Training-of-Trainers Facilitator's Guide

This three-day workshop on nutrition aims to increase participants’ nutrition knowledge in the context of agricultural training. The main purpose is to promote adoption of key nutritional messages among farmers through the use of appropriate analogies. As such, this workshop trains lead farmers (LF) through a training-of-trainers (ToT) format. After the ToT, LFs will train other farmers who are members of their cooperatives on key nutrition topics. 

An "agriculutre-nutrition gap" exists due to agricultrual development primarily focusing on poverty alleviation and not focusing on producing adequate nutrients to improve the household nutrition. Community development workgers have seen agricultural yields and household incomes increase but high malnutrition is still prevalent in communities where they work (Jayakumar 2014). Women play a key role in maintaining and improving household practices leading to good helath. Additionally, they need adequate groth-nutrients like protein, zinc, sulfur, and magnesium from early childhood onwards and from pregnancy to their children's early childhood. A well-nourished mother can then pass on health benefits to her children particularly in the first 1000 days of life, where lack of nutrition will significally impact a child's ability to fight infections and develop cognitive abilites into their adulthood.

The PATH-led Infant & Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project has developed the Nutritional Impact Assessment Tool for project designers to use during the design phase of agricultural projects. Much as environmental and gender impact assessments are now standard practice in project planning to prompt consideration of the project’s likely impacts in those areas, a nutritional impact assessment prompts consideration of a project’s impacts on the nutrition of vulnerable groups. 

This tool assists agriculture project designers in assessing an agriculture project’s likely impacts on the nutrition of vulnerable groups. Please refer to the accompanying Nutritional Impact Assessment Tool Guidance for instructions on how to use the tool.

The perceived lack of success of public agricultural extension systems in many countries has resulted in new approaches being tried in reorganizing extension services. In some countries, such as India and China, public extension systems have been decentralized to the district/county level and these public extension systems are now pursuing a more market-driven approach. In other countries, different models have been tried, involving both private-sector firms and civil society organizations (CSOs), in an attempt to find more effective approaches of providing basic extension services. Also, in some countries, there have been attempts to shift more of the cost of extension services to the farmers themselves, with limited success. This paper provides a framework for analyzing the success or failure of different approaches within the agricultural development process in providing particular extension services to different categories of farmers.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (Box 1) has the attention and is increasingly promoted by national governments and the global development community. This is exemplified in Feed the Future (FTF), the U.S. Government’s initiative to sustainably reduce global hunger and poverty. It is embodied in FTF’s twin objectives: inclusive agricultural sector growth and improved nutritional status especially of women and children. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is a means towards achieving these objectives (Ruel, Alderman, & the Maternal Child and Nutrition Study Group, 2013). 

Experience in nutrition interventions points to several design characteristics of field programmes which could improve their effectiveness. Regular government extension services have the potential to reach large numbers of people, yet staff will require additional training to respond to the changing demands of field work. A new approach to training such staff has been developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization. The approach provides staff with information and managerial skills that are common to all extension work. The practical examples used to introduce these techniques illustrate nutritional problems that fieldworkers face and give a measure of confidence in finding solutions. Training materials based on this approach are presently used by several governments.

A growing number of governments, donor agencies, and development organizations are committed to supporting nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) to achieve their development goals. Although consensus exists on pathways through which agriculture may influence nutrition-related outcomes, empirical evidence on agriculture’s contribution to nutrition and how it can be enhanced is still weak. This paper reviews recent empirical evidence (since 2014), including findings from impact evaluations of a variety of NSA programs using experimental designs as well as observational studies that document linkages between agriculture, women’s empowerment, and nutrition. It summarizes existing knowledge regarding not only impacts but also pathways, mechanisms, and contextual factors that affect where and how agriculture may improve nutrition outcomes. The paper concludes with reflections on implications for agricultural programs, policies, and investments, and highlights future research priorities. 

There is growing interest in better leveraging agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS) for nutrition-sensitive agriculture (Fanzo et al. 2015; GFRAS 2016a). Pluralistic AEAS (defined in Box 1) includes public, non-governmental organization (NGO), and private sector entities that regularly interact with millions of farmers. For readers who are more familiar with health programming, AEAS play a role similar to community health workers (CHWs). It should be noted, however, that AEAS typically engage farming households with the potential to produce a marketable surplus (USAID 2016), whereas CHWs focus on populations most vulnerable to poor health. Enlisting AEAS as vital partners in the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is essential to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals and 2025 World Health Assembly targets. They are the foot soldiers positioned to play a key role in realizing healthier food systems. Their specific contributions, however, must build on their core competencies and will only be realized when there is alignment between programmatic, market and policy incentives. 

There is growing global interest in better leveraging Agricultural Extension Services (AES) as a foundation for food and nutrition security. Pluralistic AES (defined in Box 1) consist of rural, agriculturally focused extension and advisory services implemented by public, NGO, and private-sector entities. They reach millions of farmers and represent largely untapped potential for influencing production and consumption decisions which could, in turn, affect the health and nutrition status of populations, particularly in rural areas. Their specific contributions, however, are only beginning to be articulated and evaluated.

This discussion paper addresses the specific contribution that AES can make to food and nutrition security in a way that is consistent with AES’s primary functions. It is particularly focused on the scope of the INGENAES project and the context of the Feed the Future countries within which the project operates.

This analysis was prepared under the framework of the Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES) project is funded through the Bureau for Food Security (BFS) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the United States Government Global Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative1. FTF strives to increase agricultural productivity and the incomes of both men and women in rural areas who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. 

This landscape study provides an overview of Uganda’s agriculture, a review of the country’s extension system, and information on the prevalence of poverty, nutrition, and gender-related issues in Uganda with a special focus on rural areas. In addition, it summarizes the country’s current agricultural and nutrition policy and reviews several on-going projects related to agricultural extension, gender and nutrition by USAID and other technical and financial partners in the country. 

This landscape study provides an overview of Tanzania’s agriculture and the status of country’s extension system. It also provides information on the prevalence of poverty, nutrition and gender related issues in the country with special focus on rural areas. It summarizes Tanzania’s current agricultural and nutrition policy, and provides a summary of several on-going projects by the United States Government (USG) and other donors in the country related to agriculture extension, and gender and nutrition impacts. 

This landscape study provides an overview of agriculture in Senegal as well as the country’s extension system. It also provides information on the prevalence of poverty, nutrition, and gender-related issues in the country with special focus on rural areas. In addition, it summarizes Senegal’s current agriculture and nutrition policy, and it reviews several on-going projects by the U.S. government and other donors in the country related to agriculture extension, gender, and nutrition. 

This landscape study provides an overview of issues that may influence how INGENAES’ project objectives are implemented in Rwanda. All of rural Rwanda and 27 out of 30 districts in the country, are included in Feed the Future’s Zone of Influence, excluding only three districts in Kigali City (Feed the Future, 2011). This report starts by providing general information on the historical and development contexts, geography, and demographics of the country. It next delves into the gender dynamics impacting Rwandans and the current health and nutrition status for the nation. A summary of issues that are currently impacting Rwandan’s land rights, including recent laws that impact greatly on agricultural capacity, leads into an overview of the agricultural sector and how women in particular are faring. This is followed by information pertaining to recent reforms to how extension information and services are delivered as well as a number of gaps that still remain. The narrative concludes with a description of Feed the Future’s Multi-Year Strategy and a summary of USAID’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy.