With the inception of the Decade of Action to deliver global and national commitments of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, there is a need for urgency. The Zero Hunger commitment under SDG 2 on ending hunger and malnutrition is a key goal.
The private sector has an important role in bolstering efforts on the delivery of SDG 2 and national nutrition targets. This is even more critical with the world reeling under the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the vulnerable and marginalised sections bearing its brunt. Businesses, large and small, can support the delivery of the right composition of nutrients in high-selling food products for the affected families. Initiatives such as proper consumer education can aid individuals and communities to make informed and better choices.
The project, ‘Poshan Pehal Aur Pragati’ initiated jointly by Cargill, CRB and WFP is aimed at improving the nutritional quality of Take-Home Ration (THR) served to children, pregnant and lactating mothers in Rajasthan. The project is working by taking a multi-front and multi-stakeholder approach providing information on nutrition, access to quality nutrition, product innovation, targeting micronutrient deficiencies and innovative collaborations and partnerships at the community level.
The Nutrition Innovation Mini-Challenge aims to identify scalable solutions that will contribute towards creating an enabling environment for nutrition-seeking behaviour using innovative and inclusive approaches. This will provide a seed fund of INR 3,00,000 and mentorship to the selected applicants to help enhance their potential to successfully implement and scale their ideas. It will also help access relevant expertise that will enable the selected applicants to stay competitive and relevant to the changing market dynamics through responsible and responsive business models.
The Challenge will identify three local private sector-led initiatives contributing towards promoting nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific environment through innovative interventions, including community mobilisation activities, mass media for awareness creation, technology-enabled solutions that strengthen market linkages, impactful solutions to access information on nutrition, and capacity building initiatives tailored to meet the nutrition needs of children (up to 3 years), pregnant and lactating mothers in Rajasthan. The Challenge will serve as an incubator for the select private sector actors, helping them design and develop responsible business and revenue models, strengthen their management skills, and link them up with institutions/initiatives for scalability or replicability.
Interested applicants are requested to submit their proposals on the following problem statement
‘Collaborative approaches for scalable community-driven models that influence the adoption and maintenance of behaviours that are important to meeting the objectives of Poshan Abhiyan delineated under Social Behaviour Change Communication.’
The Challenge will be conducted for a period of five months, beginning February 2022 and ending June 2022. All private players, SHGs, entrepreneurs, intermediary organisations working with the local community are welcome to apply. Existing initiatives/programmes/processes on nutrition and food security that want to scale and/or replicate their models may also be considered. Lastly, a consortium of small organisations coming together for the competition are also eligible.
For more details about the eligibility criteria and the terms of reference, visit our website or contact Bhavya Sharma at [email protected]
