effective nutrition promotion within agricultural extension
TRANSCRIPT
INGENAES
Effective Nutrition Promotion within
Agricultural Extension Photo credit: CGAP
Outline
• Food systems for nutrition, and the role for agricultural extension
• Overview of INGENAES concept• INGENAES approach to nutrition
promotion• Nutrition-related activities underway• Discussion
Why Agriculture for Nutrition?
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• Nutrition-specific interventions, if implemented at 90% coverage, would address 20% of global stunting burden
nutrition-sensitive interventions from other key sectors that address the key determinants of malnutrition are essential to reaching the other 80%
agriculture produces food, and plays an important role in partnership with other
sectors in ensuring good nutrition for all
Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages
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Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages
Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages
Food Systems for Nutrition
What we stand for
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Integrating
Gender and
Nutrition
within Agricultural
Extension
Services
IN
GE
N
A
E
S
Who we are – UCD Team
Mark Bell Amanda Crump Nikki Grey Rutamu
Liz Hohenberger Edye Kuyper Laina Schneider
How Agricultural Extension Operates
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• Agricultural extension staff forge strong trust relationships in the communities where they work
• Agricultural advisory services influence production and management decisions, support farmer association• Many services rely on the “old” model:
male agents advise male farmers on how to grow more staples and/or cash crops
• Agents have introduced crops that have displaced crops traditionally grown and/or marketed by women, may be less nutritious
Why INGENAES?
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Lab • Women comprise 43% of the global
agricultural labor force, yet:– They are not well represented in
agricultural extension services, –Women farmers are infrequently
reached by extension,– Services are not tailored to the unique
needs of women
Why INGENAES?
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Lab • Despite decades of investment,
agricultural development has not improved nutrition at the micro level.– Agricultural interventions often
negatively impact nutrition– Agricultural projects positively impact
child nutrition when: • nutrition is planned for, • women are empowered, and • nutrition education is included
What Make INGENAES Different?
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Lab • AES is solidly situated in the
agricultural sector; –Many other agriculture-nutrition projects
add agricultural components to health-focused projects
• Women’s empowerment is an end unto itself– Not just a facilitator of improved child
nutrition• Nutrition objectives consider entire
family– Less research, fewer recommendations
How INGENAES Operates
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Lab • Activities underway in Bangladesh,
Zambia, Nepal, and Honduras• Demand-driven: – in-country partners are engaged to
understand what we can offer, – plan to address local needs created in
partnership with local partners • Context-specific, addressing
pluralistic extension
Challenges to Nutrition Promotion in AES
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• Competing demands, priorities for AES staff– Extension for production, income?– Or for food & nutrition security, family well-being?– Other “extras”: conservation ag, market linkages…
• Limited nutrition knowledge–What do staff need to know? –What should be left to health frontline workers?
• General capacity limitations– Poor coverage, high vacancy rates, etc.– Didactic approach to training/knowledge transfer
Nutrition Promotion in INGENAES
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Lab • Support year-round food & nutrition security
• Diversify production• Improve postharvest handling (storage,
processing, transport to market…) • Improve water, sanitation and hygiene
(WASH) especially as it’s impacted by agriculture
• Empower women and engage men to improve household nutrition
• Increase demand for healthy, diverse diets
Nutrition Promotion in INGENAES: the How
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Lab • Understand AES staff roles,
responsibilities• Identify openings for nutrition:– To the extent possible, integrate with
existing activities• Motivate, convict staff to act on nutrition• Model participatory, 2-way learning:– AES staff have something to learn from
farmers, and vice versa; training-of-trainers models approach
Steps in the Process
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• What are the nutrition objectives?– Refer to national, int’l nutrition goals (more on this later)– Understand local nutrition concerns
• E.g. stunting prevalence? Micronutrient deficiency? Overweight/obesity? Food security situation?
• What locally-available foods can address these objectives?
• Farm families’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices:– What do farm families already know? – What do they do? – If knowledge ≠ practices, what keeps families from doing
what they know?• Identify actions that AES can undertake to address
gaps in knowledge, practice
Reinforce Other Evidence-Based Messages
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• Food-Based Dietary Guidelines, when they exist
• Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN)– Zambia, Malawi, other African countries
promote platform of specific activities (related to ENA/EHA)
• 1,000 Days• Adolescent girls’ nutrition• Sustainable diets, biodiversity• All while focusing on food-based nutrition
for the whole family
Household-Agriculture-Nutrition Doable Actions
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Next Steps:Ph
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b• The “what” and the “how” presented here will feed into the competency framework
• The competency framework will provide a foundation for training efforts
• Potential nutrition training development workshop to be held in summer 2016
• Resulting “canned” training can be fine-tuned to address needs of local context
Harmonizing Nutrition Information
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LabChallenge:
• Rural households receive different and sometimes contradictory nutrition information from one NGO or government entity to the next
• Farmers are confused and less likely to act on recommendations; dietary behaviors are unlikely to change
Response: • Support capacity of
MoA to develop strong nutrition-sensitive trainings, national FBDG
Photo: K. Cook, Zambia 2016
Context-specific monitoring & evaluation tools
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LabChallenge:
• No clear “M&E toolbox” available for understanding how and whether AES is contributing to gender equity, improved nutrition
Response: • IAPRI to survey, field test,
disseminate M&E tools appropriate for AES in Zambia
Dr Rhoda Mofya-Mukuka, lead researcher
Developing Simple Tip, Fact Sheets
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Challenge:• AES staff need basic, straightforward
information • Many existing nutrition training materials are
in manual format, or intended for health implementers
Response: • UC Davis producing “tip sheets” (summarize
an issue, give advice, and provide tangible activities)
• and “fact sheets” (brief explanation of a concept or a framework)• “Eating Well, Staying Well”, “How Foods Help”, • Forthcoming: postharvest, WASH, year-round food
security…
Process Evaluation Throughout
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Lab – Fidelity: Are trainings implemented as
intended?– Dose Delivered: are all training components
delivered?– Dose Received : • instructors incorporate content into existing
efforts• trainee satisfaction, comprehension
– Reach: participation of both trainers and trainees
– Recruitment– Context: organizational issues facilitating,
impeding delivery & uptake of training
How to preserve content integrity when paring information back to
the very basics?
DISCLAIMER: This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. The contents are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
Photo: Mark Bell
Example: Promoting production diversity
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• Attitudes/perceptions required:– Conviction that nutrition is important– Confidence that farmers will act (in
contrast to belief that farmers are ignorant or won’t change)
• Skills required:– Can conduct participatory nutrition
assessment– Can support farmers in identifying,
growing, marketing, buying, preparing nutrient-dense foods
• Knowledge required: – Functions of foods, food-based dietary guidelines (where
available)– the role that local foods can play to address nutrient gaps
Malawi food groups
Example: Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
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• Relevant actions:– Practice safe irrigation (limit run-
off, etc.)– Manage manure appropriately– Wash hands with soap after
working with animals, agrichemicals, other pollutants
– Treat and store drinking water safely
• Knowledge: – In addition to food, nutrition is impacted by health status– Infection resulting from unsanitary environments undermines
nutrition– Agricultural practices have implications for environmental health
Photo: E. Kuyper, Haiti 2012
Example: Plan for year-round food & nutrition security
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• With farmers, consider times of seasonal food & nutrition insecurity– Consider availability of all the food
groups• Use seasonal calendars to plant,
harvest foods that will address shortfalls
• Support farmers with access to seeds, markets for foods not
• Consider livestock/husbandry practices, implications for food, micronutrient availability
Photo: E. Kuyper, Nepal 2011