ENHANCED HOMESTEAD

FOOD PRODUCTION FOR

IMPROVED FOOD SECURITY

AND NUTRITION IN BURKINA

FASO

Helen Keller International (HKI) and

the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

E-HFP Program

Goal: To improve the nutritional status of infants and young children through a set of production and nutrition interventions targeted to women with children 3-12 months of age

1. Increased availability of micronutrient-rich foods through household production in the secondary agriculture season.

2. Income generation through the sale of surplus household production

3. Increased knowledge and adoption of optimal nutritional practices including consumption of micronutrient-rich foods

Behavior change promoted through two different social network channels – “grandmothers” and health committees

Target population: 30 villages – 120 female village farm leaders (VFL) plus 1200 female household gardeners

Primary Assets

Physical capital through project inputs and products

Financial capital through increased revenue from household

gardens

Social capital through village model farms and behavior

change communication strategy

Human capital through agriculture and nutrition training and

improved knowledge and adoption of best practices in

agriculture and nutrition and subsequent improved nutritional

status

Study Design

Longitudinal impact evaluation

Social network census

Operations research

Impact Evaluation

Randomized design

30 intervention villages (~1200 households)

15 “grandmothers” villages

15 health committee villages

15 control villages (~800 households)

Longitudinal

Baseline Feb-Apr 2010 (target children 3-12 months of age)

Endline Feb-Apr 2012 (target children 27-36 months of age)

Household interview

Male household head and female key respondent including gender disaggregated modules on asset ownership, agricultural production, income, household expenditures, knowledge on nutrition, household food security, dietary diversity, etc.

Anthropometric measures and hemoglobin status of target children

Operations Research

Sampling

Random selection of beneficiaries (n=140) and non-beneficiaries (n=70)

Purposive sample of key informants (village level agriculture (n=60) and nutrition trainers (n=60) and master trainers in agriculture and nutrition (n=18)

Cross-sectional

Feedback to program implementers on what is working well and what could use some improvements

Inform the final design of the endline quantitative survey and additional qualitative research

Semi-structured interviews with beneficiaries, non-beneficiaries and key informants

Included questions related to implementation and uptake of key program activities including distribution, ownership and use of program inputs and related products, attendance, understanding and knowledge related to agriculture and nutrition training sessions, and preliminary outcome measures including dietary diversity and household food security

Project Timeline and Progress

Progress to date (program):

Village model farms established, production on-going

Household gardens established, production on-going

Household visits for BCC activities, on-going

Pilot of goat distribution (35 goats to 5 VMFs)

Progress to date (research):

Baseline data collection, analysis and report complete

Social network data collection complete, analysis on-going

Operations research data collection complete, analysis on-going

Endline survey to be conducted between February and April

2012

Household welfare

Assets Men hold fewer numbers of assets but the value of these assets is

much higher than assets held by women.

Livestock Men hold the majority of livestock both in number of animals, but

also in the value of these animals.

Expenditure Both total and adult equivalent total expenditures are slightly

larger in control villages than in the treatment villages.

control group villages also had higher expenditures in the meat and fish category and somewhat higher expenditures in the cereals and fruits categories.

Nutrition knowledge and status

Sub-optimal health and nutrition-related knowledge and practices

Introduction of liquids at 3 months of age

Introduction of semi-solid foods at 7 months of age

High levels of malnutrition

Stunted (HAZ <-2): 25%

Underweight (WAZ <-2): 33%

Wasted (WHZ < -2): 26%

Extremely high prevalence of anemia and severe anemia

Anemic (Hb <11.0 g/L): 88%

Severely Anemic (Hb <7.0 g/L):11%

Physical capital

85% of beneficiaries (compared to 4% of non-

beneficiaries) had a home garden and for 91% of

these women this was new since joining the program.

The vast majority of the women credit the program

with increasing the increasing production of

vegetables and 74% also thought the program had

increased production of chickens.

Ownership of family garden

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Owns garden Owns land forgarden

Allowed to usegarden

Makes decisionson produce

Managesrevenue

generated

Beneficiary

Husband

Joint

Use and decision-making related to

seeds and poultry

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Use: seeds Use: chickens Sell: seeds Sell: chickens Keep income:seeds

Keep income:chickens

Beneficiary

Husband

Ownership of goats

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Who owns Who takes care of Who makes saledecisions

Who makesconsumption

decision

Beneficiary

Husband

Joint

Financial capital

Less than half of the beneficiaries (n=56

respondents) reported selling any vegetables

(n=22), chickens (n=24) or eggs (n=2) - but of

those who did the majority reported that their

income related to these activities has increased due

to the HFP program.

Social capital

Village Model Farms

Some indication from the village farm leaders that they are building social capital through their leadership roles.

The majority of the beneficiaries work on village model farms – most reported positive interactions however there were some reports of conflicts.

Husbands supported their wives’ work both at the village model farm as well as in their home gardens

Behavior Change Communication

Conducted a social network census to examine the diffusion of knowledge through two types of behavior change communication strategies.

Human Capital

Beneficiaries had more agriculture-related

knowledge than non-beneficiaries

Beneficiaries had more nutrition-related knowledge

as compared to non-beneficiaries

Dietary diversity was higher among beneficiary

households, mothers and children < 2 years of age

as compared to non-beneficiaries

Next steps

Program

Implementation of suggested changes form the operations research and monitoring activities

Consider compensation for village level nutrition trainers

Address the water shortage prom

Repair boreholes

Establish small wells

Distribute more drip irrigation kits

Research

Finish analysis and report for the operations research

Finish analysis of social network census

Endline survey (Feb-Apr. 2012)

Design additional qualitative research around some key issues

Men’s knowledge and support of optimal health and nutrition practices

Land access and use issues

Time-related issues

Maintenance of control of resources by program beneficiaries

Ability to make decisions related to products such as vegetables, chickens and goats.

Implementation questions

What are some strategies that could be employed to ensure that women are able to retain management rights over assets given to them by the project?

What are some strategies to secure women’s access to land for home gardens?

HKI has been successful in securing land rights for the land donated for the community gardens – however, some were considered too small, or not fertile.

What are some other strategies to deal with water shortages?