International Development Grant
Growing Nutrition for Mothers and Children in Ethiopia
Project Number: CA-3-D001965001
Status: Closed
Country/Region:
Maximum Contribution: $19,774,151.00
Start Date: December 18, 2015
End Date: March 31, 2020
Duration: 4.3 years
Project Description
Proper nutrition is critical to the development of children in the first 1000 days of life and in Ethiopia malnutrition contributes to more than half of child deaths. The proposed five-year project seeks to improve the nutritional status of Women of Reproductive Age (WRA 15-49) and boys and girls under 5 years (U5) in the Oromia and Amhara Regions of Ethiopia. The project will directly benefit 85 500 people and will indirectly benefit 1 700 000 people. The three project outcomes – (i) improving maternal and U5 nutrition and caregiving practices; (ii) improving nutrition-sensitive practices; and (iii) strengthening governance of gender-sensitive nutrition programs – will be supported by activities such as training on cooking and feeding demonstrations developing and disseminating nutrition-related materials establishing of homestead and school vegetable gardens community mapping of hygiene and sanitation conditions and the deployment of Canadian volunteer nutrition and technical experts. The project will be implemented by a CARE Canada-led consortium including: CARE Ethiopia CARE USA CUSO International and the McGill Institute for Global Food Security.
Expected Results
The expected intermediate outcomes for this project includes: (1) improved maternal infant and child nutrition and care giving practices by women of reproductive age and caregivers of under-5 boys and girls; (2) improved nutrition-sensitive practices including hygiene sanitation and water management for both domestic and productive uses; and (3) strengthened management of Government of Ethiopia gender-sensitive nutrition programs and approaches at the federal and local levels.
Progress & Results Achieved
Results achieved as of March 2020 include: (1) reached 188 631 direct beneficiaries (of which 74 263 women and 22 465 girls under the age of five) and 825 218 indirect beneficiaries meeting 100% of the projects’ target reach. The project was implemented in six woredas (districts) in East Hararghe six woredas in West Hararghe and two woredas in Afar. Overall the project covered 164 kebeles (wards); (2) achieved key activities planned in the project from the output level to the outcome level. For example the number of infants under six months exclusively breastfed increased from 58% at baseline to 77%. The number of infants introduced to complementary foods (between the ages of 6 and 8 months) increased from 73% to 89%. The number of infants between the ages of 6 and 23 months receiving minimum dietary diversity increased from 26% to 47%. The frequency of meals for children under the age of two increased from 58% to 73% and dietary diversity from 20% to 34%; (3) women increased their regular consumption of more than four food groups from 30% to 57%; (4) the number of households consuming self-produced foods increased from 67% to 84%; (5) the number of women growing their seeds increased from 54% to 67% and the number of women making final decision on distribution of food during shortages from 38% to 56%; (6) the number of households that own livestock increased from 73% to 84% the number of households that have access to improved water facilities increased from 30% to 38% and the number of households with closer access to water (less than 30 minutes walk) increased from 31% to 42%; (7) the number of men reporting that women make the final decisions on food increased from 46% to 57%; and (8) each Nutrition Technical Committee (NTC) and Nutrition Coordinating Committee (NCC) in all operational areas prepared its annual sector-specific gender and nutrition sensitive work plan meeting the project target of 100% of these plans in place.
Key Information
Executing Agency:
CARE Canada
Reporting Organization:
Global Affairs Canada
Program:
WGM Africa
Last Modified:
September 19, 2025
Development Classifications
DAC Sector:
Aid Type: Project-type interventions
Collaboration: Bilateral
Finance Type: Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Selection Mechanism:
Unsolicited Proposal