Lessons from Business Cultivating MULTI-SECTORAL Partnerships to Alleviate Undernutrition in India: Lessons from Naandi Foundation’s School Feeding Program Naandi at a Glance In 2002, Naandi Foundation was asked to develop a system to administer the Midday Meal Program (MDM) in the city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. To accomplish this, Naandi built a modern and hygienic central kitchen to provide meals to 120,000 students in the city’s government-funded schools. Today, Naandi has successfully replicated its model and provides nutritious meals to over one million children across four Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Orissa). By supplementing the diets of underserved children, Naandi Foundation’s school feeding program is improving the health of some of India’s most vulnerable populations. These accomplishments, however, are not the result of Naandi’s work alone. The successes and strengths of the school feeding program rely upon a broad set of partnerships that unites socially minded institutions from the public and private sectors to address the problem of undernutrition in India.
COMBATING UNDERNUTRITION The rate of undernutrition in India is staggering. Nearly half of India’s children, 60 million, are undernourished, making India home to the largest population of undernourished children in the 1
world.1 The economic repercussions are significant: lost earnings due to undernutrition in India were estimated at $4 billion in 2008 alone.2
Like many of her classmates in Hyderabad, Priya didn’t eat breakfast this morning before coming to school. It is also likely that she won’t eat before going to bed this evening. Yet, Priya knows that she can have a warm, nutritious meal at school six days a week. In fact, Priya is guaranteed a hot lunch of two dishes that change daily. On some days she even gets a sweet, a piece of fruit, or a hardboiled egg with her meal. Through the work of Naandi Foundation, more than one million Indian school children like Priya receive free meals delivered to their schools.
In 1995, the Indian government recognized an opportunity to address two correlated social problems—hunger and school attendance —and launched the National Program of Nutritional Support to Primary Education.3 The program was designed to improve both the health of school-age children and promote universal primary education. The legislation mandated that states provide meals, but did not specify how they should be delivered. Consequently, many states simply transferred the raw grains provided by the FCI directly to parents.4 This practice undermined the dual intent of the program to increase school attendance and to feed children. As a result, the Supreme Court of India revised the legislation in 2001 and required states to provide a hot, cooked lunch to students in government and government-funded schools every school day.5 Today, the federal government continues to contribute free grains through the FCI and partial support for the cost of food preparation, including the purchase of supplementary ingredients. State governments are required to provide additional support, though contributions vary. Under the policy revision, state governments retain the authority to determine the management, delivery, and provision of the meals through the MDM program. The requirement to provide meals to
Chu, H. (2008, September 7). High rate of malnourished children embarrasses India. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from: http://www.post-gazette.com/
pg/08251/909829-82.stm 2
Verma, S. (2009, October 17). India loses nearly 4% of its GDP to malnutrition. Mail Today. Retrieved from: http://indiatoday
.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&issueid=111&id=66671&Itemid=1&sectionid=114 3
Department of School Education and Literacy. (n.d.). Guidelines of National Programme of Nutritional
Support to Primary Education, launched in August, 1995. Retrieved from: http://www.education.nic.in/mdm/mdm1995.asp 4
The transfer of raw grains resulted from insufficient funding and
infrastructure necessary to support a meal provision program. 5
Khera, R. (2007, June 11-13). Mid-Day Meals in India.
Achievements and Challenges. Retrieved from: http://www.righttofoodindia.org/data/ mid-day_meals_in_india _achievements_and_ challenges_19_July.ppt
millions of children proved daunting for state governments and needed a strong delivery partner to fulfill the responsibility. The government of Andhra Pradesh approached to Naandi Foundation, a reputable, local institution with a proven track record. Through its previous work in school outreach programs, Naandi had established itself as a reliable partner with valuable experience in project management and cross-sector collaboration; skills that were integral to meet the MDM program goals.
Surya Narayana used to spend part of each school day shopping for ingredients, preparing food, serving students, and cleaning up. Now, with Naandi delivery to his school in Karasa, Visakhapatnam, Surya can spend the entire day in the classroom teaching his students – instead of feeding them.
