Partners & Sponsors

Projects

Malnutrition Matters staff has been involved in food technology projects in over 30 countries, although the emphasis has been in the regions of the Former Soviet Union, Africa, Korea and India. Here is a brief description of recent projects:

For detailed reports describing the installation and operation of various VitaGoats and SoyCows, see the Projects pages for details. Below is a description of Malnutrition Matters partners and sponsors.

Alpro N.V.

This company, based in Belgium, is Europe's leading soyfood company and specializes in soymilk and soya dairy alternatives. Since 2004, they have sponsored the work of Malnutrition Matters and, as the only corporate sponsor, have been critical in the evolution of the technology and its implementation. This is also the only sponsorship which is not tied to a particular project or region and therefore allows the development of MM's program with any technology and any project or region. This generous support has been provided without "strings" attached and is intended to reflect the corporate spirit of Alpro to benefit the poor consumers in developing countries while the company's own products and business are with the more fortunate "western" consumer. The fact that both Alpro and MM facilitate good nutrition with soy, at opposite ends of world's economic development, is an inspiration for this unique relationship

Africare

Malnutrition Matters has worked with Africare to install VitaGoats and VitaCows in a number of African countries including: Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mozambique, Guinea and Chad. The proposed model in each case is to install a VitaGoat or VitaCow within a community already partnered with Africare for food security and health initiatives in order to create a sustainable small business that can help nourish the community, sell inexpensive and healthy foods to the locals and create employment. The three VitaGoats installed in Zambia have enabled the establishment of a training and technical support center near Lusaka, staffed by the Africare partner ‘All Kids Can Learn’. Malnutrition Matters has developed a business guide for VitaCow/VitaGoat locations, that includes modules for: weaning foods, foods designed for people living with HIV/AIDS and mango and tomato processing. Information about Africare can be found at www.africare.org.

BISWA – Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency

BISWA, a large NGO with operations in Orissa and neighbouring states, has deployed one VitaGoat and will receive a second one in 2007 as part of the Donner-Child Haven project. The first pilot site installed in the non-electrified village of Antapali (near Sambalpur), is providing midday meals for more than 700 primary school children in rural Orissa and has provided employment for 5 women and 2 men. BISWA has a three-pronged focus: micro-enterprise, schools and micro-finance. They have benefited more than 100,000 people in Orissa with their programs.

Child Haven International, India

The first SoyCows ever built were installed in Child Haven homes in India in 1990 in a partnership with ProSoya, the Canadian company which designed the original systems. Eventually this led to a technology transfer to an Indian manufacturer, SSP, who could produce the systems at a lower cost. Since that beginning, many SoyCow systems have been sold in India to both entrepreneurs and NGO's. Information about Child Haven can be found at www.childhaven.ca. SSP continues to manufacture SoyCow systems.

Child Haven also sponsored the transfer of technology to manufacture the VitaGoat in India (to G.D. Machines, see below), with funding from the Donner Foundation Canada (see below), and co-sponsored the installation of the first three VitaGoat systems in India. A second phase of VitaGoat-based development is proceeding in India now, with additional installations planned in Orissa and Gujarat. Deployment of the new fruit and vegetable dryer is also expected in India in 2007.

Donner Canadian Foundation

The Donner Canadian Foundation has funded key projects in India and Africa. The first phase of the India project, with Child Haven International as a partner, completed in May 2006, enabled the transfer of technology to manufacture the VitaGoat and allowed installation of VitaGoats in three pilot sites. The second phase of the India project, also funded by Donner is now underway, with installations of additional VitaGoats and the first fruit and vegetable dryers. In Africa, the Donner Foundation is funding the Rotary Club (see below) in their Africa VitaGoat project. Five VitaGoats have been installed as part of that project, in Zambia, Uganda and South Africa.

First Steps, Korea

First Steps is a Canadian-based Christian humanitarian organization whose purpose is to prevent childhood malnutrition in the DPRK (North Korea) through programs which provide essential nutrients to young children. North Korea, with a population of about 23 million, has suffered acute food shortages for more than a decade. United Nations and World Food Programme reports (2003) show that between two and three million North Korean children (infants to age five) consistently fail to receive the nutrients vital to their physical and mental development. The result has seen the emergence of almost an entire generation of youngsters whose growth is stunted.

First Steps founder and Director Susan Ritchie, spent many years in Korea and China and is fluent in Korean and Mandarin. She is also a top diplomatic translator for Canadian/Korean functions and is very understanding of the political and social system in North Korea.

The First Steps program is centred on providing soymilk and other nutrition to children in various institutions. In 2003, First Steps arranged for the first VitaCow from Malnutrition Matters. Over the next two years the program grew with more and more VitaCows installed in various locations. As of March 2006, First Steps has 17 VitaCows in operation reaching more than 30,000 children in orphanages, daycares and schools located in the cities of Nampo and Wonsan and Hyongjesan.

In 2005, First Steps ordered its first VitaGoat for the first of several sites which have unreliable or no electricity. In May of 2006, three more VitaGoats were shipped to the First Steps program.

GD Machines

This high-quality fabricator in Faridabad, India, has successfully partnered with Malnutrition Matters to receive the technology for manufacture of the VitaGoat.See the Tech Transfer page for information on manufacture of the VitaGoat in India.

Rotary Club of Nepean - Kanata (Canada) in conjunction with the Rotary Foundation, funded the first VitaGoat in South Africa which was installed in 2005. In June 2006, Donner Canadian Foundation funded an additional Rotary Club project resulting in additional VitaGoat projects implemented in Zambia, South Africa, and Uganda (the latter in partnership with FXB, a multi-national NGO with existing projects in Uganda and other African countries).

UNIDO

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has partnered with Malnutrition Matters to implement two pilot VitaGoat projects in Tanzania (completed in April 2007). These projects are in the Tanga area (north of Dar es Salaam), and in Kigoma in the west of Tanzania. The former features fruit and vegetable processing, while the latter includes a broad range of foods including soy.

WISHH

Malnutrition Matters has been working with WISHH (World Initiative for Soy in Human Health) since 2001. They co-sponsored the VitaCow program implemented with the NGO Africare (see above). WISHH has also facilitated numerous initiatives with MM including workshops at the University of Illinois and conferences and workshops in various countries around the world. The current focus of the partnership with WISHH is the southern African region and the program called SISA (Soy in Southern Africa Alliance).

Information about WISHH's activities can be found at www.wishh.org

WORLD BANK DEVELOPMENT MARKETPLACE

The World Bank Development Marketplace is a competitive grant program of the World Bank that funds innovative, small-scale development projects that deliver results and have the potential to be expanded or replicated. Funding is provided on a 50/50 basis by the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Malnutrition Matters was awarded funding for its ‘Rural Micro-enterprise for Supplemental Nutrition in Orissa’ project, as one of 22 winners of the 2007 competition (see the ‘Projects in Asia’ page for more information on this project). For more information on the World Bank Development Marketplace:

http://www.worldbank.org/developmentmarketplace