For 20 years, various government and private entities have been trying to solve the problem of malnutrition in the Philippines through feeding programs with little success. At the start of 2015, there were still 5 million Filipino children who were suffering from being underweight, stunting or wasting. (Source: FNRI-DOST, 2015)

Knorr recognized that this was potentially caused by the declining number of moms who cook nutritious meals at home. Strapped for cash and time, a lot of moms end up buying from fast food restaurants and convenience stores (Source: Internal Unilever Data). Thus, Knorr endeavored to create a sustainable nutrition program that would inspire and empower moms to combat malnutrition.

Through this effort, Knorr aimed to get into more households and into more hearts by training moms to cook easy, affordable and healthy dishes that they can prepare everyday using Knorr products.

In 2015, Knorr unveiled the Lutong Nanay (Mom-cooked Meals) Nutrition Program, an integrated movement which aims to make nutritious meals regularly accessible for every child by empowering moms to provide this basic necessity.

To achieve this, Knorr developed a 3-step model:

• FEED – A wide-scale feeding program in partnership with World Food Program and Kabisig ng Kalahi

• TEACH – Providing recipe booklets to key communities to teach moms (1) the importance of mom-cooked meals in a child’s physical and emotional growth and (2) affordable, nutritious and flavorful dishes they can prepare at home daily using Knorr products. This helps address one of the key barriers in alleviating malnutrition – lack of knowledge.

• MAKE IT LAST – Supporting select moms in setting-up their own food-based businesses via a livelihood development module. This helps address the second key barrier in alleviating malnutrition – poverty.