Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), is "an alliance driven by the vision of a world without malnutrition." With the goal of fighting malnutrition, GAIN works to fortify staple foods with micronutrients in the world's poorest countries. Through their Business Alliance, they also help the largest multinational corporation gain access to the poorest half of the world's population that, together, represent the largest potential for growth for corporations looking for increased sales and new markets.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, GAIN was founded in 2002 at a Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Children and it became a Swiss foundation in 2003. "GAIN supports public-private partnerships to increase access to the missing nutrients in diets necessary for people, communities and economies to be stronger and healthier." In addition to its headquarters in Geneva, it has an office in Washington D.C. and regional and country representatives in Johannesburg, New Delhi, Cairo, Nairobi, Kabul, and Shanghai.


 * "In less than a decade, GAIN has been able to scale its operations by investing in and working alongside more than 600 companies across 36 large-scale collaborations in more than 25 countries, reaching close to 400 million people with nutritionally enhanced food products. Half of the beneficiaries are women and children. GAIN’s goal is to reach more than one billion people with fortified foods that have sustainable nutritional impact..."


 * "GAIN has received funding from a number of public and private sector donors including: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Dubai Cares, the Goldsmith Foundation, the Government of the Netherlands, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation (KZNF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Wellcome Trust."

In 2009, GAIN launched the Amsterdam Initiative on Malnutrition (AIM), which "aims to eliminate malnutrition for 100 million people in Africa by 2015."

Business Alliance
The GAIN Business Alliance promotes "market-based solutions which address malnutrition." GAIN created the Business Alliance in 2005 "with the goal of mobilizing business to play a greater role in combating malnutrition through engagement in the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) market." In other words, the Business Alliance seeks to convince and help multinational corporations to market nutritionally fortified products to the half of the world's population that lives on less than US$2.50 per day.

Member Benefits
GAIN holds an annual international forum as well as several regional forums each year, offering businesses access to government officials, representatives from international bodies like the World Bank and the United Nations, philanthropists, media, academics, and NGOs. GAIN also directly helps its member corporations "identify opportunities for collaboration with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, international organizations (IOs), academia and the nutrition sector." Additionally it provides marketing and logistical research to members to help with "the development of innovative business models that deliver nutritious, affordable products to low income consumers." Last, GAIN provides positive PR for its member corporations via media outreach and awards.

Members
Accessed June 2011:
 * Chair: Unilever
 * Ajinomoto
 * AkzoNobel
 * BASF
 * Bel
 * Britannia
 * Cargill
 * The Coca-Cola Company
 * Danone
 * DSM
 * Firmenich
 * Fortitech
 * Hexagon Nutrition Pvt. Ltd.
 * Kraft Foods
 * Mars Incorporated
 * Nutriset
 * PepsiCo
 * Tetra Pak

Management
Accessed June 2011:
 * Executive Director: Marc Van Ameringen
 * Deputy Executive Director: Michael Madnick
 * General Counsel: Vanessa Ng
 * Chief Operating Officer: John Fairhurst
 * Chief Financial Officer: Jas Bagri
 * Director, Policy and Advocacy: Katharine Kreis
 * Senior Adviser, Global Advocacy: Kari Stoever
 * Director, Business Development & Leverage: Philippe Guinot
 * Director, Performance Measurement & Research: Barbara Macdonald
 * Senior Director, Nutrition Programs: Regina Moench-Pfanner
 * Associate Director, Regional Nutrition Programs: Tina van den Briel
 * Manager, Food Fortification: Dora Panagides
 * Manager, Infant and Young Child Nutrition Program: Dominic Schofield
 * Special Adviser and Regional Manager: Rajan Sankar (South Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India)
 * Regional Manager: Stefan Engeles (Southern Africa Regional Office, Johannesburg, South Africa)

Partnership Council
Accessed June 2011:
 * Chair: Jay Naidoo, Chair, GAIN Board
 * Vice Chair: Nicholas Alipui, Director, Programme Division, United Nations Children's Fund
 * Martin Bloem, Chief, Nutrition and HIV&AIDS Policy Unit, United Nations World Food Programme
 * Chunming Chen, Senior Advisor, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Director, International Life Science Institute
 * Faizel Ismail, Ambassador Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization
 * Lawrence Haddad, Director Institute of Development Studies, Chair of the Development Studies Association of the UK and Ireland Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
 * Kei Kawabata, Manager of the Social Sector, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
 * Helena Leurent, Director, Agriculture, Food & Beverage Community, Centre for Global Industries, World Economic Forum
 * Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer, New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
 * Alexandre Mérieux, Directeur Général Délégué, BioMérieux
 * K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India
 * Kathy Spahn, President and CEO, Helen Keller International
 * Paulus Verschuren, Senior Strategic Advisor Private Sector and Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands
 * Emorn Wasantwisut, Senior Advisor, Institute of Nutrition Mahidol University
 * Derek Yach, Senior Vice President, Global Health and Agricultural Policy, PepsiCo Inc
 * Joachim von Braun, Director, Center Professor, Economics and Technological Change, for Development Research (ZEF Bonn), University of Bonn, Germany

Ex-Officio members:
 * Gary Darmstadt, GAIN Board Vice Chair, Director, Family Health, Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
 * Marc Van Ameringen, GAIN Executive Director

Board
Accessed June 2011:
 * Chair: Jayaseelan Naidoo
 * Vice Chair: Gary Darmstadt, Director, Family Health, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
 * Vinita Bali, Managing Director, Britannia Industries Limited
 * Jamie Cooper-Hohn, President and CEO, Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
 * Frances Davidson, Health Science Specialist, Office of Health and Nutrition, USAID
 * Christopher Elias, President, PATH
 * Pierre Henchoz, Private Banker
 * Richard Hurrel, Professor, Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
 * Olivier Kayser, Managing Director, Hystra
 * Admassu Tadesse, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and International Finance, Development Bank of Southern Africa

Ex Officio Members:
 * Nicholas Alipui, GAIN Partnership Council Vice-Chair, Director, Programme Division, United Nations Children's Fund
 * Marc Van Ameringen, GAIN Executive Director

Contact

 * For visitors: Rue de Vermont 37-39, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland
 * For mailing: PO Box 55, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
 * Ph: +41 22 749 1850
 * Fax: +41 22 749 1851
 * Web: http://www.gainhealth.org

Related Sourcewatch

 * CIVICUS
 * Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
 * Mark Van Ameringen
 * Michael Madnick - deputy exec director