Supplying Meals It’s 3:30 a.m. and the Naandi kitchen in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, is buzzing with activity. In an hour, the kitchen workers, who began their workday at 2:00 a.m., will start the process necessary to prepare the 40,000 meals they will make that day. Manu Krishna, the kitchen manager, ensures the timeliness and coordination of the food preparation and delivery processes, which are mirrored across the Naandi network. The daily operation of Naandi’s 22 centralized kitchens is standardized, allowing Naandi to reach economies of scale in its service delivery. The kitchens’ factory-like design relies on highly automated production practices that guarantee the hygienic and efficient preparation of a large volume of meals in a short time frame. Each kitchen manager procures local produce daily to ensure quality, and to reduce food storage and refrigeration costs. State-of-the-art dic-
ing machines cut the vegetables on the premises to further guarantee freshness and sanitation. The Government of India (GOI) supplies wheat or rice to kitchens through the Food Corporation of India (FCI), depending on the state diet.6 The wheat is milled and fortified in the kitchens and is used to make chapatis (Indian flat bread). Fortified rice and soya dal (lentils) analogue are purchased from private suppliers and added to meals to increase their nutritional value. After the meals are prepared, they are packed for distribution. The accountability of the Naandi program relies upon the foundation’s precise record-keeping efforts. After filling the delivery containers, each one is sealed with a Naandi security sticker to ensure the integrity of the contents during transport from the kitchen to the schoolroom. Once a truck is loaded, kitchen security guards and route coordinators verify the number of food vessels against the corresponding truck log, which details the authorized amount of food for the delivery route. Upon arrival, school principals sign a register to confirm the receipt of their designated allotment. The Naandi delivery team and school principal inspect the security stickers and confirm that the contents have not been compromised. Naandi route coordinators are crucial to managing the program transparently. During their weekly school visits, route coordinators gather feedback from principals, teachers, parents, and students about Naandi’s operations. This feedback mechanism builds a sense of trust and ownership within the communities that Naandi serves. As an added level of customer service, kitchen managers and route coordinators facilitate periodic community meetings to discuss the feeding program with school administrators, parents, and district government and education officials. These weekly checks and periodic meetings help Naandi maintain a high-quality product and service that meet the expectations and needs of its communities.
Founding Principles In 1998, Chandrababu Naidu, then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, recognized the opportunity to solicit assistance to meet his state’s education and health goals. In a strategic move, he sought the support of local corporate leaders who could provide private sector expertise to
find innovative solutions to long-standing social problems. Naidu reached out to four individuals: Dr. K. Anji Reddy, founder-chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd; Ramesh Gelli, founder of Global Trust Bank Ltd; B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd; and K. S. Raju, chairman of the Nagarjuna Group of Companies.7 Through this partnership, these businessmen created a nonprofit entity, Naandi Foundation, to realize Naidu’s hope for a public private alliance serving the state.
Deepak Singh knows about customer service. As the kitchen manager in Gandhinagar, Rajasthan, his route coordinators share the daily feedback they receive from the teachers at the schools they supply. When his kitchen first opened, the recipes used were standard for Rajasthan. However, he soon learned that this particular region preferred spicier food. That wasn’t a problem. Since each kitchen manager has the freedom to alter recipes based on demand, Deepak learned the unique local preference and has satisfied the students’ requests. This self-designated “corporate non-governmental organization” would provide critical public services to the people of the state by aligning the government’s mandate to serve its citizens with the founders’ social focus and management expertise. Guiding the formation of Naandi, these founders instilled the organization with standard business principles uncommon in the nonprofit sector: strategic supply chain management, economies of scale, and performance management. Today, Board members’ involvement furthers Naandi’s growth and helps the organization retain the business principles that define its successful model. Some Board members provide sustaining funds, while
6
FCI storage facilities hold a one month supply of grains beyond immediate need so that the supply chain of food grains to the kitchens remains uninterrupted.
7
Akkaraju, K. (n.d.) Naandi Foundation. Editorial Reviews. Retrived from: http://www.fullyhyderabad.com/profile/locations/1111/2/voluntary-organizations-ngos/
banjara-hills/naandi-foundation_review#tabs
others connect Naandi with corporate donors and management leading practitioners. The current Board, a diverse group of private sector professionals and public figures, provides important oversight and supervision. As Manoj Kumar, the CEO of Naandi, so aptly stated: “Governance led by professionals leads to transparency, pluralism, and builds organizational credibility.”8 In addition to spearheading funding efforts, it enforces quality control and accountability through a quarterly audit. The Board is involved in overseeing organizational operations, providing programmatic insight, and developing solutions to management issues. Naandi’s Board has also played a significant role in building the foundation’s reputation. With the knowledge that Naandi is supported by well-respected, successful corporate and public figures, donors and government officials are confident that Naandi will be a credible partner.
