Submission to the Future of UK aid and development assistance inquiry

The Eleanor Crook Foundation’s mission, expertise, and relevance to the inquiry

Malnutrition remains the leading cause of death among children under five, claiming a life every 11 seconds. Survivors often face lifelong developmental challenges that limit their potential and burden communities.

The Eleanor Crook Foundation (ECF) is committed to ending these preventable deaths. With over $100 million invested, our evidence-based approach has helped reform global wasting treatment guidelines and expand access to lifesaving care. In 2023 alone, advocacy efforts contributed to US funding for ready to use therapeutic food that UNICEF and The New York Times estimate saved 1.2 million children’s lives.[1] 

Our work, through research,policy and advocacy, focuses on demonstrating that investing in malnutrition treatment is not only one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives, but also a critical foundation for rebuilding healthier, more resilient futures.

As global crises intensify, and global Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) declines, the UK government must prioritise aid that delivers measurable impact. Proven malnutrition solutions not only save lives; they strengthen communities, reduce long-term costs, and unlock human potential. They are also a foundation for national and global security, helping to build stability and resilience in vulnerable regions. We urge the UK to lead with targeted investment in child malnutrition. The time to act is now.

Prioritising Overseas Development Assistance for maximum impact

ODA must focus on the most significant barriers to human development in the lowest income settings and be targeted towards saving the greatest number of lives. ODA is a unique form of public financing and should be directed where private sector investment is not feasible or appropriate. It should focus on cost-effective, high-impact interventions, as well as catalysing domestic resources and leveraging philanthropy. With a further reduced ODA budget, it is essential that the UK prioritises a small number of specific areas where it can have a sizable impact and hold itself and partners to account, showing the British public the value of these investments, and building trust with governments in low and middle income countries as a reliable, long-term partner on shared priorities.

With a return on investment of 16:1, tackling malnutrition is one of the most impactful interventions in global health and development.[2] Additionally, if the UK Government wishes to focus ODA where it delivers the greatest, most catalytic impact, prioritising the fight against malnutrition is essential, as it underpins all other areas of development.

​​“If we solve malnutrition, we make it easier to solve many other problems. We solve extreme poverty. Vaccines are more effective. And deadly diseases like malaria and pneumonia become far less fatal.” Bill Gates, Gates Foundation. 

Malnutrition interventions, such as Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) and Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), are high-impact and cost-effective. MMS has a return on investment of 37:1 - making it a ‘best buy’.[3] Nutrition is a foundation for productivity, stability and women’s empowerment, and should therefore be prioritised within an evidence-led UK aid budget, which endeavours to be ‘sharper and smarter’. 

In recent years, UK leadership in malnutrition and development more broadly has fallen away at a drastic and unprecedented rate, at the same time as other European donors and the United States have also dramatically cut their support to the world's poorest people. To ensure maximum impact going forward, the UK Government should take three steps:

1.      Prioritise malnutrition-specific ODA investments via high-impact financing vehicles such as the Child Nutrition Fund.

2.      Ensure the planned FCDO nutrition target focuses on the numbers women and children reached with interventions and the numbers of lives saved.

3.      Apply this target  across all nutrition-related and humanitarian investments, tracking progress against the Global Nutrition Compact to maximise impact and restore UK leadership on malnutrition.
 

Aligning aid with UK national interest and security

The World Food Programme reports that a 1% rise in food insecurity leads to a 2% increase in migration.[4] In fragile and conflict-affected states, hunger drives instability, fuels displacement, and increases susceptibility to radicalisation and exploitation.[5] In 2023 alone, 282 million people faced acute food insecurity, with nearly half of them affected by conflict-driven hunger.[6] These dynamics have direct implications for UK national security, as instability abroad often translates into increased migration pressures, regional insecurity, and costly humanitarian crises that demand costly responses.

Malnutrition stunts not only individuals but entire economies. Undernourished populations are less productive, more prone to illness, and less able to contribute to economic growth. Investing in nutrition is therefore a high-return strategy for fostering inclusive growth in partner countries, an objective that aligns with the UK’s ambition to build mutually beneficial economic partnerships and move beyond traditional models of aid.

By investing in malnutrition, the UK can help break this cycle. Malnutrition interventions strengthen resilience, lower the risk of conflict, and support recovery in post-conflict settings. Programmes that ensure access to nutritious food, particularly for women and children, contribute to more stable, secure, and economically viable societies.

