Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID nutrition programs have quickly adapted to deliver essential services in a new context, while ensuring safety of program staff and participants. In this unprecedented situation, there were no clear models or approaches to guide activities as they adapted to rapidly changing circumstances. While some adaptations have been shared informally or in small settings, to date, there has been no comprehensive, systematic documentation of the pivots USAID-funded programs carried out.
As the pandemic continues to evolve, the project is identifying adaptations to intervention designs and will track adaptations of USAID-funded nutrition activities in response to COVID-19 and the outcomes. USAID Advancing Nutrition will review existing reports and documentation and consult with USAID Missions, and key implementing partner staff to identify nutrition activities that adapted to interventions in response to COVID-19. The project will then carry out in-depth interviews of relevant IP and USAID staff to better understand the reasoning behind, process of implementing, and perceived and documented outcomes of these adaptations. This will culminate in a report that provides recommendations or considerations for adapting to future pandemics or crises, or adaptations that may be valuable to maintain post-pandemic.