Nutrition
The Pictet Group Foundation pursues similar goals to the Group’s thematic nutrition investment strategy: helping to secure the world’s food supply, while reducing disease and mortality and preserving our planet.
We support organisations that address the problem directly by providing meals, micronutrients and education, as well as institutions that are committed to broadening current research on malnutrition and access to good nutrition. A selection of our projects is profiled below.
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1.2MillionPeople reached through Nutrition projects
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15,000+Women and children monitored
Fighting hunger and malnutrition
Food 4 Education, Kenya
Food 4 Education (F4E) was founded in 2012 by Kenyan nutritionist Wawira Njiru to tackle classroom hunger and enhance educational outcomes in Kenya. The organization believes that no child should have to learn on an empty stomach.
Over 90% of children across the continent do not benefit from a minimum acceptable diet. Malnutrition significantly reduces a child's likelihood of attending school, perpetuating a cycle of poverty that hinders their future.
Food 4 Education establishes school feeding programs by developing a comprehensive plan that encompasses local food sourcing and storage, mostly centralized cooking, logistics, delivery, and payments technology, which they then implement in schools. F4E currently feeds over 450,000 children daily in 1,300 schools in 10 counties. They operate 29 centralized kitchens and 93 rural kitchens using best-in-class operational principles and food safety procedures. They also support other organizations in adopting this successful model for their communities. These school feeding programs lead to increased enrolment, improved attendance, and enhanced cognitive abilities and learning capacity among students.
By providing hot, affordable, and nutritious meals to the poorest communities in Kenya, the organization creates a significant impact. Additionally, Food 4 Education contributes to the local economy by offering fair-paying jobs to community members and sourcing its products locally.
Pictet Group Foundation's support has contributed to scaling Food 4 Education's program in Kisumu County, resulting in over 16'000 meals served daily across 20 schools. Schools with F4E meals experience an average 11% increase in enrollment and an attendance rate of 96%, 2 percentage points higher than schools without F4E meals. Further, parents spend less than 2% of their monthly wages on F4E meals for their children, while parents at schools with other paid feeding programs spend nearly 6% of their pay. F4E parents spend less on school meals and can transfer the rest of the amount to other household needs.
I believe nutrition is a critical lever for change.
— Wawira Njiru, Founder and CEO.
Fighting malnutrition in Africa
Sanku Project Healthy Children, Africa
Sanku, a non-profit organisation, is dedicated to addressing ‘hidden hunger’ in East Africa, aiming to end malnutrition for 100 million people by 2030.
The staple food in East Africa, maize flour, is consumed by over 90% of the population in some countries. But this flour lacks essential nutrients, leading to chronic malnutrition in nearly a third of the population. Sanku partners with close to 1,000 small millers to fortify maize flour with vital micronutrients, making it accessible, affordable and more appealing to families.By providing mills with technology and business models for flour fortification, Sanku has improved the nutritional quality of the food people eat every day. This results in a foundation for healthier and more productive generations: reduced stunting, anaemia and neural tube defects, decreasing absenteeism from work and school, boosting economic development and ultimately saving lives.
Since partnering with the Pictet Group Foundation in 2022, Sanku's reach has expanded to 600,000 more people in Tanzania alone.
It’s estimated that in Tanzania, where we work, $380 million is lost annually in GDP due to sickness, health and malnutrition-related issues. We feel we’re at the start of making change at a higher level in the country.
— Felix Brooks-Church, Co-founder and CEO
Global nutrition challenges
Access to Nutrition Initiative, Global
The Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) is dedicated to improving global nutrition through the transformation of markets. Its collaborative work tracks the food and beverage industry's contributions to addressing three global nutrition challenges: stunting, wasting and obesity.
ATNI, founded in 2013, envisions a world where everyone consumes a healthy, balanced diet. To achieve this, it advocates for improved government regulations and stakeholder capitalism, holds food and beverage companies accountable and collaborates with institutional investors.
This collaboration has resulted in the Investor's Expectation document, guiding investment in nutritious food companies, with Pictet as an active signatory. The Pictet Group Foundation supports ATNI's Nutrient Profiling Alignment and Complementary Food projects, which work towards creating a universally accepted definition of 'healthy' for food and beverages. This alignment enables global institutions to make meaningful comparisons and drive transparency and accountability among private companies regarding their products' impact on global health.
ATNI sometimes deploys a ‘game theory’ approach towards sectoral change – engaging the largest and most eager food companies ready to change, then building on that success to engage less enthusiastic corporations.
— Greg Garrett, CEO
About the Foundation
Pictet Group Foundation
Route des Acacias 60
1211 Geneva 73
Switzerland
The Pictet Group Foundation is a grant making foundation established by the Managing Partners of Pictet to pursue our long-term tradition of social engagement and environmental commitment.