Due Diligence

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OUR APPROACH TO DUE DILIGENCE

The Power of Nutrition is rigorous in our due diligence procedures. Due diligence is carried out at three stages in the investment process to ensure that we are working with the best possible partners, who share our vision and values, and only investing in programmes that are likely to deliver sustainable improvements to nutrition at scale.

1. ASSESSMENT OF NEW FUNDERS

We want to build strong and enduring partnerships with funders who share our goals and values and who recognise the transformational effect that investing in nutrition can have on people’s lives and on the health of whole economies. Before accepting funding from new donors, we conduct a full due diligence process:

Shared values. We ensure that the funders we work with share our values and are committed to working to reduce undernutrition on a long term sustainable basis;
Ethical businesses. We will only develop partnerships with organisations whose broader business aims and practices are consistent with our key aims and objectives, and who work in the best interests of the people and communities we seek to support;
Financial checks. We collect information from prospective donors and from third parties to allow us to carry out checks for financial risk, fraud risk, and anti-money laundering purposes.

WE WANT TO BUILD STRONG AND ENDURING PARTNERSHIPS WITH FUNDERS WHO SHARE OUR GOALS AND VALUES

ALL OUR IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THEY HAVE THE CAPACITY AND EXPERIENCE TO DELIVER SUCCESSFUL LARGE-SCALE NUTRITION PROGRAMMES

2. ASSESSMENT OF IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS

We seek to co-invest in programmes with the most appropriate implementing partners in each context. All our implementing partners must meet the following criteria:

Capacity and experience to deliver successful large-scale nutrition programmes;
Direct experience of supporting national governments take to scale The Power of Nutrition’s 11 evidence based interventions in a sustainable way;
Nutrition expertise to support the design and delivery of nutrition programmes that yield positive results and improve the nutrition of children and women of reproductive age;
A history of successfully working with national partners in government, business and civil society to deliver systemic change in the nutrition sector;
Commitment to robust monitoring and evaluation of programmes;
Commitment to learning and recognise the importance of operational research, flexibility and course-correction throughout a programme life-cycle;
Prioritise cost-efficiency and are committed to delivering maximum value for money and ensuring the best possible return on investment.

3. ASSESSMENT OF INVESTMENTS

Our due diligence on new investments is focused on ensuring they are aligned to the following criteria:

Need and scale of challenge – all programmes must in high burden contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa or Asia where stunting prevalence is greater than 30% and at least 250,000 children under the age of 5 are stunted;
Political and Financial Commitment – we only invest in countries where the national government has demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing undernutrition thought its policies and is willing to invest resources into scaling up high-impact nutrition interventions and the systems required to deliver them;
High-impact nutrition interventions – our Investments focus on supporting the delivery of high impact nutrition interventions outlined in the Lancet Nutrition Series 2008 and 2013. Interventions prioritised must be underpinned by local need and evidence and embedded in an appropriate nutrition system to ensure long term sustainability. The Power of Nutrition will invest in nutrition sensitive interventions if necessary to facilitate scale-up of high impact interventions. The mix of interventions proposed in an investment must be focused on addressing the determinants of stunting and undernutrition within that context;
Capacity building – to ensure long term sustainability, all investments should have a capacity building component to support the development of national government systems as appropriate;
Demonstrated value add and a clear theory of change. Programmes supported by The Power of Nutrition must have a clear theory of change and demonstrate that the programme is augmenting and not duplicating existing interventions;
Cost-effective budgeting – all programmes must have a clear and cost-effective budget for both The Power of Nutrition investment and the implementing partner match. The total budget must be a minimum of $10m;
Results framework. All programmes must include a robust results framework with best practice KPIs and a strong monitoring and evaluation system for tracking progress and learning.