Kbd. Masuma Younus
Deputy Research Director, APSU, MoA
The Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project is the first ministry-led initiative in Bangladesh to use evidence for designing a national program aimed at strengthening the agriculture nutrition-gender nexus. The overall objective of the pilot project is to identify actions and investments in agriculture that can leverage agricultural development for improved nutrition, and make recommendations on how to invigorate pathways to women‘s empowerment; particularly within agriculture. The pilot project is implemented from July 2015 to June 2018 through delivering training to husband and wife from each project‘s household using extension agents and ANGeLPustiKarmi (APK). Training discussed a variety of topics, from feeding practices to the importance of micronutrients, growing nutritive value crops, gender relations, power dynamics, and joint decision making, gender-based violence and early marriage. The impact evaluation for the ANGeL project involves a baseline survey just before the start of project interventions, and an end line survey immediately after the second year of project activities are completed. There were positive and significant impacts found in several interventions and the greatest improvement in Agricultural production, Family health & nutrition and Empowerment emerged when trainings on agriculture, nutrition, and gender sensitization were combined. Findings of the research will be used by Ministry of Agriculture all over Bangladesh.