Increase the number of caregivers who make behavioral changes to 430 thousand people (30% of the target population) in 2025.

We set up our goal to achieve 430,000 caregivers to change their behavior by taking "KOKO Plus" in Ghana, in order to contribute to the national target of reduction of stunting.

In Ghana, almost 30% of 2-year-old babies are stunted due to malnutrition. The root cause is a typical complimentary food, called koko made of fermented maize, which mothers feed babies traditionally, but it doesn't contain enough nutrients.

To solve the issue, we started the project in 2009 with the University of Ghana and developed a food supplement "KOKO Plus", affordable with 0.1 US dollars, just to be added to their koko with nutrients like protein, vitamins, and minerals which are insufficient in traditional koko.

What we have done are to:

1) Develop product locally with the University of Ghana.

2) Respect the local food system by utilizing local ingredients soya bean, and be produced by the local food company.

3) Distribute KOKO Plus by the local NGO.

4) Collaborate with the public sector, Ghana Health Service (GHS) to educate caregivers by letting them know the importance of nutrition and making behavior change

To improve the nutrition status of infants, it is critical how to make a Behavior Change of caregivers. They rely on Community Health Nurses of GHS for health advice, and We proposed GHS to have Public-Private-Partnership to make behavior changes by developing effective nutrition education tools together and introducing "KOKO Plus" through the nurses.

In September 2018, the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between GHS and us was firstly signed and started collaborative activities, and the MOC was extended in August 2020 to continue the partnership.

Through the partnership with GHS, we have been creating

1) ecosystem for nutrition integral to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and

2) sustainable nutritious food value chain for long-term nutrition intervention by market-based approach model.

What we focus on are to:

- Aim to expand the business to reach a sustainable scale for Ghanaian local companies, bringing big social impacts through a partnership with the public sectors. Our collaboration area of districts with GHS was 22% in FY20, targeting 70% in FY25.

- Strengthen evidence with local and international academia to prove the effectiveness of the project. We have been providing a practical and sustainable model with various partnerships with stakeholders.

-Reach 430,000 caregivers to feed the weaning children in FY2025, up from 90,000 in FY2020.