Assignment name: Round II Process Evaluation of the Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (RAIN) project in Mumbwa District, Central Province | Approx. value of the contract (in current US$): US $97,647 | |
Country: Zambia Location within country: Mumbwa District | Duration of assignment (months): 2 | |
Name of Client: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) | Total No. of staff-months of the assignment: 17.3 | |
Contact Person, Title/Designation, Tel. No./Address: | Danny Harvey: Then: Dr. Rahul Rawat, Research Fellow, Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2033 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, USA Now: Deputy Director, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (maternal, newborn and child nutrition portfolio), Gates Foundation, 500 5th Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Email: [email protected]; Phone: +1 206-709-3100. | |
Start date (month/year): Jan 2014 Completion date (month/year): Mar 2014 | No. of professional staff-months provided by your consulting firm/organization or your sub consultants: 17.3 | |
Name of associated Consultants, if any: N/A | Name of senior professional staff of your consulting firm/organization involved and designation and/or functions performed (e.g. Project Director/Coordinator, Team Leader): Prof. Gelson Tembo – Survey Coordinator/Principal Investigator (PI); Chibamba Mwansakilwa – Field Manager Nathan Tembo – Field Manager Dr. Fusya Goma – FGD Team Lead Liseteli Ndiyoi – IT Specialist | |
Description of Project: The RAIN process evaluation was a theory-driven, mixed-methods study designed to explain how and why the Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (RAIN) project in Mumbwa District, Central Province was (or was not) on track to reduce chronic child undernutrition—against a background of very high stunting (noted as 45% nationally and 59% in Mumbwa) and the program’s focus on the first 1,000 days (conception to 23 months) through an integrated package spanning agriculture, nutrition/health behavior change, and gender equality implemented by Concern Worldwide with Government partners and evaluated by IFPRI. In scope, the process evaluation included routine monitoring review and qualitative enquiry (e.g., interviews, focus groups, and observations) and—critically for Round 2—an outcome-linked household survey of 1,200 households across the project’s three arms (agriculture only, agriculture plus health/nutrition, and control/standard services) to measure program exposure, uptake/adoption, and intermediate determinants of malnutrition (IYCF, health and nutrition knowledge/practices, food production and consumption, and women’s empowerment/time use). The time period covered for the household process survey was January–March 2014, implemented within the broader RAIN footprint that aimed to reach children under two years of age in 3,480 households in Mumbwa District. | ||
Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment: Palm Associates’ responsibility was to support IFPRI’s RAIN process evaluation by implementing the in-country data collection required to “open the black box” of program delivery and uptake in Mumbwa District—specifically by conducting the reduced-size household survey (n=1,200 across the three study arms) and supporting complementary process-evaluation methods (e.g., engagement with program staff and partners, and use of appropriate tools to assess exposure, adoption, and key intermediate indicators), while ensuring ethical compliance, informed consent, confidentiality, and secure handling of study data for use by IFPRI and Concern Worldwide. | ||
