ENGINE Empowering New Generations to Improve Nutrition and Economic opportunity Focus on 1000 days

ENGINE Overview Multi-sectoral 5 year (2011-2016) Nutrition Project Financed by USAID as part of USG Global Health and FTF initiative Managed by Save the Children with a technical lead by 5 sub-primes Implemented through the government structures (Health & Agriculture) Objective: - to improve the nutritional status of women and young children In a recent meeting of Country Directors in March this year, one of the key point that they wanted to see Members committing to was a reciprical relationship with Members setting up systems like the staff lists within the Member organisations. At the moment we don’t have a shared platform for all this informaityon and intelligence but with the new Xtranet launch in Oct this year we hope to be able to consolidate all information into one easily accessible place. Transition – We would ENCOURAGE YOU to check out the CO sites and the information being provided – they can be assessed here .......

Geographical Coverage 116 woredas out of which 83 Productive (AGP) 17 moisture stress (PSNP) 16 Pastoralist (Somali R)

ENGINE INTERVENTIONS Improvements in nutrition specific services through the health system, Community-level nutrition activities such as food cooking demonstrations and community conversations around nutrition, Agricultural extension service-supported nutrition activities– homestead gardens, small livestock activities, poultry inputs water and sanitation inputs, and (WASH) organize savings groups (mobilize cash and social capital). Gender Equality & Women empowerment is a cross cutting theme in the project.

ENGINE gender approaches ENGINE’s Gender integration activities focus around 3 strategies Enhancing institutional capacity and policy environment for gender mainstreaming Improving access to and control over resources and information for women in the target communities Integrate gender in ENGINE’s innovative learning & M&E frame work

Gender integration activities in ENGINE project Women Empowerment Supporting women to access livelihood resources and income ( vegetable seeds, livestock, poultry ) Providing trainings & TA to build their technical capacities ( homestead gardening, animal husbandry, poultry production) Establish saving groups ( 20- 50 members per group; saving average 5- 10 birr per month) Decision making & couple communication skill training

Gender integration activities in ENGINE project Sanitation market ( produce and sell sanitation materials such as water filters, mats & latrine slabs ) Services provision ( access to credit from financial service providers through linking to existing MFI’s and cooperatives) Enhanced community conversation to address harmful social & gender norms around nutrition (pregnant & lactating women, grandmothers)

Gender integration…… Promote labor saving technologies to reduce women’s workload (water pump, improved cooking stoves) Experience sharing /peer learning for saving groups

Gender integration….. Male involvement to promote gender equality & women empowerment provide orientation/ sensitization for male members Training on joint decision making Men/ husband group community conversation Nutrition information and training (cooking demonstration) Selection & promotion of male nutrition champions

Best practices/lessons In some areas the saving groups have started their own IGA apart from the support they received from the project ( vegetable production cooperative, spinning, petty trade) Inclusion of male trough orientation/ sensitization was fruitful in mobilizing the support for the women empowerment activities Collaboration with grassroots level government structures contributed for the sustainability and to create easy linkages to services, develop sense of ownership

Challenges Low literacy level of women relative to men Inequitable social and gender norms ( poor couple communication, food taboos, limited male involvement on nutrition & child care, unequal power relations) Low staff capacity for gender mainstreaming and integration Identifying available time & labor saving technologies was difficult