Building Partnerships The core of Naandi’s success lies in the organization’s ability to convene actors from a variety of sectors to improve the delivery of public sector goods. Naandi continually builds upon this strength, bridging the divide between sectors and employing the knowledge of its partners as the MDM program expands. Building Partnerships: Getting Started with Governments Since its founding, Naandi Foundation has gained a reputation as a trusted government partner through its work in school outreach and children’s rights. This name recognition is important because district-level governments must “We do what we say we are going to do, and we do it the right way.” – Leena Joseph, Naandi MDM Program Director, explains the key to the MDM’s success and credibility
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formally invite Naandi into communities before the organization can begin school feeding operations. Upon invitation, Naandi proves its capacity to serve the needs of the community by submitting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that details the anticipated costs to establish and operate the kitchen, as well as the distribution of responsibilities.
In India, gross domestic product lost to undernutrition was 3% in 2008.11 Through partnerships with Naandi, government actors are investing in the health, well-being, and capacity of India’s future generations by improving the nutrition and education of India’s children today.
Khan Singh Johan’s grandson receives his first meal of the day at 9:30 a.m. when his Naandi meal arrives. As a local elder, Khan Singh routinely visits the school to check on his grandson and the Naandi meal. Sometimes he tastes the food and is always pleased with quality. His grandson mostly eats chapati at home, but Naandi provides a variety of tasty, nutritious dishes that alternate daily.
This is done to improve accountability and transparency, verifying that Naandi can meet the district’s needs and that the state government can allocate the funding necessary to implement and sustain the program. Local leaders also play an integral role in introducing Naandi to the community and helping the organization identify local partners to facilitate its expansion. In recent years, requests for expansion have increased as Naandi gains
Deepshikha, M. National Interview: Mr. Manu Kumar. Developednation.org. Retrieved from:
http://www.developednation.org/interviews/manojkumar.htm, 13 October 2009. 9
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World
Bank (2005). Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development. A Strategy for Large-Scale Action. 2006. p 1. 10
Ibid. p 2.
11
Ibid. p 1..
exposure and governments recognize the advantages this partnership offers. Undernutrition stifles economic growth and perpetuates poverty by reducing productivity due to compromised physical capacity, diminishing cognitive functioning, and increasing health care costs.9 Such productivity losses are estimated at more than 10% of an individual’s lifetime earnings.10
While Naandi delivers the services, governments provide the necessary framework and inputs. At the central level of government, the national policy creates the environment in which Naandi is able to conduct its work. At the local level, governments authorize Naandi as their designated school meals provider. Naandi could not operate without the subsidies governments provide in the form of free grain, land for kitchen facilities, and operational funding. By partnering with Naandi, governments are able to fulfill the roles of policy maker and program monitor while keeping out of the day-to-day challenges of program design, management, and operation – tasks which Naandi is better suited for given its organizational expertise. Building Partnerships: Food Fortification with For- and Not-forProfit Organizations Naandi’s initial model was successful in abating hunger among primary school children, but did not address the vitamin and mineral deficiencies pervasive in India. To rectify this shortfall, Naandi partnered with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a Swiss foundation working to reduce global un-
dernutrition through food fortification and other strategies to improve the health and nutrition of vulnerable populations. With its international scope, GAIN brings a deep knowledge of best practices and comparative projects. Together, GAIN and Naandi embarked on a new venture to devise a fortification model that prioritized innovation, simplicity, and affordability by focusing on the meal that was already being served to students. The partners determined that the easiest and most cost-effective way to improve a child’s diet was to augment the nutritional content of their normal daily foods. To achieve this, GAIN tapped into its global network to develop a strategy to fortify the existing recipes in Naandi’s MDM menu. For northern states, the partners implemented a wheat fortification process requiring Naandi simply to add the nutrient powder during milling. However, this method did not serve children in southern rice-eating states. To remedy this, Naandi and GAIN needed to conceive an alternate fortification vehicle. In the interim, GAIN worked with Indiabased Britannia Industries Ltd to produce fortified biscuits that were purchased and distributed as a complement to the Naandi meals. In time, GAIN approached Faith Foods, an Indian food manufacturer with a social mission that was supplying Naandi with protein-enriched soya dal analogue. Leveraging its wealth of public health knowledge, GAIN worked with Faith Foods to co-create a version of the soya dal analogue fortified with iron and folic acid. This product was a low cost replacement for the Britannia cookies that reduced the amount of Naandi’s expenditure on more expensive conventional dal. 12 By selling both of its soya dal products to Naandi below market price, Faith Foods plays an important role in allowing Naandi to increase the organization’s coverage and impact, which the company hopes will drive demand and build its market presence.13 From Naandi’s perspective, integrating the fortificants directly into the dal maximizes fortified foods’ acceptability in all regional diets. GAIN and Naandi see great potential for this product as its universal nature could allow the program to cut costs by streamlining national operations yielding greater economies of scale.
