• Responding to a request from the government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), India extended a grant amount of around $1 million under the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for the ‘Strengthening large scale food fortification: the case of investing in rice fortification’.

• The World Food Programme is the implementing agency. 

• The project aims to promote food fortification programmes, address long term supply of nutrition-specific strategies, strengthen food systems, increase nutritional diversity and overcome micro-nutrient deficiencies in Lao PDR. 

• Support to the project is a reflection of India’s deep-rooted ties with Lao PDR that encompasses multiple areas of cooperation. 

What is food fortification?

• Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micronutrient — vitamins and minerals (including trace elements) — in food, so as to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.

• In other words, it is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as Iron, Iodine, Zinc, Vitamins A & D to staple foods such as rice, wheat, oil, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content.

India-UN Development Partnership Fund

• Established in 2017, the $150 million India-UN Development Partnership Fund is supported and led by the government of India and implemented in collaboration with the United Nations system.

• It is supported and led by the government of India, managed by United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), and implemented in collaboration with the United Nations system. 

• The India-UN Development Partnership Fund supports Southern-owned and led, demand-driven, and transformational sustainable development projects across the developing world, with a focus on least developed countries and small island developing states. 

• United Nations agencies implement the Fund’s projects in close collaboration with partnering governments.

• The India-UN Fund is a notable example of South-South cooperation undertaken jointly with the multilateral system and that also has the ambition to strengthen international solidarity and multilateralism to address development challenges common across the human endeavour. 

• The Fund endeavors to support projects and programmes that directly contributed to realizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on eradicating poverty, promoting gender equality, ensuring access to quality education and basic amenities, and fostering economic growth. 

• The Fund has taken a holistic approach to address development challenges comprehensively.

• The Fund has a strong focus on many of the global issues of the day, addressed through approaches that are the most relevant to the context of developing countries. 

• Since its launch in 2017, the Fund has supported 85 projects in 65 countries.

• Its project portfolio spans climate resilience, livelihood development, health and sanitation, education and skills, agriculture and food security, infrastructure, and other SDG targets prioritised by partner countries.

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