Smarter Futures: 15 Years of Impact

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From 2007-2021, the Smarter Futures program helped make fortification of wheat flour, maize flour, and rice a reality in dozens of countries across Africa.

A unique public-private-civic partnership, Smarter Futures convened key stakeholders through 27 meetings or trainings and provided specialized technical support to grain millers, governments, vitamin and mineral suppliers, international organizations, and academic institutions in 26 countries. The partnership helped create robust fortification programs that will continue to prevent debilitating health consequences of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, such as neural tube birth defects, impaired learning capacity, and decreased productivity, for years to come.

Tremendous progress has been made across Africa since Smarter Futures began. In 2007, only seven countries on the continent had legislation for mandatory or voluntary fortification of a grain. As of January 2022, 29 countries have legislation to mandate the fortification of wheat flour alone or in combination with maize flour, six countries allow the voluntary fortification of either flour, and—though no country in Africa mandates the fortification of rice yet—Smarter Futures has mapped opportunities for rice fortification on the continent. Although this progress cannot be attributed to the impact of Smarter Futures alone, the program's meetings, workshops, trainings, and other events have been attended by stakeholders from 41 countries. Thirty-six of these 41 countries are now planning, implementing, or monitoring a national fortification program.

Smarter Futures partners include the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus as project holders, the Food Fortification Initiative as the main implementing partner, and steering team members: Buhler, Helen Keller International, Mühlenchemie, Nouryon, Nutrition International, and the World Food Programme. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Smarter Futures did not itself invest large program resources but instead supported and strengthened the efforts of its network partners.

Read the report.