Expression of Interest: UNICEF First Foods Africa Initiative

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Applications are open for UNICEF First Foods Africa Initiative. UNICEF First Foods Africa (FFA) initiative invites African-owned food companies to express their interest in joining efforts to transform food systems for children in 14 selected countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal in Western and central Africa; Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in Eastern and Southern Africa.

UNICEF First Foods Africa intends to:

Incentivize local production of nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable first foods in Africa, by Africa and for Africa’s young children.
Shape policy environments to protect, promote and support access to nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable first foods by the most vulnerable children in Africa.
Stimulate adequate consumption of nutritious first foods through large-scale social marketing and social and behaviour change programmes.

UNICEF FFA will work closely with national governments in selected countries to support the creation of policy environments that protect and promote access to nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable first foods. Governments will play a pivotal role in shaping regulatory frameworks, providing incentives for local food production, and facilitating partnerships to address child food poverty and malnutrition.

First Foods Africa seeks to create systemic, sustainable transformation of food systems for children in Africa, bringing together public and private sector leaders. First Foods Africa will contribute to sustainably reducing the prevalence of child food poverty and malnutrition in Africa, for Africa and by Africa.

Aims

UNICEF FFA aims to respond to child food poverty in early childhood. It builds on UNICEF’s expertise and experience with local and regional production of ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF). FFA is guided by the UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020–2030 and UNICEF’s vision on Food Systems for Children. FFA is a central component of the UNICEF Africa Strategy, contributing to Africa’s development agenda.
By aligning with national development strategies and policies, FFA aims to ensure a cohesive and sustainable approach to improving children’s nutrition.
This initiative aims to address the pressingfupi need for nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable foods tailored for young children (6-59 months) in Africa.
First Foods Africa aims to increase access and consumption of nutrient dense foods that young children – especially vulnerable ones – are missing in their diets.
First Foods Africa aims to support selected food companies to access catalytic investments and strengthen technical capacities to produce nutritious, safe, affordable first foods, targeting underconsumed food groups in alignment with the latest WHO Guideline, and in compliance with the highest national or regional quality standards, best practices, and latest evidence.
It aims to change production priorities, policy frameworks, and consumption practices so that every child receives the nutritious diets they need.

UNICEF First Foods Africa Benefits

UNICEF First Foods Africa will support selected food companies to:
- Access tailored capital and high-quality business advisory services to enhance the production and distribution of nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable first foods that meet the specific needs of young children.
- Strengthen first foods quality systems and ingredient supply chain management through tailored technical assistance, including: training, mentorship, advisory services, and knowledge sharing.
- Support to reformulate first foods products and creating innovative, low cost, sustainable options that meet demand and comply with the highest safety and nutritional quality standards for young children

Eligibility Criteria

UNICEF First Foods Africa initiative is open to companies that align with UNICEF and National Governments targets to reduce child food poverty and malnutrition. UNICEF does not engage with industries that violate the Code of Marketing for Breastmilk Substitutes or those whose core business is the production and distribution of ultra-processed foods and beverages(UPF). UNICEF has several exclusionary criteria for private sector partnerships, many of which are standard across the UN system, preventing engagement with certain companies (details available upon request).
UNICEF First Foods Africa will engage with companies that are majority-owned by African people, based in one or more of the 14 selected countries, and actively engaged or with strong interest in developing and marketing healthy nutritious food products that cater to the nutritional needs of young children.
UNICEF First Foods Africa will primarily engage with companies that prioritize sourcing raw materials locally, thereby strengthening local economies while promoting sustainable and climate friendly agricultural, farming, and fishing practices. Additionally, UNICEF First Foods Africa will prioritize companies that streamline the nutrition value chain from production to consumption and create meaningful employment opportunities for women and youth.
Ideal candidates have a solid market presence, and offer products made of food items belonging to those food groups that are mostly missing in children’s diets and are essential for optimal growth and development: animal source foods – including meat, fish, or eggs; fruits and vegetables; and pulses, nuts, and seeds. Eligible companies must also align with national and regional priorities for child nutrition and food security. This includes compliance with local policies and regulations, and active engagement in government-led initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture, food safety, and child nutrition or with a strong interest in the initiative.

Selection Process

The selection process will follow a rigorous step approach to identify the most suitable partners.

Step 1: Initially, interested companies will submit the EOI by completing the online form, which includes three questionnaires – Annex 1a, 1b and 2 (included in this document). Through Annex 1a, the company will certify its commitment to the First Foods Africa Principles of Engagement. Through Annex 1b, the company will certify that it does not meet any of the exclusion criteria, which are based on the international principles and UNICEF guidelines. Through Annex 2, the company will provide information about its products and business operations and processes.
Step 2: Information received through the online form will be used to shortlist companies, based on the criteria established in Annex 1a and 1b and the scoring system presented in Annex 2. Shortlisted companies will then be contacted via email with a request to submit the required documents listed in the following section.
Step 3: Companies that are found to be eligible (Step 1) and that score well in the assessment (Step 2) will proceed to a more detailed financial performance and business plan assessment by investment partners, aimed at ensuring their long-term viability and ability to meet the initiative’s objectives.
Step 4: Companies that will be positively evaluated in the financial performance, and business plan assessment will be finally selected to engage in UNICEF First Foods Africa. Continuous compliance with the FFA’s engagement principles is critical. Participating companies will be required to maintain compliance with the initiative’s principles through ongoing monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of their collective efforts to improve child nutrition in Africa. The selection process may involve consultations with relevant government bodies to ensure that the chosen companies align with national policies on sustainable agriculture, food safety, and child nutrition. Governments and selected partners may also be involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the initiative’s impact to ensure that it meets national health and nutrition targets.

How To Apply for UNICEF First Foods Africa initiative

Interested companies are requested to submit their Expression of Interest electronically using an online form. Shortlisted companies, as indicated in Step 2 of the previous section, will be contacted via email to submit the following documents:

Company registration: relevant certifications, including business incorporation certificate, and/or business registration number.
Company profile: basic information about the company, core business focus, ownership, location, and organizational structure including list of directors and shareholders and their nationalities and percentage ownership.
Product overview: a list of products providing enough information to assess the nutritious value of the products, ingredients and nutrition profile (if possible), retail pricing, and source of raw materials within the company portfolio. This information is to be provided at least for products for young children.
Other supporting documents: market and investment data and working capital.
Preliminary business case (optional): preliminary business case for safe, nutritious first foods – including the type and size of the financial instruments needed (debt, equity, guarantee) will be requested to pre-selected companies, but you can already share it at this stage, to strengthen your expression of interest.

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Application Deadline: 30 April 2025