Valerie Caldas, Felix Masi, Johns Hopkins University Global mhealth Initiative, Courtesy of Photoshare Using Gender-sensitive Social and Behavior Change to Enhance Nutrition and Food Security Taroub Harb Faramand, MD, MPH Megan Ivankovich, MPH Rachel Janik, MPH Global Health Mini University March 4 th, 2016
Presenters Taroub Harb Faramand WI-HER, LLC Founder & President Megan Ivankovich WI-HER, LLC Senior Program Officer Rachel Janik WI-HER, LLC Program Associate
Nutrition + Food Security Food insecurity can lead to malnutrition Undernutrition: Stunting, wasting, underweight, micronutrient deficiencies Overnutriton: Overweight and obesity Nutrition is a critical driver for economic growth and poverty reduction Undernutrition during first 1,000 days can result in lifelong, irreversible damage Affects physical and cognitive growth, educational achievement, and productivity as adults
Gender + (Nutrition + Food Security) Women and children are at greater risk of malnutrition than men 2x as many women suffer as men Girls are more likely to die than boys Social, cultural, and economic inequalities E.g., education, economic standing, social status, age, health, and decision-making Men and women play a critical role in guaranteeing nutrition and food security in households
Gender-sensitive SBC Approaches that account for the unique roles of women, men, boys, and girls and transform the environment to encourage sustained behavior change Essential for increasing optimal nutrition practices and demand for/utilization of services, commodities Allows for linkages across sectors E.g., health, agriculture, food security, empowerment Not separate or autonomous activities but should be integrated in all interventions
Objectives Fill a gap in link between SBC and gender within context of maternal and child nutrition Develop technical resource materials to build capacity to: Understand importance of gender-sensitive SBC programming Strengthen the planning, implementation, M&E, and documentation of gender-sensitive SBC projects Share resources and tools
Methodology 1. Literature review Academic, white, and grey literature Evidence-based GS SBC interventions 2. Project audit 30 completed and ongoing projects Jointly addressed nutrition and food security to improve maternal and child nutrition 3. Interviews 11 interviews with practitioners and experts Best practices, lessons learned, resources, and tools
Results Technical Resource Guide Technical Brief Webinar Tuesday, April 28 th, 10-11am To access these materials, please visit www.coregroup.org/gendersbc or www.fsnnetwork.org.
Maggie Jacoby, Prasanta Biswas, Courtesy of Photoshare Key Findings, Critical Actions, & Best Practices
Examples of Key Family Behaviors for Maternal & Child Nutrition - First 1,000 Days Pregnancy Delivery 0-6 Months 6-24 months ANC visits Iron folate and calcium supplementation Iodized salt Deworming Insecticide-treated nets (ITN) Increased energy and protein intake Enhanced dietary diversity and quantity Increased rest and decreased work Immediate and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) Delayed cord clamping Vitamin A supplementation EBF Hand washing or hygiene Conditional cash transfers (with nutrition education) ITN Increased energy and protein intake Enhanced dietary diversity and quantity Healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy Continued breastfeeding Complementary feeding Zinc, Iron, Vit. A supplementation Hand washing and proper hygiene Increased energy and protein intake Enhanced dietary diversity and quantity Healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy
Examples of Effective Gender-Sensitive SBC Interventions Interpersonal/ Individual/Fami ly Approach Community Level Approach & Advocacy Mass Media, Information &Communicati on Technology Structural/ Systems Approach Access to Food Maternal and Child Care Water, Sanitation, Health Services Increase access to highnutrient Organize husbands/father Install water wells and content food peer groups to build skills tanks to reduce through homestead food to enhance gender roles, women s time and production motivators, and barriers labor burdens Form, organize, support farmer and nonagricultural associations for women Develop billboards to promote Animal Source Foods and Food Production Focus poverty reduction and economic growth programs on women and girls Organize Care Groups to promote good feeding and nutritional care practices Give fathers reminder stickers for antenatal care visits Enhance capacity of national research institutions to address gender and nutrition Hold Child Health Days to provide health and nutrition services Develop a radio and TV campaign for men focused on feeding actions Increase capacity of female managers in organizations
Program Planning Conduct a gender analysis and SBC formative research Interview women, men, girls, and boys to get all relevant perspectives during formative research Ensure project objectives and SBC interventions address gender needs and gaps Strive to transform gender relations to make a lasting difference, when possible Make linkages across multiple sectors
Program Implementation Engage a range of stakeholders Consider needs and preferences of men and women when implementing activities Review project messages and materials to ensure gender considerations are included, where appropriate Develop an internal checklist to ensure messages and materials are gender-sensitive Ensure interventions do no harm
M&E and Documentation Collect and analyze sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive indicators M&E teams and project beneficiaries sampled should be comprised of women and men Broaden the evidence base M&E of gender-sensitive SBC programs should continue after implementation, when possible Document and share results, best practices, and lessons learned
Gender Mainstreaming Leadership is supportive of and committed to gender issues Gender point of contact should be a core member of the project implementation team Consider gender issues in hiring and the workplace Build capacity of all staff to address gender Conduct regular fieldwork to understand gender; share findings with all staff to inform programming
Breakout: Small Group Activity Instructions: As a group, discuss how to incorporate gender-sensitive SBC approaches into the questions for your case study.
Conclusions Multisectoral gender-sensitive SBC approaches are powerful (yet underutilized) tools Being adopted by more donors and projects Must be tailored to local context Impact and cost effectiveness needs to be studied further Do no harm Can transform nutritional health and wellbeing of women, men, girls, and boys
Acknowledgements USAID TOPS Micro Grant Program CORE Group Amelia Brandt (GOAL Sierra Leone) Gillian McKay (GOAL) Elizabeth Romanoff Silva (WI-HER LLC/USAID ASSIST Project) Kamden Hoffman (Insight) Practitioners and experts interviewed
Hanmanta V. Wadgave, Peter Verbiscar-Brown, Todd Shapera, Courtesy of Photoshare Using Gender-sensitive Social and Behavior Change to Enhance Nutrition and Food Security For more information: Contact Megan Ivankovich, mivankovich@wi-her.org or Taroub Faramand, tfaramand@wi-her.org Visit www.coregroup.org/gendersbc or www.fsnnetwork.org.