Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso
Nutrition-sensitive programs in low- and middle-income countries often aim to improve child nutrition outcomes in part by empowering women. Though previous studies have found cross-sectional associations linking women's empowerment and child nutritional status, there is limited empirical evidence su...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2019
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147316 |
| _version_ | 1855516298907222016 |
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| author | Heckert, Jessica Olney, Deanna K. Ruel, Marie T. |
| author_browse | Heckert, Jessica Olney, Deanna K. Ruel, Marie T. |
| author_facet | Heckert, Jessica Olney, Deanna K. Ruel, Marie T. |
| author_sort | Heckert, Jessica |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Nutrition-sensitive programs in low- and middle-income countries often aim to improve child nutrition outcomes in part by empowering women. Though previous studies have found cross-sectional associations linking women's empowerment and child nutritional status, there is limited empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that empowering women as part of an intervention will, in turn, improve child nutritional outcomes. We tested this hypothesis using two waves of data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a nutrition-sensitive agricultural program in Burkina Faso. With structural equation models, we examined whether four domains of women's empowerment—purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions, family planning decisions, and spousal communication—mediated the program's impact on reducing wasting and increasing hemoglobin among children who were three to 12 months old at the start of the two-year program. We found that improvements in women's empowerment in the domains of spousal communication, purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions, and family planning decisions contributed to the program's impact on reducing wasting with the largest share being attributable to spousal communication. Improvements in women's empowerment did not contribute to the increase in hemoglobin. These findings provide the first evidence from a randomized controlled trial that women's empowerment is a pathway by which a nutrition-sensitive program can improve child wasting. Programs that aim to improve child nutritional status should incorporate interventions designed to empower women. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace147316 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1473162025-12-08T10:11:39Z Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso Heckert, Jessica Olney, Deanna K. Ruel, Marie T. gender child wasting child nutrition empowerment nutrition gender-responsive approaches food systems women Nutrition-sensitive programs in low- and middle-income countries often aim to improve child nutrition outcomes in part by empowering women. Though previous studies have found cross-sectional associations linking women's empowerment and child nutritional status, there is limited empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that empowering women as part of an intervention will, in turn, improve child nutritional outcomes. We tested this hypothesis using two waves of data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a nutrition-sensitive agricultural program in Burkina Faso. With structural equation models, we examined whether four domains of women's empowerment—purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions, family planning decisions, and spousal communication—mediated the program's impact on reducing wasting and increasing hemoglobin among children who were three to 12 months old at the start of the two-year program. We found that improvements in women's empowerment in the domains of spousal communication, purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions, and family planning decisions contributed to the program's impact on reducing wasting with the largest share being attributable to spousal communication. Improvements in women's empowerment did not contribute to the increase in hemoglobin. These findings provide the first evidence from a randomized controlled trial that women's empowerment is a pathway by which a nutrition-sensitive program can improve child wasting. Programs that aim to improve child nutritional status should incorporate interventions designed to empower women. 2019-05-21 2024-06-21T09:13:14Z 2024-06-21T09:13:14Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147316 en Open Access Elsevier Heckert, Jessica; Olney, Deanna K.; and Ruel, Marie T. 2019. Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso. Social Science and Medicine 233(July 2019): 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.016 |
| spellingShingle | gender child wasting child nutrition empowerment nutrition gender-responsive approaches food systems women Heckert, Jessica Olney, Deanna K. Ruel, Marie T. Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso |
| title | Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso |
| title_full | Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso |
| title_fullStr | Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso |
| title_short | Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso |
| title_sort | is women s empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition sensitive agriculture program evidence from a randomized controlled trial in burkina faso |
| topic | gender child wasting child nutrition empowerment nutrition gender-responsive approaches food systems women |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147316 |
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