packaging materials), the main advantages from the affordability perspective are the ability to buy very small amounts (at lower cost) and to not have to pay the costs of packaging.
Steps Toward Progress Micronutrients – GAIN supports Ethiopian Government in Accessing premix Input
When the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) approved policies making the fortification of wheat flour and edible oil mandatory in Ethiopia in June 2022, the country took a leap in its decade old battle to employ fortification as a means of increasing consumption of micronutrients. The GAIN Large Scale Food fortification Programme aims to provide populations with the basic #micronutrients, also known as vitamins and minerals, that they need for brain, physical and healthy development. In line with this, in Ethiopia, GAIN is working with government and the private sector to move forward the mandatory fortification of wheat flour and edible oil.