UNITLIFE

« UNITLIFE is the first innovative financing instrument dedicated to the fight against chronic childhood malnutrition (stunting). The root causes of chronic malnutrtion are complex and contributing factors include maternal undernutrition; unequal access to information on nutrition, feeding, and caregiving practices; lack of access to health care and sanitation services; insufficient supply of high-quality and diverse food; unequal access of women and youth to land and productive assets; and climate change. During its first investment cycle, UNITLIFE will focus on supporting programming in two priority areas: (1) reducing child stunting and other immediate effects of malnutrition; and (2) closing the gender gap in climate-smart agriculture. UNITLIFE will contribute to 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 16 on peace and security through women and youth empowerment and greater societal resilience to social, economic and climate shocks. Leveraging new digital finance technologies, UNITLIFE will collect voluntary microdonations from citizen at the time of e-payments. Five billion bank cards are currently in circulation around the world and amount close to $30 trillion monetary transactions per year.”