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The Nutrition Supplier Finance Facility is an innovative financing partnership between the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and UNICEF, launched with support from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) running since 2024 in Nigeria.

The facility deploys catalytic finance to strengthen the local supplier and manufacturing market and build more resilient supply chains for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF), which are essential for treating severe childhood malnutrition in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Through flexible, risk-tolerant capital, the facility supports local manufacturing and upstream sourcing of key ingredients such as peanuts and other legumes. By helping suppliers invest in processing capacity and local procurement, the initiative reduces dependence on imports, strengthens African supply chains, and creates new opportunities for smallholder farmers and micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

From farm to treatment: financing a stronger nutrition supply chain

In February 2025, UNCDF made its first investment under the facility with a $2.5 million loan to Ariel Foods FZE, a Nigerian company that produces specialized food used to treat severely malnourished children. The investment helps install equipment to process peanuts and other locally grown crops, making it possible to produce more of this life-saving food using ingredients sourced within the country.

By strengthening local production and sourcing, this initiative is expected to create stable income opportunities for up to 1,500 smallholder farmers, lower the cost of delivering nutrition aid, and help partners such as UNICEF reach an estimated 25,000 additional children each year by 2030. This first intervention shows how targeted financing can connect farmers, local businesses and global aid systems, making it easier to deliver life-saving nutrition to the children who need it most.