Publication: Gender-Inclusive Nutrition Activities in South Asia : Mapping Report
Date
2012-06-27
ISSN
Published
2012-06-27
Author(s)
Sen, Soham
Hook, Mikael
Abstract
This report is the first of a series
that will explore how gender can be more comprehensively
incorporated into nutrition interventions in the South Asia
Region in order to improve the effectiveness these programs.
The first section presents the rationale for considering
gender in nutrition programs in the first place, moving
beyond traditional services for mothers and children. It
draws from the literature to describe why gender is an
important factor for the high under-nutrition rates in South
Asia and how a broad range of gender issues, rooted in a
mother's capacity to care for herself and her child,
affect nutritional outcomes of children. The second section
presents the results of a mapping of nutrition programs in
the South Asia Region. The mapping primarily finds that,
despite its importance, gender is too narrowly addressed in
most interventions. Existing programs typically focus on the
first two approaches mentioned above: imparting nutritional
knowledge and skills to the caregiver and improving physical
health through food or micronutrient supplements and health
services. The third section identifies several nutrition and
health projects that have adopted promising approaches to
include gender more comprehensively. To improve household
support for the mother in providing child care, efforts to
engage other members of the household such as fathers,
grandmothers, and mothers-in-law appear promising. The final
section concludes by recommending five steps to more
comprehensively address gender in nutrition interventions:
(1) begin a dialogue with policymakers inside development
institutions and governments to expand the conversation on
gender with regard to nutrition interventions that extends
beyond mothers and children; (2) collect low hanging fruit:
existing development interventions that engage adolescent
girls should include a nutrition component; (3) facilitate
the generation of new ideas to address the programmatic gaps
and improve targeting; (4) evaluate promising approaches for
effectiveness, scalability and applicability in different
cultural contexts; and (5) conduct additional research in
previously overlooked areas and fill gaps in existing data.
Citation
“Sen, Soham; Hook, Mikael. 2012. Gender-Inclusive Nutrition Activities in South Asia : Mapping Report. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11904 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”