The Power of Nutrition extends innovative mobile service to Uttar Pradesh with new partnership with Cargill

PRESS RELEASE

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December 2023: The Power of Nutrition is pleased to announce a new partnership with Cargill which aims to improve child nutrition in Uttar Pradesh. The partnership is scaling-up the existing programme with Unilever and GroupM in Gujarat (previously called Hello Doctor Ben) using mobile technology to improve hygiene and nutrition practices. Having seen success in Gujarat, Cargill’s investment will further the expansion plans in a second state, Uttar Pradesh, which suffers from some of the highest rates of malnutrition in India.

The partnership features a unique mobile programme called Hello Dr Didi, a voice-based service that delivers critical child nutrition and hygiene information to pregnant women and families of young children. Created by Unilever and GroupM, the initial phase of the programme in Gujarat has already reached over 100,000 mothers.

Uttar Pradesh is one of India’s most populated states and has some of the highest malnutrition rates – with nearly 40% of children under five stunted (they are too short for their age as because of malnutrition). It also tops the list of states with high mobile use, making a mobile-based service to improve nutrition and hygiene a valid proposition.

Hello Dr Didi aims to provide time-sensitive information to pregnant women and mothers. The mobile service works by mothers calling into the system, which then takes their information and profiles them according to their pregnancy period or their child’s age. The programme also includes community sessions with parents, involving interactive discussions around nutrition and hygiene. The partnership is supported by the state government and is planned to reach nearly four million mothers by the end of 2024.

The Power of Nutrition co-creates its programmes with partners; in this extension, Cargill focused on protein messaging, a vital nutritional need for young children.

Dipanwita Chakraborty, Asia Pacific regional director of corporate responsibility at Cargill, said:

We’re delighted to be partnering with The Power of Nutrition and supporting the scale-up of this pioneering programme. Technology can play a critical role in tackling global challenges like hunger and malnutrition, and when combined with the marketing and behavioural change expertise of these partners, it provides a powerful combination.

Jim Emerson, CEO at The Power of Nutrition added:

The Power of Nutrition exists to bring new partners together to leverage resources, expertise, and tackle malnutrition in innovative ways. This extended programme is a great example of this – leveraging the resources of three different organisations to support the national government’s commitment to tackling malnutrition. We’re delighted to be working together with Cargill for the first time, who like us, is committed to improving food and nutritional security for mothers and children.

ENDS

About The Power of Nutrition

The Power of Nutrition is a not-for-profit organisation that unites businesses, governments, investors and civil-society in a joint mission to end the cycle of malnutrition. Our innovative finance and partnership model maximises nutrition investments to make resources go further.

We currently have 23 programmes in 16 countries with high rates of malnutrition across Africa and Asia. Each is aligned with national government plans, carefully designed to deliver impact at scale, and is based around a core set of evidence-based, high-impact interventions known to improve child, adolescent, and maternal nutrition.

To date, our programmes have enabled over 147 million women, children and adolescents to access essential nutrition interventions and services that are truly changing lives. Visit https://www.powerofnutrition.org/ for more information on our work and on how to partner with us.

About Cargill

Cargill helps the world’s food system work for you. We connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients and families with daily essentials—from the foods they eat to the floors they walk on. Our 160,000 team members around the world innovate with purpose, empowering our partners and communities as we work to nourish the world in a safe, responsible, sustainable way.

From the feed that reduces methane emissions to waste-based renewable fuels, the possibilities are boundless. But our values remain the same. We put people first. We reach higher. We do the right thing. It is how we’ve met the needs of the people we call neighbors and the planet we call home for 158 years—and how we’ll do so for generations to come. For more information, visit Cargill.com and our News Center