Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya

Multi-sectoral programs that involve stakeholders in agriculture, nutrition and health care are essential for responding to nutrition problems such as vitamin A deficiency among pregnant and lactating women and their infants in many poor areas of lower income countries. Yet planning such multi-secto...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cole, Donald C., Levin, C., Loechl, C., Thiele, Graham, Grant, F., Webb Girard, A., Sindi, K., Low, Jan W.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/72950
_version_ 1855527722222092288
author Cole, Donald C.
Levin, C.
Loechl, C.
Thiele, Graham
Grant, F.
Webb Girard, A.
Sindi, K.
Low, Jan W.
author_browse Cole, Donald C.
Grant, F.
Levin, C.
Loechl, C.
Low, Jan W.
Sindi, K.
Thiele, Graham
Webb Girard, A.
author_facet Cole, Donald C.
Levin, C.
Loechl, C.
Thiele, Graham
Grant, F.
Webb Girard, A.
Sindi, K.
Low, Jan W.
author_sort Cole, Donald C.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Multi-sectoral programs that involve stakeholders in agriculture, nutrition and health care are essential for responding to nutrition problems such as vitamin A deficiency among pregnant and lactating women and their infants in many poor areas of lower income countries. Yet planning such multi-sectoral programs and designing appropriate evaluations, to respond to different disciplinary cultures of evidence, remain a challenge. We describe the context, program development process, and evaluation design of the Mama SASHA project (Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa) which promoted production and consumption of a bio-fortified, orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP). In planning the program we drew upon information from needs assessments, stakeholder consultations, and a first round of the implementation evaluation of a pilot project. The multi-disciplinary team worked with partner organizations to develop a program theory of change and an impact pathway which identified aspects of the program that would be monitored and established evaluation methods. Responding to the growing demand for greater rigour in impact evaluations, we carried out quasi-experimental allocation by health facility catchment area, repeat village surveys for assessment of change in intervention and control areas, and longitudinal tracking of individual mother-child pairs. Mid-course corrections in program implementation were informed by program monitoring, regular feedback from implementers and partners' meetings. To assess economic efficiency and provide evidence for scaling we collected data on resources used and project expenses. Managing the multi-sectoral program and the mixed methods evaluation involved bargaining and trade-offs that were deemed essential to respond to the array of stakeholders, program funders and disciplines involved.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace72950
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace729502025-11-06T14:06:08Z Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya Cole, Donald C. Levin, C. Loechl, C. Thiele, Graham Grant, F. Webb Girard, A. Sindi, K. Low, Jan W. nutrition health evaluation Multi-sectoral programs that involve stakeholders in agriculture, nutrition and health care are essential for responding to nutrition problems such as vitamin A deficiency among pregnant and lactating women and their infants in many poor areas of lower income countries. Yet planning such multi-sectoral programs and designing appropriate evaluations, to respond to different disciplinary cultures of evidence, remain a challenge. We describe the context, program development process, and evaluation design of the Mama SASHA project (Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa) which promoted production and consumption of a bio-fortified, orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP). In planning the program we drew upon information from needs assessments, stakeholder consultations, and a first round of the implementation evaluation of a pilot project. The multi-disciplinary team worked with partner organizations to develop a program theory of change and an impact pathway which identified aspects of the program that would be monitored and established evaluation methods. Responding to the growing demand for greater rigour in impact evaluations, we carried out quasi-experimental allocation by health facility catchment area, repeat village surveys for assessment of change in intervention and control areas, and longitudinal tracking of individual mother-child pairs. Mid-course corrections in program implementation were informed by program monitoring, regular feedback from implementers and partners' meetings. To assess economic efficiency and provide evidence for scaling we collected data on resources used and project expenses. Managing the multi-sectoral program and the mixed methods evaluation involved bargaining and trade-offs that were deemed essential to respond to the array of stakeholders, program funders and disciplines involved. 2016-06 2016-04-19T12:48:40Z 2016-04-19T12:48:40Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/72950 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Cole, D.C.; Levin, C.; Loechl, C.; Thiele, G.; Grant, F.; Webb Girard, A.; Sindi, K.; Low, J. 2016. Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya. Evaluation and Program Planning. (UK). ISSN 0149-7189. 56:11-22.
spellingShingle nutrition
health
evaluation
Cole, Donald C.
Levin, C.
Loechl, C.
Thiele, Graham
Grant, F.
Webb Girard, A.
Sindi, K.
Low, Jan W.
Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya
title Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya
title_full Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya
title_fullStr Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya
title_short Planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation: Experience from Western Kenya
title_sort planning an integrated agriculture and health program and designing its evaluation experience from western kenya
topic nutrition
health
evaluation
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/72950
work_keys_str_mv AT coledonaldc planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT levinc planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT loechlc planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT thielegraham planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT grantf planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT webbgirarda planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT sindik planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya
AT lowjanw planninganintegratedagricultureandhealthprogramanddesigningitsevaluationexperiencefromwesternkenya