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General

Study Overview

Title:

Can gender- and nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs improve resilience?

Study is 3ie funded:

No

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-626008d5663c8

Initial Registration Date:

04/20/2022

Last Update Date:

04/13/2023

Study Status:

Ongoing

Location(s):

Bangladesh

Abstract:

Between 2015 and 2018, we collaborated with the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture on the implementation of the Agriculture Nutrition and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) project. ANGeL was a multi-arm randomized control trial (RCT) with treatment arms aimed at increasing nutrition knowledge, diversifying agricultural production, and gender sensitization. Evaluation of endline data showed that it diversified agricultural production, improved diet quality, and increased women’s empowerment in agriculture. Four years after ANGeL ended, approximately 25 percent of the study sites had been damaged by Cyclone Fani and many were affected by  lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We are, in 2022, re-surveying individuals and households that participated in  ANGeL, bringing evidence to bear on three knowledge gaps: (1) whether agricultural interventions aimed at diversifying agricultural production have sustainable impacts on assets, diets and women’s empowerment; (2) whether  such interventions are protective when shocks such as COVID-19 and natural disasters such as cyclones occur; and (3) whether  these interventions promote gender-sensitive resilience.

Registration Citation:

Categories:

Agriculture and Rural Development
Health, Nutrition, and Population

Additional Keywords:

agriculture, nutrition, gender, shocks, resilience, Bangladesh

Secondary ID Number(s):

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

John Hoddinott

Affiliation:

Cornell University

Name of Second PI:

Agnes Quisumbing

Affiliation:

International Food Policy Research Institute

Study Sponsor

Name:

USAID through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience, UC Davis

Study Sponsor Location:

United States

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

International Food Policy Research Institute

Type of Organization:

Research institute/University

Location:

Bangladesh

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

The original ANGeL intervention sought to assess interventions that can leverage agricultural growth to increase farm household incomes, improve nutrition, and enhance women’s empowerment in Bangladesh.  There were three types of training interventions: Agriculture Production: Facilitating the production of high-value food commodities that are rich in essential nutrients; Nutrition Knowledge: Conducting high-quality BCC to improve nutrition knowledge of women and men; and Gender Sensitization: Undertaking gender sensitization training that leads to an improvement in the status/empowerment of women and gender parity between women and men.  Accordingly, ANGeL was implemented as a clustered randomized controlled trial with the following arms: T-A: Agricultural Production training; T-N: Nutrition BCC; T-AN: Agricultural Production training and Nutrition BCC; T-ANG: Agricultural Production training, Nutrition BCC, and Gender Sensitization; and a Control arm. Each training session lasted approximately 1.5 hours. Training took place either in meeting rooms or open courtyards in the villages where study participants resided. Both husbands and wives were expected to attend each session, and active participation by both men and women was encouraged. In this study, we will re-survey participants in the T-A, T-AN, T-ANG and control treatment arms.

 

Theory of Change:

The premise behind ANGeL’s original design was that, to improve diets, Bangladesh needs to expand both the production and consumption of non-rice crops. Non-rice food production is understood to affect diets in several ways: through availability, quality, and pricing of these foods; information about the nutritional value of these foods produced; and marketing, including how certain foods are being promoted for sale and consumption. Farm households’ production practices can thus improve the diversity, nutrient quality, and quantity of foods available to the household year-round, particularly in environments where markets for certain types of foods (such as perishables) are limited or absent.

The following theory of change guided the design of ANGeL. Along the agricultural production impact pathway, agricultural extension training delivered to men and women provides information on agricultural practices, specifically non-rice crops, livestock, poultry, and fishponds. Adoption of these practices is hypothesized to result in an increased number of non-rice crops and animal-source foods grown, as well as increased productivity in those crops and animal source-foods resulting in greater quantities available for home consumption. On the nutrition impact pathway, delivery of messages on diet quality and nutrition will improve knowledge around healthy diets and consumption of nutrient-rich foods, whether through consumption of own production or through the market. Finally, gender sensitization works along the women’s empowerment and decision-making impact pathway, affecting decisions about food choices, allocation of food within the household, and other care practices. 

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

Yes

Change History for Treatment Arms

Changed On	Previous Value
04/20/2022	No

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Bangladesh

Type of Organization:

Public Sector, e.g. Government Agency or Ministry

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

USAID

Type of Organization:

Foreign or Multilateral Aid Agency

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

Yes

Start Date:

07/01/2016

End Date:

12/30/2017

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Randomized control trial

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

This is a follow-up study to assess the sustainability of the original ANGeL intervention and its role in promoting resilience to climatic shocks and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are tracing and re-interviewing households that participated in three of the original treatment arms as well as households in the control group. We will first assess attrition and balance in these newly collected data using standard methods. Using baseline and post-endline data, we will estimate impact using ANCOVA and single difference estimators. Basic estimates will control for treatment status and strata; extended estimates will control for a common set of characteristics. Standard errors will adjust for clustering.

