The Power of Nutrition was officially launched to the public on Thursday, 16 April in Washington, DC. The fund is now open to new private and public investors.

Senior representatives from the private foundations and international development organisations backing it participated in the launch, announcing that arrangements are in place to unlock the first $200 million of the fund’s $1 billion target.

Highlights from the Power of Nutrition launch

The fund has developed an innovative matching offer that guarantees that every dollar in private funding is multiplied up to six times with new financing secured from other funders. Governments seeking financial support for their national nutrition programmes will also be able to multiply their resources through the fund.

Contributions at launch included $55m from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, up to £32m ($47m) from the UK Department of International Development, and up to Swiss Francs 25m ($26m) from the UBS Optimus Foundation.

For the first time, a combination of private and public finances will support country-led programmes that target child undernutrition at scale. The Power of Nutrition will act as a catalyst to multiply the financial resources going into this area, through a combination of grants, government funding, and International Development Association (IDA) financing.

These resources will be channelled through a new World Bank Group (WBG) trust fund for nutrition and through a UNICEF matched-funding mechanism. The new WBG trust fund of at least $55m will leverage at least another $100m from IDA, the WBG’s fund for the poorest. The new agreement with UNICEF provides an opportunity for donors to fund UNICEF through a matched-funding mechanism dedicated to ending child undernutrition.

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