Unitlife - fight against malnutrition

What is the UNITLIFE Foundation ?

UNITLIFE is a United Nations funds that combats chronic malnutrition through interventions that position nutrition improvements as one of their primary objectives. Similarly, it promotes nutrition-sensitive agriculture that integrates climate issues, and prioritizes the role of women at the heart of these changes.

UNITLIFE leverages innovations and partnerships to protect human capital from malnutrition during the first 1000 days of life. Even though it affects 1 in 5 children worldwide (or 149 million children), this type of malnutrition, called chronic malnutrition, lacks both widespread attention and adequate investment. The secretariat is based at Station F in Paris since its inception in 2021 and is hosted by UNCDF, in light of its expertise in innovative impact investments, with financial partners from the public and private sectors.

UNITLIFE's Executive Committee is chaired by Philippe Douste-Blazy and includes France, the United Arab Emirates, UN Women, the World Food Program (WFP), The EcoBank Foundation, and the artist Dadju.

Key figures

• 3.1 million children die of undernutrition each year
• 21% of children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition
• A well-nourished child is 33% more likely to escape poverty in adulthood
• Unitlife is a program aimed at combating chronic malnutrition.

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The main mission of the organization

UNITLIFE aims to fight chronic malnutrition through several underlying themes :

• Food security and resilience of agricultural production
• Involvement of the private sector and local innovators through a market-based approach
• The place and role of women in adopting a nutrition-sensitive lifestyle
• Protecting human capital by allowing children to physically thrive and in better conditions.

UNITLIFE believes that this multidimensional approach provides impactful and sustainable solutions and must be extended and accelerated with partners at the forefront of the development agenda.

UNITLIFE's main mission is to protect human capital by addressing inequality challenges from birth. UNITLIFE aims to create a community of businesses and individuals committed to combating malnutrition during the first 1000 days of life. This organization complements emergency aid to provide a sustainable solution to combat food insecurity and malnutrition.

What if "Unitlife in Kenya" was the next project, 100% funded by Retreeb thanks to you ?

Through this "UNITLIFE in Kenya" project, the organization aims to increase the income of the most impoverished women in the urban neighborhoods of Nairobi through the creation of microentreprises producing nutritious foods based on biofortified sweet potatoes for children in these neighborhoods. Biofortification of these foods involves increasing the nutritional value of plants as they grow through a process of natural selection. The microentreprise created will be led by women to increase their income, which they can then primarly invest in the health, nutrition, and education of children.

1 in 5 children in Kenya and 1 in 3 children in the informal neighborhoods of Nairobi suffer from chronic malnutrition. Moreover, 60% of Nairobi's population lives in informal settlements where income-generating opportunities are limited.

The objective of this project is to increase the number of women-led businesses, by creating an additional 3 businesses to strengthen the impact on chronic malnutrition. It is estimated that every $1 invested in combating malnutrition translates into $27 in economic benefits for the local economy.

A word from Retreeb

We propose this project because we want to help women and their children in precarious situations. This project aims to improve the quality of life of the most disadvantaged women, through microenterprises, led by themselves to produce nutritious foods. Through this, UNITLIFE aims to reduce chronic malnutrition among children in Nairobi by providing them with fortified and nutritious foods, to help them combat chronic malnutrition.

Would you like to learn more about UNITLIFE's action in Kenya ?

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