EIT Food and Citi Foundation starting the new Ample Programme

The latest reports from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) state that in 2022 between 691 million – 783 million people confronted famine and 11.3% of the world’s population was affected by food insecurity.

We are facing turbulent times, not only due to the environmental issues, such as climate change, but also because of the many geopolitical conflicts that are currently happening. As a consequence, bringing healthy and sustainable food to our household is being more difficult every time.

In seeking to address the ongoing problems, Citi Foundation has announced their first-ever Global Innovation Challenge, which intends to provide humanitarian support to NGOs developing innovative solutions to overcome social and economic challenges in low-income communities.

The challenge is providing $25 million to 50 community organisation, of which EIT Food has acquired $500,000 in funding from the Citi Foundation to enhance food security in European countries. In addition, EIT Food was chosen over 1,000 submissions across 80 countries.

The funding will go to EIT Food’s new social innovation and entrepreneurship programme: The Ample Programme. During the programme, many initiatives will be carried out to guarantee healthy food outcomes.

Aiming to improve food security and accessibility, EIT Food has created the Ample Programme, with which low-income communities will access to healthier food and underrepresented communities in the labor market will have the opportunity to grow their business ideas.

To tackle both audiences, there will be 3 key topics that will design the programme: community, business and learning.

• Community & Learning: EIT Food and Citi Foundation will collaborate closely with NGOs to aid low-income communities access to nutritious foods, as well as fostering job creation in the agrifood industry
• Business: agrifood startups or small businesses will be able to access to a boost vouchers and many trainings to effect the improvement of food security in their value chain.

The programme, which will be running from 2023 to 2025, started in October 2023 in Madrid. The capital of Spain will serve as a blueprint for other countries that will adopt the programme’s idea.