Admissible evidence in the court of development evaluation? : the impact of CARE's SHOUHARDO Project on child stunting in Bangladesh

Along with the rise of the development effectiveness movement of the last few decades, experimental impact evaluation methods – randomised controlled trials and quasiexperimental techniques – have emerged as a dominant force. While the increased use of these methods has contributed to improved understanding of what works and whether specific projects have been successful, their ‘gold standard’ status threatens to exclude a large body of evidence from the development effectiveness dialogue. In this paper we conduct an evaluation of the impact on child stunting of CARE’s SHOUHARDO project in Bangladesh, the first large-scale project to use the rights-based, livelihoods approach to address malnutrition. In line with calls for a more balanced view of what constitutes rigor and scientific evidence, and for the use of more diversified and holistic methods in impact evaluations, we employ a mixed-methods approach. The results from multiple data sources and methods, including both non-experimental and quasi-experimental, are triangulated to arrive at the conclusions. We find that the project had an extraordinarily large impact on stunting among children 6–24 months old – on the order of a 4.5 percentage point reduction per year. We demonstrate that one reason the project reduced stunting by so much was because, consistent with the rights-based, livelihoods approach, it relied on both direct nutrition interventions and those that addressed underlying structural causes including poor sanitation, poverty, and deeply-entrenched inequalities in power between women and men. These findings have important policy implications given the slow progress in reducing malnutrition globally and that the widely-supported Scaling Up Nutrition initiative aimed at stepping up efforts to do so is in urgent need of guidance on how to integrate structural cause interventions with the direct nutrition interventions that are the initiative’s main focus. The evaluation also adds to the evidence that targeting the poor, rather than employing universal coverage, can help to accelerate reductions in child malnutrition. The paper concludes that, given the valuable policy lessons generated, the experience of the SHOUHARDO project merits solid standing in the knowledge bank of development effectiveness. More broadly, it illustrates how rigorous and informative evaluation of complex, multi-intervention projects can be undertaken even in the absence of the randomisation, nonproject control groups and/or panel data required by the experimental methods. Keywords: development effectiveness; impact evaluation; experimental methods; child malnutrition; Bangladesh

‘Perception matters’: New insights into the subjective dimension of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crises

In the emerging literature on resilience in relation to food security, a growing number of studies stress the need to expand our analysis beyond conventional socio-economic factors such as assets or social capital, and to consider less tangible elements such as risk perception, self-efficacy or aspiration. Drawing on the recent literature and the authors’ own experience, a conceptual framework of subjective resilience is proposed. The framework helps locating the subjective element of resilience within the wider resilience conceptualization as currently developed in the literature on food security and to clarify how it links to the more tangible elements of that conceptualization. Empirical data are then used to test the framework. The analysis demonstrates the relevance of the concept of subjective resilience and the central role that psychosocial factors and individual perceptions play in people’s construct of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crises. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of those findings

Food system resilience measurement: principles, framework and caveats

There is growing recognition that a better understanding of how food systems respond to crises is critical to build and protect the food security of local populations. But rigorous and reliable methods to measure food system resilience are still missing. In this paper, we build on the current literature to develop an analytical framework aimed at assessing the resilience of food systems at local level. The novel element of the analysis lies in the levels at which resilience is considered. Combining the individual actor level with the notion of 'emergent properties' of food systems, we argue that the overall resilience of food system results from processes that take place – and need to be measured – at both individual and system levels. The framework is structured around three components: (i) the mapping of the actors and the local food system; (ii) the assessment of the resilience of these actors and that of the food system, and (iii) the outcomes of this resilience, assessed in term of local population’s food security. For each of those components, indicators are proposed and the ways to collect them are discussed. The paper then presents the types of analyses that would be necessary to complete to gain a better understanding of the situation regarding the resilience of the local food system under consideration, including the analysis of “positive deviance” among food system actors. The paper concludes with a series of reflections about the caveats and challenges that one may face when attempting to assess food system resilience

Eradication of Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma after Adenovirus-Encoded TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL)/CpG Immunotherapy

