Clinical trial NCT03590717: Impact Evaluation of WFP's Fresh Food Voucher Pilot Programme in Ethiopia
Official title: Impact Evaluation of WFP's Fresh Food Voucher Pilot Programme in Ethiopia
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Diet; Deficiency
Malnutrition
Keywords: dietary diversity
minimum acceptable diet
fruits
vegetables
animal sourced foods
Lead sponsor: International Food Policy Research Institute
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Addis Ababa University
name: United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)
First posted: 2018-07-18
Enrollment: 574
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 6
Maximum age (years): 17
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: FACTORIAL
Intervention model description: Cluster randomized controlled trial clustered at the village level, 2 treatment arms and one control group.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: To assess the impact of WFP's Fresh Food Voucher Pilot Programme in Ethiopia on children's and mother's diets

Detailed description: Rationale: Infants, young children and adult women in rural Ethiopia consume one of the least diversified diets in the world. The World Food Programme's Fresh Food Voucher (FFV) Pilot Programme aims to improve dietary diversity among infants and young children and their mothers. The focus on these demographic groups is based on the now well-established theory on the importance of the 'first 1,000 days'. This period, spanning the pregnancy and the first 2 years of child's life, is considered critical for child's physical growth and cognitive development. The beneficiary households receive a voucher that can be used to purchase fresh foods (fruits, vegetables and certain animal source foods).

Objective: The main objectives of the evaluation are to assess and report on the performance and results of the FFV programme to help WFP present high-quality and credible evidence of actual impact to its donors. In addition, the evaluation will determine the reasons why certain results occurred (or not) to draw lessons, derive good practices and pointers for learning.

Study design: This is a mixed methods evaluation that combines a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with caregivers and food traders. The RCT contains three arms. The first treatment arm receives a smaller voucher (roughly $12-17) and social behavioural change communication (SBCC). The second treatment arm receives a larger voucher (roughly $21-23) and SBCC. Households in the third study arm (control) receive SBCC but do not receive vouchers. A cluster in this impact evaluation is defined as a village (got in Amharic) and these clusters of are randomly allocated to the different arms of the trial. Within a cluster, all eligible households will receive the same treatment.

Study population: All households with a child between 6-17 months at the baseline in December 2017 were eligible to be included in the quantitative sample.

Main study parameters/endpoints: The main outcomes of interest are minimum acceptable diet score for children 6- 23 months (World Health Organization, 2008) and minimum diet diversity for women of reproductive age (FAO \& FHI-360, 2016).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Households with young children aged 6-17 months age at the baseline in December 2017.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Minimum Acceptable Diet Scores (MAD) of children 6-23 months of age
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Minimum diet diversity (MDD-W) for women of reproductive age
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Minimum Diet Diversity (MDD) of children 6-23 months of age
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Minimum Meal Frequency (MFF) of children 6-23 months of age
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Household Diet Diversity Score (HDDS)
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: WFP Food Consumption Score- Nutrition
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Addis Ababa
country: Ethiopia
facility: Kalle Hirvonen
Study officials:
affiliation: International Food Policy Research Institute, Ethiopia
name: Kalle Hirvonen, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Center for Food Science and Nutrition, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
name: Kaleab Baye, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: