Ifaa Effectiveness Evaluation on Food Security and Nutrition

Last updated: September 4, 2025
Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Overall Status: Active - Not Recruiting

Phase

N/A

Condition

Severe Short Stature

Treatment

Ifaa Enhanced + Livelihoods

Ifaa Basic

Ifaa Enhanced

Clinical Study ID

NCT05825716
IRB00023765
  • Ages 15-45
  • All Genders
  • Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Summary

The Ifaa Project is a USAID-funded Resilience and Food Security Activity (RFSA) that is being implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and partners in the East Hararghe Zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Ifaa targets households that are participating in the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) which is a social protection program administered by the Government of Ethiopia that provides food and cash assistance to vulnerable households. The Ifaa Project will deliver multi-sectoral programming in 241 kebeles (sub-districts) in nine woredas (districts) of East Hararghe Zone, however, intervention packages vary by location. The proposed effectiveness evaluation will quantify the impacts of three different intervention packages in terms of key project indicators in the areas of household food security, diet, and child nutrition.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Households are PSNP clients

  • Households are Ifaa Project beneficiaries that are planned participants in: 1)Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) groups (Ifaa Basic); 2) SILC GroupsAND Care Groups (Ifaa and Enhanced); or 3) SILC groups AND Care Groups AND aLivelihoods Pathway.

  • Households have a pregnant woman OR at least one child <36 months of age

  • Households have an adult member that is capable of giving informed consent andcompleting an interview

Exclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Child-headed households (all members age 17yrs or less)

  • Individuals not mentally able to give informed consent and complete an interview

Study Design

Total Participants: 3317
Treatment Group(s): 3
Primary Treatment: Ifaa Enhanced + Livelihoods
Phase:
Study Start date:
May 21, 2023
Estimated Completion Date:
December 31, 2025

Study Description

The Ifaa Project will deliver multi-sectoral programming in 241 kebeles (sub-districts) in nine woredas (districts) of East Hararghe Zone, however, intervention packages vary by location. The three Ifaa intervention packages that will be delivered to PSNP beneficiaries based on the beneficiaries residence location include: 1) the Ifaa basic package; 2) enhanced package without livelihoods; and 3) enhanced package with livelihoods. The proposed effectiveness evaluation will quantify the impacts of three different intervention packages in terms of key project indicators in the areas of household food security, diet, and child nutrition. As the Ifaa consortium learning partner, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH) has been requested to design an effectiveness evaluation of the different intervention packages to compare their outcomes among beneficiary households.

To align the evaluation with project aims, key project indicators are used as study outcome measures. The specific objectives of the evaluation are to quantify the impact of Ifaa interventions as follows:

  1. At the household level, Poor or Borderline Food Consumption Score (FCS)

  2. at the individual level, change in minimum dietary diversity among children <5 years A secondary objective is to examine Ifaa impacts on child nutrition indicators, including measures of both acute and chronic malnutrition.

A longitudinal cohort design will be used to compare the effectiveness of three Ifaa intervention packages among PSNP beneficiaries in Eastern Hararghe: 1) the Ifaa basic package; 2) enhanced package without livelihoods; and 3) enhanced package with livelihoods. Under this approach, the enrolled households will have either a pregnant woman or children <24 months of age. Households will be followed over a two-year period, with the baseline and endline survey conducted at a similar time in the calendar year to avoid seasonal changes in food security. The magnitude of change in key indicators over time will be assessed for each group; if needed, adjusted models will be used to account for baseline differences between groups.

Connect with a study center

  • Seifu Tadesse

    Addis Ababa,
    Ethiopia

    Site Not Available

  • Seifu Tadesse

    Addis Ababa 344979,
    Ethiopia

    Site Not Available

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