Jessica Leight REGIONAL WORKSHOP SPIR II Learning Event Co-organized by IFPRI, USAID, CARE, ORDA, and World Vision MAY 16, 2023 - 9:00AM TO MAY 17, 2023 - 5:00PM EAT

1. SPIR II RFSA | 2023 Learning Event
Food security and infant nutrition among
PSNP beneficiary households
Jessica Leight
Poverty, Gender and Inclusion Unit
International Food Policy Research Institute
Evidence from the IMPEL baseline survey

2. • The second phase of the Strengthen PSNP Institutions and Resilience
(SPIR-II) project aims to:
• Enhance livelihoods
• Increase resilience to shocks
• Improve food security and nutrition for rural households vulnerable
to food insecurity in Ethiopia
• The IMPEL SPIR-II impact evaluation employs an experimental design.
• Two treatment arms including combinations of livelihood and nutrition
graduation model programming provided to PSNP beneficiaries will be
compared to a control group receiving only PSNP transfers.
• This multi-arm cluster RCT design allows us to evaluate the causal impact of
SPIR II programming in conjunction with the nurturing care groups and an
experimental maternal cash grant.
• A sample of approximately 3,000 households will be tracked over three
years.
IMPEL - SPIR II impact evaluation

3. Study design: study arms
• PSNP implemented by SPIR II, base transfers only
• This arm serves as the control group
Arm 1 (79 kebeles)
• PSNP + SPIR II + NCG model
• SPIR II programming is rolled out to PSNP beneficiary households in conjunction with nurturing
care groups (NCG) targeting enhanced infant and young child nutritional practices.
Arm 2 (79 kebeles)
• PSNP + SPIR II + NCG + maternal grants
• PSNP beneficiary households receive SPIR II programming and NCGs
• The same households also receive maternal cash transfers of $20 a month
Arm 3 (79 kebeles)

4. Study design
The timing of the survey rounds plays a critical role in the evaluation of the
nutrition interventions

5. Eligibility criteria for baseline survey
• First, the household must be enrolled under SPIRII as a PSNP beneficiary in a target
kebele.
• Second, the household was required to meet one of the following conditions:
a. There was a pregnant woman present who self-reports pregnancy, with an estimated
gestational age that is at least three months (i.e., following the first trimester).
b. There was an infant present aged less than nine months as of the date of survey;
and the infant’s mother or primary caretaker is also resident in the household.

6. Household demographic characteristics
• The average household size is five, and 89% of households report that the head of the
household is male, characterized by an average age of 35.
• 87% report that their primary economic activity is crop production.
• The primary female in the sample households is on average 29 years of age, and 93%
are married.
• Only 43% of primary females report any formal education.
• Only 33% report previously receiving PNSP benefits in 2021, the final year of PSNP4
programming.

7. Food insecurity
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Moderate food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
Severe food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
Poor food consumption score (FCS)
Borderline food consumption score (FCS)
Acceptable food consumption score (FCS)
% of households

8. Consumption and poverty
Outcome N Mean
Daily per capita food consumption-expenditures in birr 3,015 50.73
Daily per capita non-food consumption-expenditures in birr 3,015 7.80
Daily per capita total expenditures in birr 3,015 58.78
Daily per capita total expenditures in 2010 USD 3,015 1.72
Daily per capita total expenditures in 2011 $PPP 3,015 1.78
Poverty headcount (percent), based on 1.90 $PPP 16,264 70.96
Depth of poverty of the poor (percent), based on 1.90 $PPP 11,541 34.21

9. Baseline results: children’s nutritional status
• Data on IYCF practices is collected for children under 24 months.
• However, due to the sampling design, the age profile of the children in our
sample is concentrated among children 0-9 months old, with nearly 85% of
children in this range.
• Compliance with exclusive breastfeeding for children under six months is high.
• However, on average, a child 6—23 months of age in our sample consumed
only from 2.3 food groups and consequently, only three percent achieved
MDD-C.
• Less than 8% of children consumed eggs or flesh foods and 79% of children
did not consume any vegetables or fruits.

10. Baseline results: children’s nutritional status
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Children 6-23 months receiving a
minimum acceptable diet
Exclusive breastfeeding of
children under six months
Children under five (0-59 months)
who had diarrhea in the prior two
weeks
Children under five (0-59 months)
with diarrhea treated with Oral
Rehydration Therapy (ORT)
Children 6-23 months consuming
a diet of minimum diversity (MDD-
C)
%
of
households

11. Summing up
• The baseline findings from the IMPEL survey sample are consistent with other
evidence that PSNP households experience a high level of food insecurity,
and poverty rates are also high.
• Extremely low levels of diet diversity for young children entering the period of
complementary feeding are also observed.
• The interventions rolled out as part of IMPEL are targeted to enhance these
feeding practices, and thus lead to enhanced child nutritional status and
reduced stunting.
• Future survey rounds planned later in 2023 and 2025 will measure these
hoped-for experimental effects.