Evaluation Partner for CASCADE Nutrition Program
Despite modest progress, maternal and child undernutrition remains a major health concern for many countries in the world and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Some of the potential challenges that affect the nutrition status of mothers and young children include weak coordination among government bodies to implement national nutrition policies; lack of involvement of private service providers to implement said policies; ineffective services at the community level; lack of awareness which limits access to healthy diets by women and young children; and lack of synergies between the different actors in the nutrition sectors.
With funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and CARE are leading the implementation of the CASCADE (CAtalyzing Strengthened policy aCtion for heAlthy Diets and resiliencE) program from 2022 to 2026 in six countries of SSA: Benin, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. CASCADE seeks to strengthen the implementation of existing national, nutrition-related policies to contribute to the reduction of malnutrition of at least 5 million women of reproductive age and children in the selected countries. The program’s strategic objectives are to increase the availability and consumption of healthier foods and to improve resilience to climatic and price shocks.
AIR has been selected as the evaluation and thought partner, and will carry out the following tasks, among others:
- Design and conduct mixed-methods evaluations of CASCADE in each of the six countries.
- Lead, in collaboration with local partners and GAIN and CARE staff, peer-reviewed papers on the findings of the evaluations.
