Fortify Health began in 2017 as a question: How can we fill a gap to cost effectively improve public health at scale? In searching for the answer to this question, Fortify Health’s founders looked at the burden of anaemia globally and the evidence around programmes that tackle anaemia. We were particularly struck not only by the depth of the anaemia issue in India, but also by the evidence, scalability and cost-effectiveness of one particular solution to address anaemia: wheat flour fortification. Thanks to existing, rigorous evidence on fortification and many conversations with experts in the nutrition field, we decided that wheat flour fortification in India was a clear, important starting point as the answer to our initial question.
In 2018 Fortify Health secured its first Incubation Grant of $300,000 from GiveWell and hired a dedicated team in India. We set up our two flagship programmes to enable wheat flour fortification at-scale. Each of our flagship programmes focused, and still focuses, on a different public channel: a) supporting mills to fortify wheat flour for the open market, and b) collaborating with state governments and quasi-governmental organisations to fortify the wheat flour they provide to their beneficiaries.
We initially set up our programmes in Maharashtra and West Bengal and then received a follow-up grant from GiveWell of ~$1 million in 2019, allowing us to expand our programmes to Madhya Pradesh. Between 2018 and 2021, in spite of challenges posed by the pandemic, we were able to demonstrate proof of concept of our programmes. In 2022, Fortify Health received an ~$8.2 million grant from GiveWell to support us to scale up our flagship programmes across a period of three years. This brought a new phase of Fortify Health’s journey, allowing us to focus on developing the foundations to reach many more beneficiaries than before. In the first year of this plan, we hired experienced department leads for each of our programmatic departments (open market, partnerships and M&E), expanded our overall team size and began putting systems and processes in place that would support rapid growth.
At present (late 2023), our team is mobilising for the next phase of Fortify Health’s scale up. We currently have partnerships with more than 50 mills and a team of more than 50 people, working in 6 states: Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Delhi NCR. We’ve also signed implementation partnerships with Feeding India and Food Fortification Initiative, with the aim of amplifying our impact. We’ve signed academic partnerships with with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and CFTRI, to generate evidence about food fortification at scale.
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Over the next two years, our strategy is to drive impact through scale. By the end of this period, we aim to be a market maker in the states we operate in by increasing the demand for fortified wheat flour across millers, government partners and eventually beneficiaries. The aim is that over time, we will create a positive feedback loop where other organisations and stakeholders are incentivised to invest their own capital in fortifying wheat flour. This feedback loop will help drive the long-term strategic goal of fostering sustainability of the intervention.
Summer Internship (Remote), Fortify Health
Fortify Health seeks to hire at least five (5) interns (at least one in each team) to support Fortify Health’s growth. These interns would be team members ideally working full time, provided with paid employment for a period of between 2 – 4 months depending on availability. The role would be highly suitable to students interested in international development, global health and development and / or development economics.
It is a very exciting time at Fortify Health, as we are rapidly expanding the team to take on new geographies and areas of work. The work performed by our interns will form a crucial part of this growth process, and therefore the intern positions provide an opportunity to impact the trajectory of Fortify Health’s future work.
We’re on the lookout for passionate individuals who are either pursuing or have completed a Bachelor’s degree or higher, are fluent in English (knowledge of Hindi is a bonus!), and exhibit strong execution, communication, and collaboration skills.
- Teams: All teams: Executive, Operations, Partnerships, Programs, and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). Applicants will provide their team preference in the application form.
- Salary: 20,000 – 30,000 INR (or GBP / USD equivalent) per month for a full time role and adjusted on a pro-rata basis for a part-time role.
- Location: Remote (in a timezone between or including the UK and India, with a preference for India)
- Contract length: 12-week preference (flexibility between 10 to 16-week role)
- Closing: End of Day, Monday, April 15th, 2024 *
*Please note: We will be reviewing applications on an ongoing basis before April 15th, so we recommend submitting applications as soon as possible.
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About Fortify Health
Fortify Health has a vision for a healthier world where everyone has the micronutrients they need to survive and thrive. We work toward this by enabling access to micronutrient-rich wheat flour (chakki atta) to reduce and prevent iron deficiency anaemia.
Fortify Health operates through three programmatic departments:
- Programs: Support millers to cost-neutrally fortify chakki atta in the open market. We provide our mill partners with the equipment, materials and training that they need to meet the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
- Partnerships: Work closely with both state government and quasi-governmental organisation partners to support them in introducing and expanding fortification programmes. We also offer them ongoing technical assistance to introduce fortified chakki atta into their social safety net programs to reach vulnerable communities.
- Research, Monitoring & Evaluation: Monitor the quality of the fortified atta that we support partners to produce. In addition, we conduct evaluation studies to understand the impact and effectiveness of our programme. Our team also collaborates with research partners to improve knowledge about anaemia and food fortification.
In addition to this, we have two other departments:
- Executive: the Executive team provides direction and guidance to the other departments, supports the leadership team and conducts strategic initiatives. The team is also responsible for Fortify Health’s external communications and fundraising activities.
- Operations: the operations team supports the entire organisation by working on tasks across human resources, information management, legal compliance, procurement, and finance. They also develop systems and processes within the organisation to improve efficiency.
To read more about our work, visit our “What we do” section on our website here.
How we work
We take a data driven approach to our work, heavily focusing on how we can have the most impact possible with the resources we have. This forms a core part of our organisational ethos. At Fortify Health, we value each of our team members and support their career development. Since we are a remote organisation, our HR team organise regular online socials to build team cohesion.
Position overview
Fortify Health seeks to hire at least five (5) interns (at least one in each team) to support Fortify Health’s growth. These interns would be team members ideally working full time, provided with paid employment for a period of between 2 – 4 months depending on availability. The role would be highly suitable to students interested in international development, global health and development and / or development economics.
It is a very exciting time at Fortify Health, as we are rapidly expanding the team to take on new geographies and areas of work. The work performed by our interns will form a crucial part of this growth process, and therefore the intern positions provide an opportunity to impact the trajectory of Fortify Health’s future work. We are hiring for an intern in each of our teams. The exact projects we are hoping our interns will work on are still being finalised within the teams. However, we have outlined below the type of projects our interns are likely to do:
- Programs team intern:
- Support research efforts to identify the appropriate geographies that the Program team may expand into.
- Conduct data analysis on programmatic data to inform potential changes to our intervention.
- Undertake strategic projects to investigate innovations that the team may want to implement.
- Partnerships team intern:
- Undertake research into new potential partnership opportunities with state governments around the country, quasi government organisation and other development partners.
- Lead the organisation of awareness events with government officials and other relevant stakeholders.
- Support in the preparation (and potentially attend) meetings with government officials.
- Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team intern:
- Conduct data analysis on program monitoring data to identify challenges or bottlenecks in our current intervention approach and ideate improvements.
- Conduct/Support independent research projects in the public health and food systems spaces.
- Executive team intern:
- Support Fortify Health’s communications team to represent the organisation externally, ensuring that we showcase our mission as clearly and engagingly as possible.
- Work with the Executive team to reach out to potential funders and prepare reporting materials for existing funding partners.
- Operations team intern:
- Work with the Operations team in building out a Knowledge Management system to centralise all procedural knowledge in the organisation
- Help the Operations team build out Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for various operational systems and processes.
Applicants will be asked to express their preference for which teams they wish to join, however the application process and interviews for the internship roles will be done together. Team allocation will be determined based upon a combination of applicant preference and where we believe a candidate’s skills would be most valuable.
Responsibilities and activities
Exact activities and responsibilities will vary depending on team allocation, however activities will likely include:
- Research
- Assist in conducting literature reviews.
- Collect and analyse data, drawing conclusions and suggesting recommendations.
- Support the preparation of research reports and presentations.
- Evidence Generation
- Help with the design and implementation of field research studies to evaluate program effectiveness.
- Assist in the development and implementation of data collection tools, including surveys, questionnaires, and interviews.
- Communication
- Provide administrative support as needed, such as drafting correspondence, maintaining project files, and scheduling appointments.
- Contribute to the development and dissemination of communication materials, such as fact sheets, newsletters, and social media posts.
Candidate profile
Requirements
- Completed or currently enrolled in Bachelors or higher degree
- Fluency in English (knowledge of Hindi is preferred but not required)
- Execution: Ability to deliver outputs whilst working independently, planning day-to-day tasks effectively.
- Communication: Ability to show attention to detail in written communication. Also able to verbally communicate clearly and with clarity.
- Collaboration: Listens carefully to others, and asks questions where necessary to improve their understanding and ensure alignment.
Desirable attributes
- Experience:
- Experience working in the Indian global health and development space
- Relevant experience in NGO field environment
- Experience working with remote team members
- Bachelors or higher degree in food technology, milling technology, public health, or related field (current studies is permitted)
- Skills and understanding:
- Understanding of Indian context
- Data analysis skills and competent use of Google Sheets
- Enthusiasm about the opportunity to improve people’s lives
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