Tropentag, September 17 - 19, 2018 in Ghent "Global food security and food safety: The role of universities"

Pathways and Theories of Change for Nutrition and Health Outcomes from Agriculture, Examples Across Food Systems, Biofortification, Food Safety and Integrated Programs and Policies

¹International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Poverty Health and Nutrition Div., Ethiopia
²Wageningen University and Research, Dept. of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, The Netherlands
³International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), United
⁴International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)/ Freie Universitaet Berlin, Animal and Human Health Program/ Inst. for Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Kenya
⁵International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), ILRI Hanoi, Vietnam
⁶University of Nairobi, Dept. of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Kenya

Abstract

Each programme area in A4NH considers how its research outputs lead to immediate and intermediate development outcomes and benefits for beneficiaries. Three of the A4NH programme areas work through markets and value chain pathways. For food systems (Inge Brouwer), we take a more systemic view of food actors and how they interact to improve diet quality. For biofortification (Ekin Birol), very specific supply chains by crop and country are assessed through detailed assessments of supply chains and how they function. For food safety (Kristina Roesel and Fred Unger), theories of change, rely on understanding risk behaviours and incentives and how they can be influenced. In all these programme areas, the assumptions behind the theories of change are compiled in evidence tables in which we evaluate the strength of evidence for different assumptions on how outcomes and impacts are achieved.
Other A4NH programs, such as integrated nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs (Jef Leroy) work through public, often combinations of health, agriculture and social protection, programme implementers. Research is designed to evaluate and provide evidence with programme implementers on what and how to deliver programs. Across all A4NH programme areas, enabling actions (Erastus Kang'ethe) of government, civil society, private sector and academia and how these come together can be assessed with a mixture of qualitative and quantitative measures.

Keywords: Agriculture, health, impact pathways, implementation, nutrition, policy, theories of change

Contact Address: Namukolo Covic, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Poverty Health and Nutrition Div., Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, e-mail: n.coviccgiar.org