As the world grapples with economic uncertainty and increasing development needs, the conversations surrounding the Nutrition for Growth, or N4G, Summit in Paris, which was held from March 27 to 28, centered on a crucial question: How do we sustain and scale investment in nutrition — a sector which is already massively underfunded — in a resource-constrained world?
The urgency is undeniable: Malnutrition continues to impede human capital development, with devastating economic and social consequences. Despite N4G Paris raising record financial commitments, the prevailing sentiment the week of the Summit was that traditional financing models are failing to keep pace with the scale of current challenges.
There are no silver bullets for financing nutrition. But the sector also does not need to reinvent the wheel. In its decade of work promoting action against malnutrition, The Power of Nutrition, or TPoN, has found that the solution lies in leveraging multiple funding streams: multilateral development bank, or MDB, financing; domestic resource allocation; private sector engagement; and the integration of nutrition into already well-funded sectors. The importance of each of these types of funding was echoed throughout N4G, reaffirming their relevance in the fight against malnutrition — the key now is to accelerate the adoption and scaling of an integrated model of nutrition financing.
1. Leveraging multilateral development bank financing
One of the strongest messages from N4G 2025 was the need to maximize concessional financing through MDBs. TPoN’s experience over the past decade with the World Bank Group’s International Development Association, or IDA, has clearly demonstrated the power of this approach. Through this model, TPoN has supported mobilizing over $488 million through partnerships across eight countries in Africa by unlocking greater IDA resources, providing catalytic funding and ensuring long-term sustainability by embedding nutrition investments into national policy frameworks.
At N4G, stakeholders highlighted the untapped potential of MDB financing. Making nutrition a priority within broader loan negotiations and ensuring that countries view these investments as drivers of economic growth remains a challenge. TPoN’s collaboration with the World Bank Group offers a successful template, showing how dedicated funding can align with country-led priorities while ensuring technical support for effective implementation. The efficacy of this model is clear — now, we need to encourage more actors to leverage MDB financing mechanisms to scale nutrition investments.
2. Strengthening domestic resource allocation for nutrition
While external financing plays a crucial role, national governments must ultimately take ownership of nutrition investments. This was a recurring theme at N4G: Discussions emphasized the importance of increasing domestic resource allocation and promoting country-led prioritization of nutrition within national budgets, leaving states better positioned to sustain progress and achieve long-term impact.
In Maharashtra, India, TPoN’s partnership with UNICEF has demonstrated how domestic resources can be effectively leveraged through strategic partnerships, especially when such partnerships support the evidence-policy-implementation continuum in collaboration with government stakeholders. This model underscores the importance of aligning donor contributions with domestic priorities, ensuring that nutrition remains a budgetary commitment beyond short-term project cycles.
When governments commit their own resources, nutrition outcomes are more sustainable and scalable. We should be pushing for this model to be replicated, rather than designing one-off solutions that don’t embed nutrition into national and sub-national financing structures.
3. Promoting private sector engagement in nutrition financing
Despite growing recognition of the private sector’s role in global development and strong data supporting the economic case for investing in nutrition, this area remains underfunded in corporate social responsibility, or CSR, programs and impact investment portfolios. N4G emphasized the urgent need to bring private sector capital into nutrition financing, whether through blended finance models, innovative public-private partnerships, or direct investment in nutrition-sensitive initiatives.
TPoN has seen firsthand the potential of private sector collaboration. Its partnerships — such as its program in Bangladesh which brings together the government, fashion industry, and civil society to improve nutrition for mothers and children — have mobilized private financing to complement public funds, demonstrating that businesses recognize the economic imperative of supporting a well-nourished, healthy workforce and consumer base. However, more needs to be done to align corporate incentives with nutrition outcomes, ensuring that private capital is not just philanthropic but also strategically integrated into sustainable nutrition solutions.
We know that private sector involvement works when structured effectively. The challenge now is scaling this engagement beyond a handful of initiatives and embedding nutrition financing into broader corporate strategies.
4. Integrating nutrition into well-funded sectors
Perhaps the most pragmatic solution discussed at N4G was the integration of nutrition into sectors that already receive substantial funding such as education, climate adaptation, food systems, or social protection. This approach not only maximizes impact but also makes nutrition investments more attractive to funders who prioritise cross-sectoral outcomes and seek to address multiple deprivations in the community.
For instance, TPoN’s work has shown how embedding nutrition interventions within early childhood development, or ECD, social protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene, or WASH, programs enhances overall effectiveness. Over the last decade, TPoN’s partnership with the World Bank has supported mobilizing over $488 million of integrated programming that combines nutrition with other interventions such as ECD initiatives — not only saving lives but also investing in children's physical and cognitive development — and social protection initiatives, which help to reach the most vulnerable populations, linking nutrition to social safety net programs. Similarly, our partnerships in Pakistan and Indonesia tie nutrition to immunization, ensuring that children receive both vaccines and essential micronutrient supplements, reducing the burden of malnutrition-related illnesses.
Instead of treating nutrition as a stand-alone issue, we should be embedding it into these broader, well-financed agendas, essentially “standing on the shoulders of giants.”
A call to action
The message from N4G 2025 is clear — the nutrition sector must evolve its financing strategies to meet the growing need. The path forward requires capitalizing on proven catalytic approaches:
• Scaling MDB financing: Governments and development partners must actively leverage IDA and other concessional funding sources, ensuring that nutrition is embedded in broader health and development loans and national policy frameworks.
• Boosting domestic investment: National governments must commit sustained budgetary allocations to nutrition, reducing reliance on external funding.
• Engaging the private sector: Business leaders must recognize nutrition as both a social responsibility and an economic imperative, integrating it into investments and CSR strategies.
• Driving integration across sectors: Governments, funders, and implementers must align nutrition with cross-sectoral initiatives such as health — including immunization — ECD, social protection, or WASH programs to maximize impact and efficiency.
As The Power of Nutrition marks its 10th anniversary, its experience has proven that these strategies are not just aspirational — they are achievable. The biggest mistake we can make now is to ignore the lessons already learned. The next decade must be defined by action, ensuring that nutrition financing becomes a catalyst for progress.
Visit our website for more information and lessons learned from 10 years of action.
About the author
Dr. Alok Ranjan
Dr. Alok Ranjan is the director of programs and investments at The Power of Nutrition. He has around two decades of experience across various public health and nutrition programs. He has previously worked at the Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and WHO. He is a medical doctor with a post-graduate degree in community medicine.
