Mission, Vision & Strategic Plan
Origins of WISHH
Illinois and Iowa Soybean Checkoff Boards and other state soybean grower organizations created the WISHH Program in 2000. WISHH is headquartered at the American Soybean Association in St. Louis, Missouri, and its goal is to find new opportunities for U.S. soy in programs that help feed the hungry and to stimulate demand for U.S. soy leading to long-term sustainable development. WISHH has worked with multiple private voluntary organizations and commercial companies in more than 23 different developing countries in Africa, Asia and Central America. Many of these groups are using U.S. high-protein soy to improve diets and health as well as encourage growth of food industries in developing countries.
WISHH Mission
Create commercially sustainable solutions and opportunities for U.S. soy protein by improving the health and nutrition of people in developing countries by addressing protein deficiencies.
WISHH Vision
The health and well-being of the world population with protein deficiency in developing countries will improve through increased dietary consumption of high quality soy protein as well as through economic opportunities to incorporate U.S. soy protein into food manufacturing, livestock production, and/or aquaculture.
Strategic Plan
The World’s Protein Needs and the WISHH Compass for 2011-2015
As WISHH charts the course for its second decade of growth, three powerful forces influence the compass: More people. More demand for soy protein. More buying power in developing countries.
WISHH’s new strategic plan sets sail into unprecedented opportunity. Global dynamics create unparalleled opportunities for WISHH’s work on rising tides that can lift both U.S. soybean growers as well as people in diverse developing countries. As WISHH crafted this strategic plan, the International Monetary Fund released a report that for the first time developing countries are leading the world out of a recession. The rising middle classes of India, Indonesia, China and other Asian developing countries were leading the pack with their “resilient domestic demand.”
More People
The world’s population will likely reach 9.2 billion in 2050, with virtually all new growth occurring in the developing world, according to United Nations. To feed these people, global food production must double by 2050. Meanwhile, the available land to feed people is scarce—2/3 of available land is located across only 13 developing countries.
More Protein Demand
The potential appetite for protein is projected to increase by 75 percent by 2025 compared to 2001, according to the National Soybean Research Laboratory. Developing countries are the big drivers for this protein demand as their populations and income levels grow.
The food industry has read similar signs. Major food and restaurant companies a are shifting more of their capital expenditures overseas to developing markets, according Fitch Ratings.
Soy protein has an important role in food industry growth that can combat malnutrition and fuel economic progress. A landmark 2008 Lancet medical journal series concluded more than one-third of child deaths are due to maternal and child undernutrition. Malnutrition is directly associated with a child’s future economic productivity. The authors state, “In addition to health and nutrition interventions, economic and social policies addressing poverty, trade, and agriculture that have been associated with rapid improvements in nutritional status should be implemented.”
More Buying Power in Developing Countries
The number of people in developing countries with household incomes above $16,000 per year is expected to reach a total of 2.1 billion by 2030, according to the World Bank. That’s nearly six times the number of $16,000-income households in 2000. As their incomes rise from about $2 to $10 per day, people eat more meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables & edible oils, causing rapid demand growth.
According to global experts, lifting low-income consumers out of poverty is the most important determinant of the future global demand for food. That’s why WISHH is setting its course as described in the strategic plan.
Download complete version of 2011-2015 Strategic Plan in .pdf
