What we do

Key strategies

To achieve our vision—to use maternal, infant, and young child nutrition as a way to address global health issues at their root—the IYCN Project provides technical assistance to countries in scaling up effective nutrition interventions and offers global leadership in nutrition programming, focusing on sharing innovations and knowledge to improve the impact of infant, young child, and maternal nutrition programs. We rely on a set of key strategies to accomplish our goals.

Implementing evidence-based programs at scale

We work with country partners to help design and implement maternal, infant, and young child nutrition strategies and national interventions using cost-effective approaches and tools.

Learn more about our country solutions.

Building innovative partnerships

We are increasing the number of collaborating organizations and partnerships among the public and private sectors and civil society and improving coordination among collaborators. We also help leverage increased financial resources to support strategies and interventions to improve maternal, infant, and young child nutrition.

Centering program strategies on improved practices

We focus on identifying the barriers to and developing solutions for optimal infant and young child nutrition practices. This ensures that strategies and programs are tailored to country-specific needs and will produce child growth and survival results.

Addressing nutrition challenges within the context of HIV

The HIV epidemic has drawn increased attention to the impact that infant and young child nutrition practices can have on HIV-free survival. We are leading global and country-specific initiatives based on current international guidance and emerging scientific research.

Learn more about optimal infant and young child nutrition practices within the context of HIV.

Sharing innovations and learning

An important element in all of our work is sharing project experience and supporting the exchange of information and knowledge among partners. As part of our efforts to support global leadership in infant and young child nutrition, we share results and knowledge with the global health community and advocate for increased commitment and support for improving nutrition programs for mothers, infants, and young children.

Integrating infant and young child feeding into existing health and development efforts

We emphasize the integration of key nutrition actions into maternal and child health care—the basis of the US Agency for International Development’s Essential Nutrition Actions approach—as well as engaging other partners to make nutrition interventions a priority.

Prioritizing program monitoring and evaluation

Our performance monitoring plan ensures that results—optimal maternal, infant, and young child nutrition outcomes and other indicators of impact—are measured, reported, and fed back to project implementers and collaborators to inform and improve program implementation.

Photos: Aurelio Ayala III; 2005 Paul J. Crystal, Courtesy of Photoshare