Presented by Robert Chizimba,Feed the Future, INVC Presented at Report Launch “Mapping Linkages Between Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition in Malawi” Ufulu Gardens, 28th April, 2015

1. Mapping the Linkages between agriculture, food
security and nutrition in Malawi
1. INVC Project - Overall Project Goal
2. INVC Approach and target geography
3. Results to date and lessons learned
4. Implications for future project design

2. INVC Project Goals
1. Increase Smallholder income and improve nutrition at the
household level through:
a) Transformational Agricultural Value Chain Development (soybeans and groundnuts)
and
b) Sustainably reducing under nutrition

3. INVC Project Components
1. Agricultural Productivity – Improved management practices for soy
and groundnuts
2. Agricultural Competitiveness – linking smallholders to markets
3. Improving Nutrition – utilizing the Care Group Model
4. Capacity Building – working mostly through local partners
5. (Gender, 3Cs, M&E)

5. INVC Integration
1. Nutrition Promoters are recruited directly from the Producer
Organizations GACs (NASFAM) and Clusters (FUM)
2. Agriculture and Nutrition Messages are delivered to both Care
Groups and Farmer clubs
3. Beneficiaries are monitored (via spot surveys) to learn barriers to
behavior change

6. INVC Results to Date
1. Over 250,000 beneficiaries in Agriculture and Nutrition
2. Trained over 170,000 farmers
3. Facilitated over $8 mil in agricultural loans
4. Served nearly 100, 000<5 children through Care Groups

7. INVC Lessons Learned
1. The Care Group Model scales very rapidly
2. Local Partners need more focused Capacity Building (ie Accounting
and M&E systems)
3. Integration of nutrition and agriculture requires focused activities
(training events, village savings groups, gender activities, integrated
messaging, understanding of barriers)

8. INVC Implications for Future Projects
1. Expand more slowly to allow local partners to develop systems that
comply with USAID requirements
2. Put more emphasis on outcomes verses outputs. Look for more
depth and less breadth
3. Focus on coordination and collaboration with other partners:
 Mapping of coverage (geographical & exiting partner interventions)
 Use of exiting community structures
 Use of partners’ existing expertise and materials
 Resource use