12
Meanwhile, the partners continue to explore alternative micronutrient vehicles. GAIN and Naandi are currently conducting a pilot program in Naandi’s Visakhapatnam kitchen to investigate a fourth strategy for food fortification. Working with international public health nonprofit, PATH, the partners are testing Ultra Rice—a rice supplement fortified with iron, zinc, and folic acid. If it proves successful, Ultra Rice will be another option to deliver highly nutritious food to India’s southern states. These for- and not-for- profit partners enable Naandi and GAIN to supply meals with vital micronutrients to Indian schoolchildren. By working with GAIN, Naandi greatly expanded its network and benefited from the vast knowledge and capacity of its new allies. For GAIN, this was an opportunity to make strategic investments in a trusted organization that enhanced the breadth of the school feeding program. Naandi’s operational capacity and knowledge of local culture and customs provided depth to GAIN’s contributions. Through their collaboration, GAIN and Naandi bridge sectoral “GAIN got involved with Naandi because of their unique approach with MDM, setting up centralized kitchens with donated funds and feeding 1,000,000 children per day, allowing [Naandi] to reach economies of scale with their excellent management system.”
Bridging Sectors for Future Success Naandi Foundation has made significant strides in combating undernutrition and hunger in India. It has a proven model that has scaled from 120,000 children in one state to over 1,000,000 in four states in only seven years. With growth, Naandi remains integrated in its communities through consistent dedication to customer service. Naandi’s ability to go to scale while maintaining its high quality processes and meals is a testament to its strong partnerships with business and civil sector allies. The complexity of the Midday Meal Program operations requires an innovative, multi-sectoral approach that capitalizes upon the respective capacities of each stakeholder. At the center of this network, Naandi serves as the agent of social action, engaging with partners who share its commitment to improve child health and nutrition. With the knowledge, skills, and influence of its public and private sector partners, Naandi is able to produce sustainable, social impacts that maximize individual efforts.
– Dr. Rajan Sankar, GAIN Special Adviser and Regional Manager, South Asia divides to connect like-minded organizations to significantly improve nutrition among the target population. Building Partnerships: Securing Funding from Corporations As Naandi grew its MDM operations beyond Hyderabad, it maintained and expanded the types of private sector relationships that were instrumental in the organization’s founding. In new districts and states, Naandi works with government officials to identity local, socially conscious corporations to donate land and cover construction costs. Capital costs are also sourced from corporations interested in serving their communities. Costs previously born by Naandi through state-provided, interest-free loans are now assumed by corporate partners. These sponsorships yield valu-
This paper was prepared by Kristina Corvin, Rubina Khan, Debbie Koh, Hanan Nassau, and Cecelia Tanaka as part of their culminating capstone assignment at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. The field research and compilation of this report was made possible by support from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Naandi Foundation. The authors would like to thank the GAIN and Naandi Foundation staffs, business and NGO partners, and members of the local communities mentioned, for supporting their research and discovery of this unique model. Photos: Cecelia Tanaka and Hanan Nassau
Soya dal analogue contains 60% soy dal and 40% wheat, which is powdered and extruded in the form of conventional dal. As it is not pure dal and is pre-
cooked, it is both a cheaper and faster alternative. 13
able opportunities for publicity and meet corporations’ social responsibility targets. For Naandi, they are critical resources for sustaining operations and feeding more children.
Capstone team conversation with Faith Foods Managing Director Vivek Kacker (2009, July 29).