FFI Joins USAID AFFORD Program

Photo: Legacy Manufacturers – Zambia. (Jason J Mulikita/TechnoServe)

In 2022, FFI was one of four main partners invited to take part in a new USAID initiative: Advancing Food Fortification Opportunities to Reinforce Diets (AFFORD).

Funded by USAID as part of Feed the Future, the US Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, USAID AFFORD represents a holistic approach to large-scale food fortification (LSFF) that puts businesses at the core of the solution while strategically engaging with public, private, and civil society sectors.

TechnoServe is leading program implementation in conjunction with FFI, Nutrition International, and ISF Advisors. FFI’s role will be to improve the design and effectiveness of LSFF programs and create tools that help ensure accountability across all sectors. FFI will also convene stakeholders across the globe to share ideas as part of a whole-society approach. Lastly, FFI staff member Becky Tsang will serve as the program’s Knowledge Management and Communications Manager.

The USAID AFFORD program’s four main goals are to: 1. strengthen the LSFF enabling environment through the public sector, 2. expand and sustain LSFF interventions through private sector engagement, 3. strengthen the effectiveness of LSFF interventions and increase public and private sector accountability through civil society engagement, and 4. mobilize global commitment, leadership, and investment in support of LSFF. The five-year program (2022-2027), made possible by the generous support of the American People and in partnership with TechnoServe, will strengthen connections and capacity across food systems, influencing relevant global initiatives, and contributing to population-, market-, and government-level fortification objectives to reduce micronutrient deficiencies.

Under the program, TechnoServe, FFI, Nutrition International, and ISF Advisors will be generating national country assessments to identify food fortification opportunities and recommendations, as well as tools built from these assessments. Interested USAID missions then have an opportunity to contribute funds (through a “buy-in” or “associate” award) to implement the recommendations from USAID AFFORD. USAID AFFORD has completed its first six-month initiation phase, with assessments underway in Senegal. Future assessment countries will be shortlisted from a list of Feed the Future priority countries and in consultation with USAID and its country missions. Those interested in their country participating should reach out to their local USAID mission office or the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security in Washington, DC.

Photo: Omega Foods – Zambia. (Bobby Neptune/TechnoServe)

USAID AFFORD will build government capacity to prioritize LSFF by making regulator processes more efficient and effective. Using a whole-of-business approach, the program will optimize the desire, capacity, and effectiveness of industry to deliver and sustain adequately fortified staple foods. Consistent dissemination of timely, relevant data will inform and build trust with key stakeholders, amplify leadership, and encourage innovation towards fortification as a common goal. Through these activities, USAID AFFORD seeks to capacitate, motivate, and hold every actor accountable for sustaining and prioritizing LSFF. LSFF will enrich the diets of the economically and nutritionally vulnerable, particularly women, with the goal of ultimately reducing chronic micronutrient malnutrition by 20 percent by 2025.