Clinical trial NCT05825716: Ifaa Effectiveness Evaluation on Food Security and Nutrition
Official title: Ifaa Effectiveness Evaluation: A Comparison of Multisectoral Food Security and Resilience Interventions in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Nutritional Wasting
Nutritional Stunting
Lead sponsor: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
First posted: 2023-04-24
Enrollment: 3317
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 15
Maximum age (years): 45
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The overall goal of the Ifaa Project is to improve food security of vulnerable households in targeted PSNP communities, contributing to a sustained reduction in rural poverty. To achieve this goal, Ifaa will provide additional multi-sectoral interventions to benefit further 60,000 PSNP households in the Oromia region, which is Ethiopia's largest, most populous region and also one of its poorest. The study population is PSNP beneficiaries that are participating in the Ifaa Project.

Brief summary: The Ifaa Project is a USAID-funded Resilience and Food Security Activity (RFSA) that is being implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and partners in the East Hararghe Zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Ifaa targets households that are participating in the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) which is a social protection program administered by the Government of Ethiopia that provides food and cash assistance to vulnerable households. The Ifaa Project will deliver multi-sectoral programming in 241 kebeles (sub-districts) in nine woredas (districts) of East Hararghe Zone, however, intervention packages vary by location. The proposed effectiveness evaluation will quantify the impacts of three different intervention packages in terms of key project indicators in the areas of household food security, diet, and child nutrition.

Detailed description: The Ifaa Project will deliver multi-sectoral programming in 241 kebeles (sub-districts) in nine woredas (districts) of East Hararghe Zone, however, intervention packages vary by location. The three Ifaa intervention packages that will be delivered to PSNP beneficiaries based on the beneficiaries residence location include: 1) the Ifaa basic package; 2) enhanced package without livelihoods; and 3) enhanced package with livelihoods. The proposed effectiveness evaluation will quantify the impacts of three different intervention packages in terms of key project indicators in the areas of household food security, diet, and child nutrition. As the Ifaa consortium learning partner, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH) has been requested to design an effectiveness evaluation of the different intervention packages to compare their outcomes among beneficiary households.

To align the evaluation with project aims, key project indicators are used as study outcome measures. The specific objectives of the evaluation are to quantify the impact of Ifaa interventions as follows:

1. At the household level, Poor or Borderline Food Consumption Score (FCS)
2. at the individual level, change in minimum dietary diversity among children \<5 years A secondary objective is to examine Ifaa impacts on child nutrition indicators, including measures of both acute and chronic malnutrition.

A longitudinal cohort design will be used to compare the effectiveness of three Ifaa intervention packages among PSNP beneficiaries in Eastern Hararghe: 1) the Ifaa basic package; 2) enhanced package without livelihoods; and 3) enhanced package with livelihoods. Under this approach, the enrolled households will have either a pregnant woman or children \<24 months of age. Households will be followed over a two-year period, with the baseline and endline survey conducted at a similar time in the calendar year to avoid seasonal changes in food security. The magnitude of change in key indicators over time will be assessed for each group; if needed, adjusted models will be used to account for baseline differences between groups.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Households are PSNP clients
* Households are Ifaa Project beneficiaries that are planned participants in: 1) Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) groups (Ifaa Basic); 2) SILC Groups AND Care Groups (Ifaa and Enhanced); or 3) SILC groups AND Care Groups AND a Livelihoods Pathway.
* Households have a pregnant woman OR at least one child \<36 months of age
* Households have an adult member that is capable of giving informed consent and completing an interview

Exclusion Criteria:

* Child-headed households (all members age 17yrs or less)
* Individuals not mentally able to give informed consent and complete an interview

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Poor or Borderline Food Consumption Score (%)
timeFrame: baseline, 2 years
measure: Change in minimum dietary diversity (%)
timeFrame: baseline, 2 years
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in the prevalence of stunting (%)
timeFrame: baseline, 2 years
measure: Change in the prevalence of wasting (%)
timeFrame: baseline, 2 years
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Addis Ababa
country: Ethiopia
facility: Seifu Tadesse
Study officials:
affiliation: Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, 21205
name: Shannon Doocy, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: