ASI-03

Organization title: Helen Keller International
Field Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Policy Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION

Helen Keller International (HKI) is a private voluntary organization (PVO) founded in 1915. HKI’s mission is to save the sight and lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged people through appropriate technology transfer and capacity building to improve the health and vision of under-served populations. The organization’s guiding principle is to mitigate or eliminate the causes and consequences of malnutrition and 7 blindness by establishing large-scale programs based on scientific evidence regarding human health, nutrition and vision. HKI has regional offices in Africa and Asia and program offices in 23 countries. For more information please go to http://www.hki.org/.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

HKI is one of the leading international agencies working to improve nutrition of women and children, yet significant food price increases in the past few years will make this task daunting by decreasing access to food and expanding the numbers of people who are food insecure. In Bangladesh, HKI has implemented a large National Nutrition Surveillance Project (NSP), initially started to assess nutritional status and food security and target relief efforts in the aftermath of a devastating flood. The NSP is now being revised and simplified to ensure its continuity in Bangladesh and for potential expansion to other countries in the region. HKI developed a homestead food production program (HFP) to improve food and nutrition security among poor households in collaboration with local NGOs which has been running for 20 years and has reached over 900,000 households. The HFP specifically targets women through farming inputs and technical training to establish year round homestead food production and through nutrition education in order to improve nutritional status of children under five. Most recently the program interventions were implemented among vulnerable populations in some of the poorest areas of Bangladesh –riverine islands, southern coastal belt where the recent cyclone hit and the marginalized tribal groups. The baseline assessment demonstrated extremely low knowledge of nutrition, agricultural and gender equality issues among beneficiaries. Monitoring rounds have shown increased food production, consumption and income generation among target households and an increase in decision making among women participants. To what extent the HFP has helped to mitigate hunger due to increased food prices or natural disaster among beneficiaries is not yet well established. Nationally representative data from the NSP, collected over a 16 year period, can be accessed to validate the impact of the HFP Program and further clarify the lessons learned. Using both HFP and NSP data, a specific analysis will serve to inform our expansion of work in this area to respond appropriately to the growing food crisis.

FIELD PLACEMENT

During the field year, the fellow will visit the HFP field sites in the three vulnerable areas to observe and understand how the program is being implemented. The fellow will then work with HKI staff to review the NSP (16 years) and HFP data sets (20 years – but with a focus on recent projects) to ascertain what kind of analysis can be done to answer the question of whether HFP participants have improved coping strategies that result in better food security for their families than non-HFP participants. Additional investigation may be undertaken. The fellow will be expected to undertake the analysis and to prepare the findings to be (a) presented within Bangladesh to government partners and other stakeholders and (b) written up for publication in a peer reviewed journal. In addition, after reviewing the NSP data set over the 16 years to link it to HFP impact, the fellow will work with the HKI team and our partners, BRAC NGO, to assist in the revision of the simplified NSP so that it is able to continue monitoring food security among HFP (and similar) program participants and non-participants.

POLICY PLACEMENT

The policy year will be closely linked to and draw knowledge and experiences from the field work. In particular, the fellow will be expected to work with the Regional Office team to refine the regional (Asia-Pacific) surveillance system/network being developed. This work will be based on the simplified NSP in Bangladesh, with specific attention 8 to enabling analysis of impact of dietary diversity programs such as HFP in all the countries included in the system. The fellow will prepare at least one technical paper and one advocacy statement on the above issue.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Advanced studies, at least at the level of a Master’s Degree, in Public Health and/or Community Nutrition, with a background and interest in agriculture economics and food policy
• Superb analytical skills, including data management and data interpretation
• Computer skills, including sound knowledge of Microsoft Office, Internet-based research, and appropriate data analysis software
• Field experience in a developing country
• Excellent skills in written and spoken English
• Demonstrated ability to write for varied audiences, including researchers, policy makers, funding agencies, and program implementers
• Self-starter willing to take initiative; team player able to work with a variety of people including partners, willingness to participate in overall agency’s development of programs to improve HFP and NSP in order to improve food security