Growth Through Nutrition
Despite great progress, undernutrition rates in Ethiopia remain poor. The key child indicators of stunting, wasting and underweight are at unacceptably high levels nationwide. The key child malnutrition causes in Ethiopia are poor feeding practices (few children eat nutrient-dense vegetables and fruit or animal source foods), suboptimal hygiene and sanitation in the household and community, as well as poverty, food insecurity and gender dynamics.
Activity Description
This five-year nutrition activity will work across sectors (agriculture, health, education, WASH, humanitarian assistance, and livelihoods) to effectively address the direct and underlying causes of malnutrition in the four production regions of Ethiopia. This activity will coordinate and overlay its multi-sector interventions with relevant Government of Ethiopia ministries, USAID-funded Feed the Future activities and development partners. Multi-sector innovations will be documented, disseminated, applied, and scaled-up to maximize learning and sustain nutrition outcomes in the Feed the Future zone of influence. Furthermore, Growth through Nutrition will work closely with Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program and the new livelihoods activity to enhance the nutritional status of program beneficiaries, combining the goals of saving lives and building the assets of vulnerable households to increase their resilience and prevent malnutrition in the future.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcomes for the program are:
- Improved dietary diversity and feeding practices
- Improved knowledge of and practice of good hygiene behavior
- Reduced prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting
Actual Outcomes
The actual outcomes of the program were:
- An increase of access to Diverse, Safe, and Quality Foods,
- Optimal nutrition, WASH, and Agriculture Behavior Adopted,
- An increase of utilization of quality nutrition services,
- An improved access to WASH Products and Services,
- A strengthen multi-sector coordination and capacity