Unilever, in partnership with the Department for International Development, recently announced the expansion of TRANSFORM, a joint initiative for social enterprises and market-based solutions to low-income households, quadrupling support from £10 million to £40 million. TRANSFORM’s aim is to enable 100 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to gain access to products and services that have been shown to improve health, livelihoods, the environment or wellbeing by 2025.
Kopernik’s Last Mile Consulting has partnered with Unilever in Southeast Asia over the past three years, collaborating directly with private, public and development sector actors as well as communities living in the last mile.
Mosquito-borne diseases remain the reality and a critical challenge for last mile communities in areas of Myanmar where government initiatives have not yet reached. In these affected areas of the country, communities generally purchase affordable consumer products available in local markets such as sprays and coils to repel mosquitos. TRANSFORM’s Integrated Community and Home Protection (ICHP) program monitors the adoption and use of alternative, highly efficacious and safe solutions for addressing grave mosquito problems in homes. The range of innovative products offered via ICHP is treated with insecticide approved by the World Health Organization.
Throughout the duration of the project, focus group discussions and home-user tests with families were conducted in targeted urban and rural locations of Myanmar. In line with the objectives of TRANSFORM, Kopernik’s interventions and sales simulations seek to find what works by measuring behavior change and identifying cost-effective impactful market-based solutions for last mile communities. The next phase of ICHP presents a key opportunity for TRANSFORM and Kopernik to further demonstrate impact for the last mile.
Building on its initial success, funding from TRANSFORM provides a pivotal platform to bolster successful business models and expand to other countries in Southeast Asia. Hear more about Kopernik’s works with TRANSFORM from our partner, Chris Loxley, Phd, Unilever Global project lead and head of R&D:
