Ifaa Effectiveness Evaluation on Food Security and Nutrition

Summary

The Ifaa Project is a USAID-funded Resilience and Food Security Activity (RFSA) that is being implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and partners in the East Hararghe Zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Ifaa targets households that are participating in the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) which is a social protection program administered by the Government of Ethiopia that provides food and cash assistance to vulnerable households. The Ifaa Project will deliver multi-sectoral programming in 241 kebeles (sub-districts) in nine woredas (districts) of East Hararghe Zone, however, intervention packages vary by location. The proposed effectiveness evaluation will quantify the impacts of three different intervention packages in terms of key project indicators in the areas of household food security, diet, and child nutrition.

Conditions

• Nutritional Wasting
• Nutritional Stunting

Interventions

OTHER

Ifaa Basic

* PSNP Systems: (1) Provision of food aid commodities (wheat, oil, and pulse) per the PSNP transfer schedule for 3-6 months; 2) Food System Taskforce (FSTF) capacity building, and 3) private sector engagement * Health and Nutrition: 1) Government of Ethiopia (GoE) basic health extension program; 2) GoE supportive supervision coaching; 3) GoE-led community social behavior change (SBC) sessions; and 4) Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) Programming. * Water and Sanitation: 1) Water infrastructure development; 2) improved governance via water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) committees; and 3) water source monitoring. * Natural Resource Management: 1) Public works projects; 2) community training in planning and sustaining community assets; 3) Implementation of the environment and social management framework; 4) enhance participation of watershed committees

BEHAVIORAL

Ifaa Enhanced

* PSNP Systems: 1) establishment and training of Community Technical Coordinating Forum; 2) Case management capacity building; and 3) private sector construction of infrastructure * Health and Nutrition:1) the Care Group Model approach; 2) home garden promotion; 3) the nutrition budget calculator; and 4) labor and time-saving technologies. * Community-level interventions are 1) adolescent nutrition school clubs; 2) religious leader mobilization and training vulnerable groups; 3) audio toolkit against harmful traditional practice; 4) enhanced SBC tools for health/nutrition promotion; 5) additional health extension programs * Water and Sanitation: 1) Community Led Total Sanitation and Hygiene; 2) WASH systems assessments and strengthening; 3) Ensuring water quality and safety via routine monitoring; 4) Private sector engagement of WASH-related businesses;

OTHER

Ifaa Enhanced + Livelihoods

* Additional resources provided to the groups, including 1) Engagement of Private Service Providers to enable access to sustainable credit and larger loans; 2) Financial Education using an expanded 'Smart Skills' curriculum focusing on savings, smart borrowing and effective financial management; and 3) Life Skills Training for Youth. * Additional supports include: 1) Seven Steps of Marketing Training; 2) Climate Smart Agriculture to reduce water needs and increase soil health and vegetation coverage; 3) Producers Groups and linkages to markets/suppliers/buyers; Selected financial institutions will be provided with a credit guarantee fund and capacity-building support to help facilitate loans. Private sector value chain assessment and financing. Additional private sector engagement and linkage facilitation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

  collaborator FED

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Shannon Doocy, PhD · Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, 21205

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-05-21

Primary Completion

2025-07-05

Completion

2025-07-05

Countries

• Ethiopia

Study Locations