New Flagship USAID Partnership Will Advance Nutrition Worldwide

Helen Keller International is part of a new consortium of organizations selected by USAID to help scale up efforts to improve nutrition for women and children in low-and middle-income countries. The five-year global project—USAID Advancing Nutrition—led by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), will bring together international and local organizations across various sectors and disciplines to design, implement, and evaluate activities to prevent and reduce malnutrition.

“Investing in nutrition is central to achieving important global goals and outcomes in health and development,” said Helen Keller International’s Vice President of Nutrition, Rolf Klemm. “We are thrilled to be part of this exciting USAID initiative to accelerate progress toward those goals under the leadership of JSI.”

Each year, malnutrition contributes to the death of millions of children and costs the global economy an estimated $3.5 trillion in healthcare costs and lost productivity. However, nutrition interventions yield an estimated $35 in economic gains for every $1 invested.

USAID Advancing Nutrition aims to minimize the root causes of malnutrition through multi-sectoral approaches that prioritize building local capacity, supporting behavior change, and strengthening enabling environments to improve health, build resilience, increase economic productivity, and save lives.

“This new initiative has enormous potential to improve the health and nutrition status of vulnerable populations around the world by working across sectors to address the root causes of malnutrition,” said Heather Danton, director of USAID Advancing Nutrition. “We are excited to work with a wide range of partners to improve nutrition outcomes for people, families, and communities in support of the Agency’s efforts to save lives and promote strong, productive citizens and self-reliant societies.”

Helen Keller International’s nutrition programs in 19 countries prioritize multi-sectoral interventions targeting the direct and indirect causes of undernutrition among women and children in vulnerable communities, especially during the critical period between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday.

JSI, as prime contractor, leads a consortium of subcontractor implementing partners for USAID Advancing Nutrition, including:

• Helen Keller International
• National Cooperative Business Association
• CLUSA International
• Save the Children
• The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
• Results for Development
• The Manoff Group
• The African Nutrition Leadership Programme at North-West University, South Africa
• Cornell University
• University of California, Davis.

For more information, please visit USAID Advancing Nutrition at www.advancingnutrition.org.