“We have reduced the amount of time and money we spend in our health centers.”
“We are happy because now we know and we can give the children what they need to eat.”
That's what some participants in Benin's Nutrition at the Center project said. Read on to learn more.
What did we accomplish?
- Kids got healthier: The number of kids who were underweight dropped by 26% in project zones—and doubled in areas where the project wasn’t working.
- Diets improved: The number of kids eating diverse diets went up 48%. Those who were eating enough iron to stay healthy went up 53%. Women were 48% more likely to be eating diverse diets at the end of the project than at baseline.
- Mothers had better nutrition: The number of malnourished mothers went down by 67%--from 19% at the beginning of the project to 6% at the end.
- Families have better hygiene: Families were up to 7 times more likely to wash their hands if they were in the project compared to those in control areas.
- Breastfeeding went up: The number of kids who got exclusive breastfeeding nearly doubled, from 35% to 66%.
- Kids got taller: In project areas, stunting (the number of kids who have suffered permanent damage from malnutrition) went from 34% to 33%. Where we specifically focused on getting extra protein, the number dropped to 30%. This might not seem like much, but in areas without the project, stunting actually got worse—going from 27% to 32%.
How did we get there?
- Focus on protein: The highest impacts for the project were in areas where the project helped families grow chickens and fish (called Protein for People) in addition to other interventions. Kids ate twice as many eggs and 5 times more meat.
- Help people grow and store food: Families were more than twice as likely to grow and eat vegetables at home. They were also 3 times more likely to preserve crops for future use and 2.5 times more likely to store crops.
- Get people access to information: Access to nutrition information more than doubled, and access to agriculture information went up 55%.
- Improve access to services and supplies: Women going to pre-natal medical appointments went up 30%, and access to clean drinking water went up 14%. Families were also twice as likely to have soap to wash their hands.
- Focus your messaging: The project learned that they were more successful with a smaller set of more targeted health messages that were very practical, rather than trying to promote everything.
- Think outside the box: Nutrition messaging alone wasn’t enough. The project had to think about access to resources, agriculture, and markets in order to get to the impact they wanted to see
Want to learn more?
Check out the endline evaluation.