TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving household food security in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
T2 - a comparative analysis of four interventions
AU - The Jenga Jamaa II Study Team
AU - Doocy, Shannon
AU - Emerson, Jillian
AU - Colantouni, Elizabeth
AU - Strong, Johnathan
AU - Mansen, Kimberly Amundson
AU - Caulfield, Laura E.
AU - Klemm, Rolf
AU - Brye, Laura
AU - Funna, Sonya
AU - Nzanzu, Jean Pierre
AU - Musa, Espoir
AU - Rocha, Jozimo Santos
AU - Menakuntuala, Joseph
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding source Jenga Jamaa II program and this research were funded through a USAID Office of Food for Peace Cooperative Agreement (AID-FFP-A-11-00006).
Funding Information:
The Jenga Jamaa II Study Team includes Laura E. Caulfield and Rolf Klemm from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Laura Brye, Sonya Funna, Jean-Pierre Nzanzu, Espoir Musa and Jozimo Santos Rocha from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. Jenga Jamaa II program and this research were funded through a USAID Office of Food for Peace Cooperative Agreement (AID-FFP-A-11-00006). The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature and International Society for Plant Pathology.
PY - 2018/6/1
Y1 - 2018/6/1
N2 - Food insecurity contributes to poor nutritional status of many populations, but long-term approaches to improving household food insecurity have not been widely evaluated. This study evaluates the effectiveness of four interventions, Women’s Empowerment Groups (WEG), Prevention of Malnutrition in Children under 2 Approach (PM2A), Farmer Field Schools (FFS), and the Farmer to Farmer approach (F2F), implemented in the context of a five-year Development Food Assistance Program in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A community-matched quasi-experimental design was used. Primary outcome measures included Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). Mean HDDS was significantly greater than the control group for three interventions (FFS, WEG, PM2A; ß: 0.69–0.88, p < 0.001 for all) as was the difference in proportion of households achieving target HDDS compared to the control group (12.3–21.7%, p < 0.001 for all). HFIAS score was significantly lower for all interventions compared to the control group, but smaller gains were seen in F2F (ß: -2.06 - -4.59, p < 0.001 for all). The adjusted difference in proportion of households improving in HFIAS category compared to controls was significant for all groups, but smallest among F2F (15.0–26.7%, p < 0.05 for all). WEG, PM2A, and FFS interventions had significant effects on improving household dietary diversity and food security; the F2F approach was less effective. Food insecurity remained prevalent despite the interventions, suggesting more research is needed to understand the pathways through which they were effective and how interventions could be strengthened to improve food insecurity in post-conflict settings.
AB - Food insecurity contributes to poor nutritional status of many populations, but long-term approaches to improving household food insecurity have not been widely evaluated. This study evaluates the effectiveness of four interventions, Women’s Empowerment Groups (WEG), Prevention of Malnutrition in Children under 2 Approach (PM2A), Farmer Field Schools (FFS), and the Farmer to Farmer approach (F2F), implemented in the context of a five-year Development Food Assistance Program in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A community-matched quasi-experimental design was used. Primary outcome measures included Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). Mean HDDS was significantly greater than the control group for three interventions (FFS, WEG, PM2A; ß: 0.69–0.88, p < 0.001 for all) as was the difference in proportion of households achieving target HDDS compared to the control group (12.3–21.7%, p < 0.001 for all). HFIAS score was significantly lower for all interventions compared to the control group, but smaller gains were seen in F2F (ß: -2.06 - -4.59, p < 0.001 for all). The adjusted difference in proportion of households improving in HFIAS category compared to controls was significant for all groups, but smallest among F2F (15.0–26.7%, p < 0.05 for all). WEG, PM2A, and FFS interventions had significant effects on improving household dietary diversity and food security; the F2F approach was less effective. Food insecurity remained prevalent despite the interventions, suggesting more research is needed to understand the pathways through which they were effective and how interventions could be strengthened to improve food insecurity in post-conflict settings.
KW - Democratic Republic of the Congo
KW - Dietary diversity
KW - Farmer field schools
KW - Food security
KW - Prevention of malnutrition in children under two
KW - Women’s empowerment
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U2 - 10.1007/s12571-018-0808-1
DO - 10.1007/s12571-018-0808-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85048005395
SN - 1876-4517
VL - 10
SP - 649
EP - 660
JO - Food Security
JF - Food Security
IS - 3
ER -