How We Collaborated to Implement Holistic Solutions

Tackling a single challenge frequently unveils a complex web of interconnected issues. And though we know we can’t solve everything, it’s also clear that holistic solutions are needed to create transformative change.

Recently, we had an opportunity to expand our impact in two projects in Burundi, an East African country of about 13.2 million people that is the second poorest in the world. The country’s economy is dominated by small-scale, rain-fed, subsistence agriculture, which employs about 90 percent of the labor force.

Climate shocks in Burundi – including rising temperatures, droughts, and irregular rainfalls – impact food availability. Some 55 percent of children under the age of 5 are chronically malnourished.

The Rockefeller Foundation, through its grantee the World Food Programme, supported an initiative to shift its school feeding programs towards more nutrient-dense meals such as fortified whole grain maize meals and high iron beans.

In support of this initiative, we visited Rukuruma I & II schools in Bujumbura Rural Province in Burundi, with some 1,580 students who were receiving meals prepared with fortified whole grain in partnership with the Fortified Whole Grain Alliance.