Abstract
The United States Agency for International Development's Mali Mission (USAID/Mali) contracted MSI to conduct the midterm performance evaluation (MPE) of the Integrated Rural Program to Improve Nutrition and Hygiene (IRP) in Mali, which consists of two cooperative agreements under an Annual Program Statement (APS) with a performance period from October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2018. The aim of this evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of IRP's integrated nutrition strategy of combining nutrition, agriculture and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and of children younger than 2 years. Overall, the evaluation team found the integrated approach to have mixed results. In the areas of anemia, dietary diversity, stunting, wasting, and underweight children between 6-23 months, the evaluation found no significant differences in the outcomes for those who received all three interventions (nutrition, WASH, and agriculture) versus those who received only two of the three. In the WASH area, there is, however, a significantly higher proportion of those households who received the full set of interventions who demonstrate improved WASH practices, versus those who did not receive the full set of interventions. Overall, the results of the agriculture components were less notable than those in nutrition and WASH areas. USAID/Mali will use the findings of this evaluation to inform the implementation of the current integrated strategy and the development of future projects. USAID/Mali will further share the report with the Government of Mali (GOM) and development partners who may use it to inform their nutrition-related strategies. (Author abstract)