About Us

Our Vision and Mission

Vision: Smarter, stronger, healthier people worldwide by improving vitamin and mineral nutrition.

Mission: Champion effective fortification of industrially milled flour and rice globally through multi-sector partnerships.

Values: Our core value is public-private-civic partnerships. Every sector should be included throughout the fortification process because every group’s expertise is needed for successful programs. This principle applies at the national, regional, and global levels.

Six values guide our work. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Equity: People should have equal access to the health benefits of fortification. This is one reason we encourage mandatory fortification.

• Evidence-based:  Our work is based on robust scientific evidence and successful experiences. 

• Integrity: We make decisions and take actions that benefit the ultimate stakeholders – the consumers whose health will improve through better nutrition.

• Shared vision:  Creating common interests and a sense of shared purpose with our partners so that when fortification is successful, the victory belongs to everyone. 

• Sustainability: Fortification must be on-going to be effective. Therefore, we help countries institutionalize fortification into national food production, policy and control systems, without the need for on-going external support.

• Transparency: Our networks, materials and expertise are openly available. Our funding process is clear so that our partners can see and trust our work.

Expertise

• FFI is made up of a dynamic team of passionate professionals dedicated to combating malnutrition. FFI’s staff not only helps partners plan, implement, and monitor fortification using evidence-based methods; they also help generate the evidence and data-driven methods for those fortification programs. For example, FFI’s senior nutrition scientist, who is also an Emory University research professor, (1) provides technical assistance to staff and partners on scientific, nutrition, and monitoring issues and (2) generates and collates evidence on the public health impact of grain fortification.

• FFI is managed by an Executive Management Team (EMT) that includes large multinational agribusiness companies such as Cargill and key partners in the fortification space such as the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. Additional examples of the perspectives that drive FFI’s programming and strategy:

  • The Executive Vice President of the International Association of Operative Millers is a member of FFI’s EMT and connects FFI to private sector millers around the world.

  • The Center for Spina Bifida Prevention, an organization that represents birth defects groups, neurosurgeons, and consumer associations, connects FFI to voices of those who personally experience consequences of micronutrient deficiencies fortification.

• Since FFI was formed in 2002, it has had a uniquely strong link to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Birth Defects and Nutrition Divisions and UN agencies such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

• FFI’s uniquely robust connections to public, private, and civic partners enable it to create efficiencies and reduce duplication of efforts. For example, with a keen attention to maximize the strengths of FFI’s partners, FFI leads implementation of programs like Smarter Futures, a multi-sector partnership working to advance grain fortification in Africa.

Rigor

• Unlike other organizations in the fortification space, FFI has been able to complete data-driven assessments of fortification opportunities for all regions in the world. These interdisciplinary and comprehensive assessments can be used to prioritize fortification opportunities as well as lay the groundwork for building or strengthening a fortification program. This data has been used internally to drive priorities within FFI but also externally among partners working in fortification.

• For each of FFI’s regional strategies, FFI has objectively ranked the fortification opportunity for each country by 1) health impact and 2) ease of implementation. This unique, methodical approach helps FFI to efficiently prioritize opportunities. This approach also helps to provide directional thinking to other organizations working in fortification.

• FFI’s strategic phases articulate a methodical approach to maximize the use of funds and staff resources. From the start of a project, FFI’s focus is on creating a sustainable fortification program that won’t need future external funding.

• FFI is uniquely poised to help partners in each of its strategic phases:

  1. Explore and engage

     1. Once a data-driven opportunity is determined, FFI leverages the guidance and expertise of its EMT to engage key public, private, and civic stakeholders.

  1. Map the context

     1. FFI’s prescriptive supply-chain diagnostic methodology provides a reliable picture of fortification opportunities by grain and market channel.

     2. FFI has found that assessing budgetary needs (initial investment by sector and annual recurring costs) to ensure commitment is critical to the success and sustainability of a program.

     3. Before moving on to the next phase, FFI provides governments with a realistic picture of the opportunity to fortify, as well as the concrete steps to create a successful fortification program. Without gaining governmental commitment to realistic goals in this phase, success is not possible.

  2. Design and develop

     1. Because of FFI’s connections with its partners and EMT, FFI can analyze the entire supply chain to discover and act on opportunities to advance fortification.

  3. Monitor for compliance and impact

     1. FFI is the only organization to annually document and publish estimates for fortification of industrially milled cereal grains for 195 countries. FFI publicly publishes data through the FFI website county profiles, FFI annual report, and Global Fortification Data Exchange. Used by partners and policymakers alike, FFI’s fortification data helps build successful fortification programs and hold countries accountable to fortification commitments.

     2. FFI also has unique approaches to augment government monitoring efforts. For example, the Pull Strategy engages consumer associations and disability groups to become part of program performance monitoring. A complement to government-led “push” strategies, the Pull Strategy augments government monitoring to increase the volume of fortified staple foods that meet quality and nutrition standards.

Focus

• FFI takes a holistic, objective approach to choose geographies, regions, states, and provinces to work in with the goal to help eliminate micronutrient deficiencies in every country in the world where industrially milled cereal grain is commonly consumed. FFI does not have a predetermined set of countries it will support; instead, it relies on data to identify where the needs and opportunities are greatest.

• According to FFI’s 2019 estimates, 64% of the cereal grain consumed globally is industrially milled. Yet only 21% of that grain is fortified. The opportunity is to fortify all industrially milled cereal grain. FFI’s unique mission is to fill this gap.