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Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; G Cross-cutting gender theme; Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index; Open Access, A4NH; PHND; EPTD, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Increasing numbers of development agencies and individual projects espouse objectives of women’s empowerment, yet there has been little systematic work on mechanisms by which interventions can enhance women’s empowerment. This gap exists because of the lack of consensus on indicators as well as the lack of attention paid to measuring the effects of different types of interventions on empowerment. This paper identifies the types of strategies employed by 13 agricultural development projects within the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project Phase 2 (GAAP2) that have explicit objectives of empowering women. We distinguish between reach, benefit, and empowerment as objectives of agricultural development projects. Simply including women does not necessarily benefit them, and even activities that benefit do not necessarily empower. To identify strategies to empower women, we build on the domains included in the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and are working with the GAAP2 portfolio of projects to develop an empowerment metric that is applicable in the project setting (a project-level WEAI, or pro-WEAI). We have identified the following potential domains to be included in pro-WEAI: input into production decision making, control over resources, control over income, leadership, time, physical mobility, intrahousehold relationships, individual empowerment, reduction in gender-based violence, and decision making on nutrition. The GAAP2 projects address these domains through a wide variety of activities that can be grouped into four main types: (1) direct and indirect provision of goods and services; (2) forming or strengthening groups, organizations, or platforms and networks that involve women; (3) strengthening knowledge and capacity through agricultural extension, business and finance training, nutrition behavior change communication, and other training; and (4) changing gender norms through one-way awareness

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; CRP4, A4NH; PIM; PHND, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), What is the impact of agricultural development projects on women’s and men’s assets?

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; B Promoting healthy food systems, A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), This paper describes and assesses the strength of a theory of change for how adoption of farm-level technologies and practices for aflatoxin mitigation can contribute to reductions in aflatoxin exposure among consumers in a market context. In response to widespread concerns about the public health consequences of aflatoxin exposure and its implications for agricultural development and trade, risk-mitigating agricultural technologies and practices are being developed and adapted for developing-country contexts. While some of the technologies have been shown to be effective in reducing on-farm aflatoxin contamination, links between technology adoption and reduced aflatoxin exposure among consumers have not been clearly described. Often, a win-win situation is assumed, although the pathways by which adoption of improved practices by farmers contribute to reduced exposure among consumers are complex and gendered. There any many underlying assumptions, especially about market incentives, consumer behavior, and the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of regulatory approaches in domestic markets in developing countries. Based on the analysis, priority areas for research and development, in particular in CGIAR, are identified.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; B Promoting healthy food systems, A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Increased consumption of meat, milk, eggs, and fish among poor consumers in developing countries has the potential to improve nutrition as well as drive pro-poor economic development. However, animal-source foods are a major source of food-borne disease. In addition to the health impacts, concerns about food safety can reduce consumption of nutritious foods and reduce market access for smallholders. Researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute and partners have developed and piloted an institutional innovation—a training, certification, and branding scheme for informal value chain actors—that has the potential to improve the safety of animal-source foods sold in informal markets. To support further research and, eventually, delivery at scale, this paper develops a theory of change for how the intervention is expected to contribute to better nutrition and health outcomes for consumers. The outcomes along the pathway from intervention to impact are identified, along with the underlying causal assumptions. For each assumption, the existing evidence is summarized and assessed. The results show that for some parts of the impact pathway, outcomes and causal links are well defined and supported by evidence, while for others, the program logic needs to be refined and more evidence gathered to validate hypothesized causal relationships in specific contexts. Addressing these gaps through research and through piloting interventions with development partners can increase the likelihood of achieving expected outcomes and contribute to learning about how to improve the performance of informal markets in developing countries.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; CRP4; G Cross-cutting gender theme, EPTD; PHND; PIM; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Ownership of assets is important for poverty alleviation, and women’s control of assets is associated with positive development outcomes at the household and individual levels. This research was undertaken to provide guidance for agricultural development programs on how to incorporate gender and assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of eight mixed-method evaluations of the impacts of agricultural development projects on individual and household assets in seven countries in Africa and South Asia. The results show that assets both affect and are affected by projects, indicating that it is both feasible and important to consider assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of agricultural development projects. All projects were associated with increases in asset levels and other benefits at the household level; however, only four projects documented significant, positive impacts in women’s ownership or control of assets relative to a control group, and of those only one project provided evidence of a reduction in the gender asset gap. The quantitative and qualitative findings suggest ways that greater attention to gender and assets by researchers and development implementers could improve outcomes for women in future projects.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; B Promoting healthy food systems; B.1 Integrated Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Programs and Policies; CRP4; HarvestPlus, HarvestPlus; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), These theories of change were developed to help the HarvestPlus program deliver on its planned outcomes and impacts. HarvestPlus expects to contribute to the reduction in micronutrient deficiency among women and children in rural areas of developing countries through the breeding and dissemination of staple crop varieties with increased levels of key micronutrients. After ten years of breeding, economic, and nutrition research to develop and assess varieties and their potential impact on human nutritional outcomes, HarvestPlus is entering a third five-year phase focused on delivering micronutrient-rich varieties at scale in nine target countries. To support program design, implementation, and evaluation in the “delivery” phase of the HarvestPlus program (2014–2018), theories of change were developed for three crop-country combinations—maize in Zambia, beans in Rwanda, and cassava in Nigeria—to describe how HarvestPlus expects to contribute to the outcome of reducing inadequate micronutrient intake among women and children in different agricultural and socioeconomic contexts in which HarvestPlus works. The evidence supporting the assumptions and risks for each link in the pathway is summarized and assessed. The results show that for some parts of the impact pathway, outcomes and causal links are well defined and supported by evidence. In other areas, the program logic needs to be better articulated so that hypotheses can be formulated and evidence generated. Addressing these gaps through research, adaptations in delivery activities, and monitoring can increase the likelihood of achieving expected outcomes as well as improve the ability of HarvestPlus and other nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs to learn from current activities to inform a broader scaling up.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; B Promoting healthy food systems; B.2 Value Chains for Enhances Nutrition; CRP4, PHND; MTID; A4NH, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), In this paper we explore how a value chain framework can inform the design of interventions for achieving improved nutrition. Conceptually, there are three main channels for value chains to improve nutrition: (1) through increased consumption of nutritious foods (a demand side pathway); or (2) through increased incomes from value chain transactions (a supply side pathway) or (3) through increased nutrition value-addition in the chain transactions. These three pathways are interlinked and involve complex dynamics that are not straightforward to understand.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; GAAP; CRP4; F.4 Strengthening Property Rights and Assets; CRP2; G Cross-cutting gender theme, A4NH; EPTD; PHND; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Non-PR, IFPRI1; GAAP; CRP4; F.4 Strengthening Property Rights and Assets; CRP2; G Cross-cutting gender theme, A4NH; EPTD; PHND; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)