Improving Nutrition Outcomes through Optimized Agricultural Interventions – Uganda (ATONU)

Donor: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)

Duration: 2014-2019

Introduction. Nutritional deficiencies among pregnant women and young children are wide-spread in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with malnutrition being the main underlying contributing factor to deaths in children under the age of five. The overall vision of the A2NU project is “agricultural development investments in SSA designed to improve nutritional outcomes, as well as economic outcomes while taking into account social-cultural and environmental factors”. The project targets using agricultural interventions to improve nutrition and diets of mothers of child bearing age and young children during the first 1000 days of life after conception in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.

Aims and Objectives. The A2NU project will (i) generate tools and frameworks for diagnosing the opportunities to incorporate nutrition interventions into agriculture investments; (ii) design, test, and rigorously monitor and evaluate results of the interventions (proof of concept) and offer technical assistance; (iii) document best practices and evidence and add to the agriculture for nutrition knowledge base; and (iv) advocate for evidence-based decision making at all levels (v) strengthen African capacity and build a community of practice in agriculture for improved nutrition.

Key Interventions. Through its four work packages, the project aimed to develop and test cost-effective tools to identify agriculture investments with potential for nutritionally beneficial outcomes; generate robust evidence on the effectiveness of different interventions to improving nutrition through agriculture.

It applied the tools and frameworks on agricultural interventions to generate data to prove what agriculture can do for nutrition; promote improved nutrition, particularly for women and children; guide policies and decision-making and document approaches and best practices; provide robust evidence on the effect of agricultural investments on household nutrition in Africa.

Further, the project aimed to package and disseminate information, management knowledge, build capacity and implement policy advocacy to promote agriculture for improved nutrition.