Press release: iDE to scale nutrition programming through market-based programs across global portfolio — 5 February 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kara Prior, myWHY Agency, Inc. for iDE (email: kara@mywhyagency.com)

Denver, CO – (February 5, 2024) iDE (International Development Enterprises) will elevate nutrition to a global priority across programs in 2024 by delivering a strengthened  package of market-based nutrition solutions with support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Insights and lessons learned from our work in Zambia, Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Honduras will be used to develop contextualized nutrition programming in Bangladesh, Nepal, Ghana, Mozambique, and Madagascar to impact women and children across the global portfolio.

iDE will work on both the supply and demand side of local market systems to improve accessibility and availability of nutritious foods. Good nutrition creates exponential impacts in communities; when children have adequate nutrition it reduces cognitive and health impairments allowing children to reach their fullest potential. 

This initiative aims to achieve the following objectives: Improve nutrition for children in the first 1,000 days  by engaging in market-based approaches to target pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of five with supportive food systems environments and increased food security; focus on women entrepreneurs as drivers of change by leveraging market and entrepreneurship opportunities to impact the supply of healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, animal source products, and healthy processed foods and; create demand within the community using human-centered design (HCD) to create targeted, localized behavior change campaigns while also leveraging market networks to deliver training on essential nutrition actions around healthy food choices.

Dana Camp Smith, iDE senior director of global nutrition, said to drive greater impact and ensure sustainability, iDE operates in relevant input and output value chains and collaborates with government ministries across all levels, local partners, private sectors, and communities. 

“By doing so, we ensure that local community-based institutions are brought into our approach and can continue to invest in their communities over the long term,” said Smith.

iDE’s local networks pose a unique advantage as these individuals live and work in the communities and have a deep understanding of their community’s unique challenges and assets. As an example, in Ethiopia iDE supports women entrepreneurs in their communities to process and sell nutrient-rich porridges. Sales are coupled with cooking demonstrations, thus enhancing the nutritional impact of the foods and supporting uptake by the participants as women are likely to adopt new foods or practices from trusted sources like their friends and community members. 

“Harnessing the power of the people we serve is integral to our approach, and it creates a resilient local network while also multiplying our impact per dollar,” said Smith.

About iDE

iDE (International Development Enterprises) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending poverty. We work in sectors including agriculture, sanitation, climate change resilience, and gender equality. iDE believes in powering small-scale entrepreneurs and building robust market ecosystems that lay the groundwork for low income and marginalized people to prosper on their own terms. iDE has about 1,300 global staff – including those in Cambodia – across 10 countries in Africa, Asia and Central America.

Click here to learn more about iDE.