Fighting malnutrition in Madagascar: from NGO to social enterprise

摘要

In Madagascar, more than 50% of children under 5 years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition. The physical and cognitive consequences are irreversible after 24 months. GRET’s Nutrimad program addresses this problem by distributing an enriched flour product—“Koba Aina”—for children between 6 and 24 months. In order to reach the poorest households, it is sold very cheaply via an innovative sales network, the Hotelin-Jazakely (restaurants for babies), set up in the most deprived districts. In parallel, nutritional education campaigns are aimed at the mothers, who are often misinformed about the nutritional needs of their children. The level of maturity attained by the program is such that GRET now plans to continue with it over the long term. A privately-owned company, Nutri’zaza, is due to be created shortly to pursue Nutrimad’s activities, helping the project to achieve the economic viability that it currently lacks. By embedding Nutri’zaza’s work in a social enterprise, GRET hopes to secure the future of the initiative and enable it to expand throughout the country.