Lessons Learned and Recommendations from the Humanitarian-Development Nexus for Nutrition: Case Studies
Global Nutrition Cluster, Scaling Up Nutrition, USAID, February 2021
Reports and Tools
Nutrition policies, plans, and programs have often not been adequately risk informed. Case studies examine how humanitarian and development partners can bridge divisions that exist and reinforce a humanitarian-development nexus to balance short-term responses with longer-term solutions. A French version is also available.
Levels and Trends in Child Malnutrition: Key Findings of the 2020 Edition of the Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates
UNICEF, World Health Organization, World Bank, March 2020
- Early Childhood Development
- Knowledge Management
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
The rates of both stunting and wasting are still alarmingly high in many parts of the world, especially among young children. This report by UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank highlights key findings from the analysis of data related to global estimates of malnutrition, including the prevalence of stunting and wasting. Global, regional, and country-level datasets accompany the release of this year’s report, along with an interactive dashboard that provides a visualization of global malnutrition data from 1990-2019.
Leveraging Human Nutrition through Livestock Interventions: Perceptions, Knowledge, Barriers and Opportunities in the Sahel
Dominguez-Salas, Paula, Domitille Kauffmann, Christophe Breyne. Journal of Food Security , August 24, 2019, Vol.11(4): 777–796.
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Research Articles
Animal source foods can play an important role in improving nutrition, particularly in areas like the Sahel, where livestock is a key dietary resource and source of livelihood. This paper asserts that limited animal source food interventions are incorporated into development programming, using USAID Feed the Future initiatives as an example. The study used interviews and a regional participatory workshop to identify the primary opportunities and barriers for animal source food adoption in development programs based in the West African Sahel. The paper argues that more evidence is needed to effectively link the livestock and nutrition sectors.
Leveraging M&E Systems to Improve SBC Programme Performance
Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academy and The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, November 2020
Events
Presenters discuss how baseline surveys can be used to identify target audiences; give examples of how routine monitoring data can be used to identify programmatic obstacles; provide guidance about selecting social and behavior change indicators; and discuss qualitative approaches to assess program performance. This is a webinar. French subtitles are available.
Linking Climate Change, Gender and Nutrition: Approaches, Highlights and the Way Forward
International Food Policy Research Institute, September 17, 2019
- Food Systems
Events
In this webinar, speakers from the Gender, Climate Change and Nutrition Integration Initiative and the USAID Bureau for Food Security discussed how to integrate resilience, gender, and nutrition into program interventions to maximize development impact. Speakers shared approaches used by the Gender, Climate Change and Nutrition Integration Initiative, which works with USAID headquarters, missions, and partners to ensure they are meeting resilience, nutrition, and gender goals.
Live and Diet
Hagan, Sean. Public Health Post, July 2023
- Food Systems
Reports and Tools
The Food4HealthyLife calculator shows how switching from the nutritionally poor Western diet to the “optimal diet,” which includes fish, fruits, and vegetables increased estimated life expectancy by 13 years when started at a young age. Eating food from the “feasible diet,” which includes legumes, whole grains, nuts, and a little meat was the most effective and economical way to increase life expectancy.
Local Capacity Strengthening Policy
USAID, October 2022
- Capacity Strengthening
Reports and Tools
The Local Capacity Strengthening Policy provides a cohesive, global approach to guide USAID decisions about why and how to invest in the capacity of local partners. Priorities for capacity strengthening include having local partners develop their own definition of success, strengthen their ability to be effective and relevant actors within their communities and contexts, and elevate local ownership to sustain results.
Local Capacity Strengthening Policy Overview
USAID, October 2022
- Capacity Strengthening
Reports and Tools
USAID is committed to partnerships and encourages local actors from all backgrounds and cultures to exercise their unique capabilities and lead their country’s development.
Local Means Local: Community Leadership and Facilitation in CLD
The Movement for Community-Led Development, October 2021
- Capacity Strengthening
Events
Presenters discuss how and in what contexts key aspects of community-led development, particularly leadership and facilitation, contribute to food security, resilience, and equity. This is a webinar. The event slide deck is available in English, French, and Spanish.
Local Means Local: New Tools for Strengthening Community-Led Development
Movement for Community-led Development, January 2021
Events
Recent research about community-led development (CLD) includes analysis of when this model has worked well, its impact on outcomes, and how to adapt existing evaluation methods to capture the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of CLD. The presenters introduce an assessment tool to improve and strengthen program design and a quality appraisal tool to ensure evaluations uphold CLD principles. This is a series of two webinars.
Local Solutions to Improve Health: Strengthening Capacity for Sustainable Health Policy, Advocacy, Financing, and Governance
Health Policy Plus, September 2021
- Capacity Strengthening
Events
Tailored capacity strengthening approaches must be multi-faceted and mutually reinforcing. Promising strategies include strengthening technology systems and their use, addressing organizational needs, providing training on new skills, and providing space for relationships to build and thrive among and across individuals, networks, and government agencies. This is a webinar.
Localisation
Save the Children, 2022
- Capacity Strengthening
Reports and Tools
Shifting capacity, resources, and ownership to national and local actors will result in more timely, appropriate, and effective outcomes for children and their communities. This resource collection provides a centralized location for research and evidence.
Localization: A “Landscape” Report
Feinstein International Center, December 2021
Reports and Tools
Humanitarian assistance structures often exclude or marginalize local actors. Adopting a localization approach requires recognizing that policy changes can have unintended consequences, ensuring funding is more accessible to local humanitarian actors, investing in creating an enabling environment, building relationships with diverse local actors, and ensuring greater collective action among donors.
