Nutrition & Food Security
Climate change, conflict, and health emergencies have had significant negative impact on food availability and progress
Against key nutrition indicators in emerging economies in recent years. There is a need for a renewed focus on multi-sectoral approaches to nutrition, healthy diets, more effective information and data platforms, enhanced accountability, and improved reporting on the progress of nutrition pledges. Food security systems need continued on-farm and institutional support to enhance supply and value chains, effectively functioning markets, and the policy and business environment, as part of maintaining nutrient-rich available and affordable food.
NIRAS is committed to tackling deepening food insecurity and prioritising healthy diets and nutrition.
Our specialist services:
Highlighted Projects
Implement innovation calls and support selected SMEs to scale their innovative solutions
GIZ Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) supports the increase of food production and income of smallholder farmers through a sustainable use of water and energy in food production in East Africa (Kenya Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda, and Malawi). This WE4F initiative worked with existing and new promising innovations to support their next level of scaling (vertical and horizontal) in the water, energy and food/agriculture nexus, including contributing to the generation of knowledge and new methodologies.
NIRAS provided technical assistance to solve challenges related to food security and agricultural production in terms of increasing resilience against climate change impacts and ensuring an efficient use of energy and water resources to produce, process, store and distribute food. NIRAS implemented four work packages including preparation and managing innovation calls for SME innovators, strengthening of business capacities of SME innovators, supporting SME innovators for access to finance and scaling-up of innovative solutions, and impact assessment of SMEs' innovations.
The NIRAS-Intellecap consortium managed a results-based financing fund that invested 10 million EUR in 15 SME innovators across six East African countries directly benefited nearly 100,000 smallholder farmers and end-users through climate-adapted, energy- and water-efficient WE4F innovations.
Build capacity in nutrition sensitive agriculture systems
Our consulting services for improving capacities in nutrition sensitive and climate smart agriculture in Kismayo, Somalia, as part of the GIZ Promoting Climate Resilience in Food Security in Jubaland project, boost resilience among crisis-affected communities in Jubaland by facilitating sufficient production of nutrition-rich foods in an area affected by a multitude of climatic and environmental hazards, including droughts and salinisation of the land. To ensure the production enhances nutrition-rich food access, attention is given to production methods rooted in conservation agriculture, as well as post-harvest handling. In the Southernmost province of Somalia, Jubaland, water supply is a key challenge to nutrition-rich agriculture, as affected by droughts and high levels of water and soil salinity. The project designs and oversees the construction of a tailormade irrigation system. Efforts concentrate on strengthening the abilities of households, lead farmers and governmental extension workers to strengthen capacities in agricultural production. Particular emphasis is placed on empowering vulnerable groups, especially internally displaced people, to enhance their agricultural productivity and ensure their households’ nutrition security.