The UK’s integrated approach to foreign policy, combining defence, diplomacy, and development, positions it well to leverage nutrition as a tool of smart power. Partnerships such as those with the HALO Trust illustrate how development and security objectives can be pursued simultaneously. These initiatives demonstrate that addressing basic needs like food security can reduce the appeal of extremist groups, support peacebuilding, and foster trust in state institutions.

Moreover, the UK’s historic leadership in global health and development provides a platform to advocate for the inclusion of nutrition within NATO’s resilience and security framework. However, clarity is needed on how NATO’s criteria for the 1.5% allocation align with OECD DAC rules. Ensuring that malnutrition-focused development spending is recognised within both frameworks would maximise the impact of UK aid while advancing its strategic interests.

There is no contradiction between focusing on development and focusing on the UK’s national security. As the FCDO rightly considers what the UK’s development strategy should look like in a new age of international aid and cooperation, nutrition should sit at the heart of that thinking, both for the human security of those in low- and middle-income countries, and for the security of UK citizens.

By embedding malnutrition into its resilience and security spending, the UK can deliver on its international obligations while advancing its national interests demonstrating that well spent, targeted aid is not only the morally right thing to do, but the strategically pragmatic thing to do.

Partnering with philanthropy and innovation

Leading philanthropies including the Gates Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and ECF recognise tackling malnutrition as foundational to their broader investment in development. Philanthropic organisations have a unique role in driving innovation, catalysing funding and building multi-sector partnerships.

As convenors, partners and innovators, philanthropies like ECF bring together governments, civil society, and research institutions to align priorities and accelerate solutions, for example the key role philanthropies (Gates Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation) played in establishing the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) alongside UNICEF and FCDO. As partners, they help strengthen national systems and ensure that proven interventions, such as RUTF, are scaled up where they are most needed. ECF’s investments in pioneering research on severe malnutrition treatment and operational pilots in East Africa have demonstrated scalable, cost-effective models for tackling child hunger. The role of philanthropies is unique whereby they can leverage existing funds, using grants and co-financing mechanisms to unlock much larger pools of multilateral investment, ensuring that every pound spent goes further.

On January 30, 2024, the Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action, ECF and Helen Keller Intl held an event in Dakar, Senegal to launch a new $4 million initiative to double the coverage of wasting treatment over 4 years (from 40% to 80%). ECF provided catalytic funding for this four-year project, which is titled “Strengthening Services for the Management of Acute Malnutrition in Senegal.” The government of Senegal is leading the program, and Helen Keller Intl, in coordination with other partners, will support it as an implementing partner.

Following the successful launch event, the project is set to run for four years, aiming to directly reach over 80,000 children with wasting treatment in target regions that would otherwise have gone untreated, while also supporting the Ministry’s efforts to mobilise resources and coordinate implementation for a nationwide expansion.[7] This model exemplifies how short-term, targeted support—focused on coordination and systems strengthening—can enable governments to sustain and scale high levels of coverage within four years, long after ECF’s direct engagement ends - the type of partnership the UK should prioritise.

The UK should build on the CNF’s proven impact by fulfilling its existing commitment, increasing contributions over the coming years, and helping to leverage new funders so that the $500 million Bezos Family Foundation match is fully realised.

The CNF demonstrates how relatively small UK contributions can be used to leverage nearly double in co-financing from philanthropic and multilateral partners, multiplying the value of each pound spent, while also encouraging partner governments to invest their own resources, strengthening long-term sustainability. This approach not only shows UK global leadership but also effective partnership working, as seen in collaborations with UNICEF, CIFF, and the Gates Foundation. Replicating such models across other priority areas would highlight the UK’s commitment to efficiency, innovation, and partnership.

By supporting malnutrition focused funds, and engaging the philanthropy sector, the UK strengthens the foundations for long-term economic partnerships, enhances global supply chain resilience, and contributes to a more stable international trading environment.

In Conclusion

Reducing child malnutrition is one of the clearest examples of smart aid; it is effective, strategic, and aligns with the UK Government’s future approach to development. 

The evidence is clear: targeted investment in proven malnutrition solutions saves lives, strengthens communities, and delivers exceptional value for money. As global challenges grow more complex, the Government has an opportunity to lead with impact-driven aid that reflects its values and maximises outcomes. 

Prioritising malnutrition treatment is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do, making sense for the UK’s security, development, and economic priorities.

 

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