Locally Led Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting (MERLA) Solutions
RTI International, December 2021
- Capacity Strengthening
Events
Experts discuss their experiences implementing locally led monitoring, evaluation, research, learning, and adapting solutions. This is a webinar.
Losing the Plot: The Impact of Urban Agriculture on Household Food Expenditure and Dietary Diversity in Sub-Saharan African Countries
Sangwan, Navjot, Luca Tasciotti. Agriculture, January 2023
- Food Systems
Research Articles
Households engaged in urban agriculture (UA) reduced food expenditures by 3 percent and spent relatively more on protein rich foods including nuts, legumes, fruits, dairy products, meat, and poultry. However, there were significant variations in its impact across the food expenditure distribution. Larger and male-headed households and households practiced UA most often.
Maintaining Essential Nutrition Services to Underfive Children in Yemen: A Programmatic Adaptation Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Coulibaly-Zerbo, Ferima, Ayoub Al-Jawaldeh, Zita C. Weise Prinzo, et al. Children (Basel), April 2021
Research Articles
The WHO has adapted the services it provides within the nutrition surveillance system (NSS), therapeutic feeding centers (TFC), and isolation units (IU) to respond to the pandemic. The Yemen case study discussed in this article may serve as a roadmap for other countries that intend to undertake similar adaptations.
Make Me a Change Agent: An SBC Resource for WASH, Agriculture, and Livelihoods Activities
Love, A. and N. Weber, 2020
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
This guide focuses on training frontline workers to promote behavior change related to water, sanitation, and hygiene, agriculture, and livelihoods. The highly participatory training includes lessons on effective communication, facilitation, negotiation, social and behavior change, action planning, quality improvement, and giving and receiving feedback. A video introduction to the training guide is available in English, French, and Amharic.
Making a Difference: An Evaluation Report of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) in Mobilising National Actions on Breastfeeding and IYCF
World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative Global Secretariat, June 2020
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Reports and Tools
The WBTi has brought together diverse partners to advocate for breastfeeding and created national-level structures to benchmark breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) progress. Almost all countries that have conducted multiple WBTi assessments have seen improvements in breastfeeding and IYCF practices; have developed better policies, partnerships, and monitoring tools; and are better able to identify gaps.
Making the Health System Work for the Delivery of Nutrition Interventions
King, Shannon E., Talata Sawadogo-Lewis, Robert E. Black, et al. Maternal & Child Nutrition, July 2020
- Nutrition and Health Systems
Research Articles
Successful delivery of nutrition interventions requires a skilled and motivated health workforce, an effective supply chain, demand for services, and access to services. Programs should encourage delivery of nutrition interventions at every client-provider interaction and should actively generate demand for both general and nutrition services. It is critical to identify health system components responsible for the greatest bottlenecks and opportunities for impact.
Making the Most of Existing Research: An Evidence Gap Map of the Effects of Food Systems Interventions in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries
Storhaug, Ingunn Gilje, Charlotte Lane, Nick Moore, et al. Nutrition & Metabolism Journal, June 2022
- Food Systems
Research Articles
The most common interventions to address malnutrition included providing supplements, fortification, food, nutrition classes, and peer support and counseling. Anthropometry, micronutrient status, and diet quality and adequacy were the most common outcomes. Future research should evaluate national-level policies, efforts to support women’s empowerment within the food system, and dietary quality.
Maladaptation in Food Systems and Ways to Avoid it
Kerr, Rachel Bezner. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, April 2023
- Food Systems
Research Articles
The author reviews current literature and examples of outcomes that may increase risk or vulnerability to climate change and discusses prevention strategies. Recommendations include addressing policy and market conditions that hinder resilient-adaptive practices in food systems and designing policies and programs to address the political, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions of climate change adaptation. This article is behind a paywall.
Male Engagement and Couples Communication in Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health in Nampula and Sofala Provinces of Mozambique
Maternal and Child Survival Program, October 2019
- Nutrition and Health Systems
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
In Mozambique, USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program conducted this qualitative study using baseline assessments and endline studies. The study evaluated 1) the feasibility and acceptability of male engagement interventions that encourage couples to discuss antenatal care, childbirth, and family planning, and 2) how couples make decisions around reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health services. The report offers 8 findings and 13 recommendations for action.
Management of Moderate Wasting Using Local Foods: Documentation of Approaches in Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda
USAID Advancing Nutrition, September 2023
- Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts
Reports and Tools
Recommendations offered in this report include engaging in more rigorous monitoring; developing guidance on the minimum nutrition composition of recipes using local foods; studying the effectiveness of local versus commercially prepared specially formulated foods; identifying benefits of complementary activities; conducting costing studies to identify tradeoffs between program duration, outcomes, and cost; and updating the NutVal tool.
Managing Nutrition Myths and Misconceptions During COVID-19: Technical Brief
Breakthrough ACTION, USAID Advancing Nutrition, July 2020
- Social and Behavior Change and Gender
Reports and Tools
Misinformation has led to unnecessary separation of infants and mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection during delivery and breastfeeding. It has also led to mistrust of the health care system, delayed care-seeking of nutrition services, and limited uptake of COVID-19 preventive practices. Social and behavior change strategies to combat misinformation include having trusted authorities provide consistent communication with current information and thoughtful responses to misinformation, and building media literacy.