Since our pioneering combination of microfinance and health and nutrition education in the late 1980s, Freedom from Hunger has been committed to improving the scale, sustainability and impact of integrated services through continuous innovation. 

Our innovations arise from experience on the ground, particularly from our collaboration with implementing organizations.  We have partnered with over 50 implementing organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  By listening and working closely with them and emphasizing regular and rigorous monitoring and evaluation, we are able to identify real market needs.  Evolutions in the microfinance, public health and adult learning industries also inform our innovative efforts.  We maintain active relationships with dozens of professional organizations, research institutions and peer organizations across the international development field.  Together, this experience enables us to identify challenges in integrated services, advance successful strategies and hone best practices.

When a challenge is identified, Freedom from Hunger taps the expertise of our staff and partners to design a new program concept to address it.  We also draw on informal and formal field research and the experience of implementing organizations that have themselves faced this challenge.  After design and prototype testing is complete, we support organizations to implement the innovative strategy, product or service and monitor performance in terms of scale, impact and sustainability achieved. 

To learn more about integrated services and the challenges we are overcoming, follow the Innovations links below.

Innovations

• Integrated services—financial and non-financial services, such as Lifeskills Training, that uniquely equip the poor to improve both their financial and family food security.

• Reach—innovative approach to overcome service distribution bottlenecks through self-help groups and private enterprise.

• Microfinance and Health Protection—new health protection service options for clients that simultaneously enhance commercial viability of organizations.

• Financial Education for the Poor—cutting-edge curricula to improve clients’ financial literacy.

• Self-help Groups—savings-led delivery model to reach poor, remote areas with little or no microfinance infrastructure.

• Alternative Rural Marketing—franchise-like network of social entrepreneurs to offer health promotion and livelihood improvement products, particularly products offering protection against malaria.

• Advancing Adolescent Girls’ Access to Resources and Influence—extension of integrated services to adolescent girls to address their unique needs.
• Performance Management—innovative tools and systems to monitor progress and identify adjustments for achieving organizational mission and goals.