Outcomes (Endpoints):

Primary outcomes:

Assets solely and jointly owned by women and men 

Pro-WEAI 

Household Global Diet Quality Score 

 

Secondary outcomes:

Women’s share of household assets 

Household consumption out of own production of the following commodities: Vegetables; fruit; eggs; dairy; fish

Caloric acquisition per capita

Household dietary diversity score

Household food consumption score 

Women’s diet diversity score

Household consumption

Individual-level diet outcomes: Caloric intake; Global Diet Quality Score

 

 

Intermediate outcomes:

Measures of diversification of crop production (number of homestead crops)

Any production of animal source foods: Any production of eggs; any production of dairy; any production of fish

Kg of production of vegetables

Kg production of fruit

Quantities produced of eggs

Quantities produced of dairy products

Quantities produced of fish

 

Change History for Outcomes (Endpoints)

Changed On	Previous Value
04/13/2023	Primary outcomes: Assets solely and jointly owned by women and men  Pro-WEAI  Household Global Diet Quality Score    Secondary outcomes: Women’s share of household assets  Household consumption out of own production of the following commodities: Vegetables; fruit; eggs; dairy; fish Caloric acquisition per capita Household dietary diversity score Household food consumption score  Women’s diet diversity score Individual-level diet outcomes: Caloric intake; Global Diet Quality Score     Intermediate outcomes: Measures of diversification of crop production (number of homestead crops) Any production of animal source foods: Any production of eggs; any production of dairy; any production of fish Kg of production of vegetables Kg production of fruit Quantities produced of eggs Quantities produced of dairy products Quantities produced of fish
07/13/2022	Primary outcomes: Assets solely and jointly owned by women and men (this is what we put into our proposal to UC-Davis) Pro-WEAI (we had mentioned WEAI in our proposal to UC-Davis but had not specified which one) Household Global Diet Quality Score (we promised to assess impacts on diet)   Secondary outcomes: Women’s share of household assets (this was noted in our proposal to UC-Davis) Household consumption out of own production of the following commodities: Vegetables; fruit; eggs; dairy; fish Caloric acquisition per capita Household dietary diversity score Household food consumption score (this was noted in our proposal to UC-Davis) Women’s diet diversity score Individual-level diet outcomes: Caloric intake; Global Diet Quality Score     Intermediate outcomes: Measures of diversification of crop production (number of homestead crops) Any production of animal source foods: Any production of eggs; any production of dairy; any production of fish Kg of production of vegetables Kg production of fruit Quantities produced of eggs Quantities produced of dairy products Quantities produced of fish

Unit of Analysis:

Households; individuals

Hypotheses:

(1) Households in the agriculture arm will have, post-program, higher levels of women’s asset ownership, women’s empowerment, and diet quality than households in the control arm. (2) Households with combined nutrition and agriculture production interventions will have, post-program, higher levels of women’s asset ownership, women’s empowerment, and diet quality than households in the control arm or compared to households that only received the agriculture treatment. (3) Households in the agriculture, nutrition BCC, and gender sensitization arm will have post-program, larger impacts on all outcomes than all other treatment arms and the control arm.

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

Village

Number of Clusters in Sample:

110

Number of Individuals in Sample:

2,600 households (after accounting for attrition)

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

There are 75 treatment clusters (evenly divided between T-A, T-AN, and T-ANG) and 35 control clusters

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

PAP_Addenda_ANGeL2022.pdf

Other Documents:

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

A multi-module household survey administered to the household head and their spouse is the primary data source. We will also draw on a community questionnaire.

Data Already Collected?

Yes

Data Previously Used?

Yes

Data Access:

Not restricted - access with no requirements or minimal requirements (e.g. web registration)

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Yes

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Status:

No

Study Materials

Upload Study Materials:

Registration Category

Registration Category:

Prospective, Category 3: Data for measuring impacts have been obtained/collected by the research team but analysis for this evaluation has not started

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

Data Collection Completion Date:

Unit of Analysis:

Clusters in Final Sample:

Total Observations in Final Sample:

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

Findings

Preliminary Report:

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Paper:

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Date of Data Availability:

Data URL or Contact:

Access procedure:

Other Materials

Survey:

Survey Instrument Links or Contact:

Program Files:

Program Files Links or Contact:

External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: