In Convoy of Hope’s work, we sometimes get to be the collaborators who work with partners to make products possible. With help from our skilled team members, we can shape the goods that end up in the hands of participants — bringing them out of survival mode and into a future in which they thrive.
In partnership with Ovation Foods, Convoy helped create a groundbreaking nutritional bar to help pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in West Africa get the food they need for a healthy pregnancy and recovery.
The opportunity began when Ovation Foods met with team members and expressed their passion for getting nutrition to children around the world. The goal was to get 90,000 nutritional bars to mothers in the span of a year.
To make this happen, we needed strategic help from our supply chain team — along with input from our nutritionists to make sure the bar served the daily needs of these mothers.
In alignment with Ovation’s mission to equal the nutrients of one whole egg in each product, Convoy of Hope’s nutritionists helped create a bar that would be high in protein and nutrients but could also withstand intense travel conditions and heat.
Our team named the bars “Ubuntu Bars.” The ancient African word points to the meaning, “I am what I am because of who we all are.”
The rollout plan began with providing the bars to 500 Mothers Club participants in West Africa to improve their diet and lifestyle during and after pregnancy. When the bars arrived in March 2024, they were immediately a hit. Mothers could get nutrition that they may not have had access to otherwise.
In addition to offering the nutrition needed for a healthy pregnancy, the bars aid in the mothers’ day-to-day survival — summer in Africa is called “the starving months” because crops can’t grow and food is even more scarce.
But these mothers are not just surviving, they’re thriving. Two shipments of bars have been delivered, and each bar is directly impacting a woman in need.
One woman had trouble producing enough milk to breastfeed her baby. After just one week of eating Ubuntu Bars, her production increased and she could sustainably feed her child.
Ubuntu Bars helped another young woman gain her appetite back during pregnancy.
The arrival of new bars in April means these women will have consistent nutrition through the summer months.
We’re so grateful for partners like Ovation Foods, who have not only invested their time and resources but also partnered with Convoy to provide effective nutritional value to our participants.
Click here to learn more about how your business can partner with Convoy of Hope.
