NYU Students Share Expertise on Improving Nutrition

This summer, five graduate students traveled from New York City to India, to gather new insights on how to eliminate widespread child malnutrition. Now they’re sharing their knowledge with us.

All five are Featured Commentators in the Improved Nutrition: Solutions through Innovation competition and have also nominated tons of great organizations. You can see what they’re saying about the entrants’ ideas and how they’re helping to refine the many inspiring projects aimed at increasing access to good nutrition globally.

As part of their graduate coursework at NYU's Wagner School of Public Service, these students conducted hands-on research to learn more about food fortification programs in schools, and to discover how public-private partnerships can fuel local nutrition services.

Thanks to a university partnership with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the team members spent three weeks observing the Naandi Foundation, a local NGO that operates a thriving school feeding program in India called Midday Meals. This government-sponsored program manages 22 kitchens in three states, providing fresh, balanced meals to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren every day.

"We had the opportunity to speak with parents, teachers, principals, and students," said Kristina Corvin, a student preparing for a career in international grants management. "What we found is that Naandi is effective because they apply important business principals to the way that they operate. State governments invite Naandi because they have an excellent reputation for being transparent and reliable. They know the food will be hygienic and fresh, and that they'll have trained machine operators and trained cooks. All of the things that make businesses successful are the same for Naandi."

The students observed some of the challenges of running a national school feeding program, such as providing meals to rural children despite a poor infrastructure, and partnering with local community groups to replicate and deliver the central kitchen model on a smaller scale.

"The entire objective was about getting the information we needed to help GAIN show how school feeding programs can be successful not just in India but in other places, especially if they partner with the corporate sector and with government. We developed a really great relationship with Naandi," said Debbie Koh, a team member with an interest in international health.

"It's been a great learning experience for me to find out how imperative nutrition is in terms of economic development, said Cecelia Tanaka, a graduate student with a microfinance background. "Learning more about the importance of nutrition, and how vital nutrition is to a community's capacity to develop and emerge out of intergenerational poverty, is really helping to mold my vision for my career after I graduate."

Good nutrition for the entire world’s population is within our reach. Everyone can be well nourished. The question is how to make this a reality for communities currently lacking access to adequate nutrition or unaware of its benefits. The Changemakers community is answering that question right now. Be a part of it!

Follow the Wagner students and join the discussion. Find out which projects they've nominated, which entries have grabbed their attention, and how you can submit your solution to improve access to nutrition.