Nigerian experiences
Gender Informed Nutrition and Agriculture II, a multisectoral USAID approach to combating hunger, was implemented in Nasarawa, Akwa-Ibom and Kano States. In the first two States, nutrition surveillance was associated with mildly improved child growth and reductions in underweight among the children monitored.
Gender Informed Nutrition and Agriculture II (GINA II) is a multisectoral USAID approach to combating hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa built on the USAID-supported Agriculture Nutrition Advantage (TANA) . GINA II’s overall goal was to improve the nutritional status of women and children. It aimed to reduce the number of underweight children in GINA communities by 10%, seeking to do this in several ways, including by improving agricultural practices, enhancing the care-giving capacity of mothers with children, building the nutrition-related capacity of local service providers, and sensitizing key local government officials about the importance of nutrition. It is also a health and agriculture project but is one example of action focused on women. The extent to which it empowers women has not been assessed.
The Food Basket Foundation International Program (FBFI) implemented the GINA II with support from USAID in three communities. The communities were Gunki, Ungwa Mallam/Powa, Wache of Nasarawa State; Afaha Ediene, Itak Ikot, Akpandem of Akwa Ibom State; and Hagagawa/Zango, Hagawa, Tinki of Kano State. The strategies involved: advocacy and mobilization; development review of relevant operational documents; re-ranking of community needs; training in project planning and implementation; finance and accounting; proposal appraisals; and project interventions.
The programme’s strengths and weaknesses included the following (Akinyele, 2009):
Strengths: - Involvement of multiple partners—such as FBFI, COMPASS, BASICS III, and USAID—working together
- Existence of pre-existing structures and trained personnel
- Provision of logistics and good working environment because of supportive relationship with state and local government area officials
- Willingness of people to participate and donate properties
- Presence of facilities for dry season farming and suitable crops
- Readiness of people to adopt new farming techniques (irrigation farming)
- Positive returns on child malnutrition reduction through Positive Deviance
- Health sessions and community-based growth monitoring.
Weaknesses:
- Inadequate facility for dry season farming (Bichi in Kano)
- Inadequate understanding of aims, roles, and responsibilities of stakeholders
- Illiteracy and lack of basic numeric skills
- Inadequate linkage and communication between implementing partners
- Inadequate linkage and communication between stakeholders, for example, beneficiaries not knowing that loans should be refunded
- Socio-cultural barriers among the poor.
However, the impact of the growth monitoring and promotion interventions was significant, as noted in detail in Annex Table 19. However, the project locations are not in the Northern States. The impact of these interventions was that in both Nassarawa and Akwa-Ibom States, nutrition surveillance was associated with mildly improved child growth and reductions in underweight among the children monitored.