Despite evidence that antitumor immunity can be protective against renal cell carcinoma (RCC), few patients respond objectively to immunotherapy and the disease is fatal once metastases develop. We asked to what extent combinatorial immunotherapy with Adenovirus-encoded murine TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (Ad5mTRAIL) plus CpG oligonucleotide, given at the primary tumor site, would prove efficacious against metastatic murine RCC. To quantitate primary renal and metastatic tumor growth in mice, we developed a luciferase-expressing Renca cell line, and monitored tumor burdens via bioluminescent imaging. Orthotopic tumor challenge gave rise to aggressive primary tumors and lung metastases that were detectable by day 7. Intra-renal administration of Ad5mTRAIL+CpG on day 7 led to an influx of effector phenotype CD4 and CD8 T cells into the kidney by day 12 and regression of established primary renal tumors. Intra-renal immunotherapy also led to systemic immune responses characterized by splenomegaly, elevated serum IgG levels, increased CD4 and CD8 T cell infiltration into the lungs, and elimination of metastatic lung tumors. Tumor regression was primarily dependent upon CD8 T cells and resulted in prolonged survival of treated mice. Thus, local administration of Ad5mTRAIL+CpG at the primary tumor site can initiate CD8-dependent systemic immunity that is sufficient to cause regression of metastatic lung tumors. A similar approach may prove beneficial for patients with metastatic RCC

How NGOs approach resilience programming

PRIFPRI1; 2020; CRP2; CRP4; E Building Resilience; G Cross-cutting gender themeDGO; PIM; A4NHCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH

The regional network on AIDS, livelihoods, and food security (RENEWAL): Influencing change in HIV/AIDS policy through networks

As the magnitude and scope of the AIDS epidemic grew during the 1990s, it transformed the international development landscape: HIV/AIDS became a global development issue with socioeconomic implications for livelihoods, rather than an isolated health issue. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most HIV-affected region in the world: an estimated 22.4 million people live with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. In response to this crisis, the Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods, and Food Security (RENEWAL) was officially launched in 2001 as a joint project of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), and was operational in Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and South Africa through most of 2011.Non-PRIFPRI1; RENEWAL; IADG

Building resilience for food and nutrition security, Addis Ababa, 15–17 of May 2014: A synthesis

PRIFPRI3; ISI; 2020DG

Ex-post impact assessment review of the Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods, and Food Security (RENEWAL)

This report assesses the impact of RENEWAL activities from 2000 to 2010 and is based on a review of products resulting from RENEWAL activities (such as books, policy briefs, workshop summaries, reports, and discussion papers), stakeholder perceptions of RENEWAL products and activities, and national policy or programming changes resulting from RENEWAL-supported action research, capacity strengthening efforts, and policy communications.PRIFPRI1; RENEWAL; IADG

Current approaches to resilience programming among nongovernmental organizations

This paper seeks to enhance our understanding of resilience processes, activities, and outcomes by examining initiatives to enhance resilience capacity that are designed and implemented by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The paper begins with a review of the evolution in thinking about the concept of resilience that has occurred over the past five years. This is followed by a review of the wide range of strategies and interventions employed by NGOs to build resilience capacity. The paper then presents several case studies that highlight NGO efforts to enhance resilience either by focusing on a specific vulnerable population and shock or by integrating, sequencing, and layering activities to support and protect core programming goals (for example, food and nutrition security, poverty reduction) while contributing overall to enhanced resilience capacity. Finally, the paper reviews measurement issues related to resilience, the challenges encountered by NGOs, and lessons learned. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for improving NGO resilience programming.PRIFPRI1; E Building Resilience; E.1 Policies, institutions and investments for resilient social systems; 2020; CRP2; CRP4DGO; A4NH; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH

Major Issues to Address in the Incorporation of a Food Consumption Perspective to Farming Systems Research

Introduction: Farming systems research (FSR) projects should more effectively incorporate a food consumption perspective in the design and testing of new agricultural technology. This will enable FSR projects to take into consideration the importance of securing adequate family food supplies as a goal of farmers, as well as help identify technological alternatives that are compatible with consumption preferences of farm families. With this objective in mind, this paper outlines a number of food consumption issues which should be addressed to facilitate this incorporation. These issues are presented under four broad categories which are not mutually exclusive. These include: 1) Awareness; 2) Implementation; 3) Utilization and 4) Evaluation. Ultimately, it is hoped, this brief presentation will stimulate discussion and eventually bring about improvements in conceptualization, implementation, and measurement of these issues. This will aid the Nutrition Economics Group, OICD, USDA and the Office of Nutrition, Bureau of Science and Technology, USAID in the development of a research strategy to identify, test and evaluate alternative ways of integrating consumption concerns into the design, implementation, and evaluation of agricultural research projects with on-farm components. The major long-term objective of this research will be to prepare a set of guidelines for project designers and managers. This presentation begins with a discussion of the food consumption issues pertaining to awareness, followed by those relevant to implementation, utilization and evaluation