Grant to Improve Nutrition Outcomes through Optimized Agricultural Interventions
The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and its consortium partners announce a USD 16 Million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement the “Improving Nutrition Outcomes through Optimized Agricultural Interventions (ATONU)” project. This project seeks to improve nutrition outcomes in smallholder farm families and poor households through tailored nutrition sensitive agriculture programs that ultimately benefit women of child bearing age and children in the first 1000 days of life.
Redressing the high burden of under nutrition and stunting in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is critical. Under-nutrition is an underlying cause of nearly half of the deaths in children under-five years of age in Africa and Asia. The largely irreversible damage of infant/early childhood under-nutrition on growth and cognitive functions impairs human productivity, and could lead to a reduction of at least 8% in a nation’s economic advancement.
A major emphasis of the ATONU project will be women’s empowerment. Some 80% of food produced in Africa passes through the hands of women, yet they often have limited decision-making authority about what to grow, what to sell, and how to spend household income. Research has shown that when women are empowered to make such decisions, children’s education, health and nutrition improve. Therefore, women’s empowerment will be a central concern across the project.
The ATONU project will provide technical assistance to integrate tailored nutrition interventions into planned and ongoing agricultural investments through (i) generating tools and frameworks for diagnosing the opportunities to incorporate tailored nutrition interventions into agriculture investments; (ii) offering technical assistance for designing, testing, and rigorously monitoring and evaluating results of the tailored nutrition interventions (proof of concept); (iii) documenting and disseminating best practices and evidence and adding to the agriculture for nutrition knowledge base; (iv) advocating for evidence-based decision making at all levels; and (v) strengthening African capacity and building a community of practice in agriculture for improved nutrition. The impact will be that smallholder farm families and poor households will have access not only to more food but also to a wide variety of safe and nutritious foods.
For more information, please visit the website of FANRPAN.
More background information from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
- Agricultural Development Optimizing Nutrition Outcomes from Investments in Agriculture
- Request for letters of inquiry Improving Nutrition Outcomes through Optimized Agricultural Interventions
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