LINKING AGRICULTURE, GENDER, NUTRITION AND MICROCREDIT INTERVENTIONS IN BANGLADESH: WHAT ARE WE LEARNING ABOUT CONVERGING AND INTEGRATING TO REACH HOUSEHOLDS WITH MULTIPLE INTERVENTION STREAMS

It is recognized that leveraging agriculture to address nutrition must also address gender-related challenges. However, program experiences and the literature are limited on the types of integrated intervention models that can do this most effectively and efficiently. IFPRI, in collaboration with BRAC, launched the TRAIN (Targeting and Realigning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition) study in Bangladesh to test different combinations of interventions for strengthening agriculture-nutrition linkages. The four components combined in an additive manner across the intervention arms are (1) credit offered to women, (2) behaviour change communication related to health and nutrition, (3) nutrition-sensitive agriculture extension services and (4) gender sensitization and community mobilization. In the context of designing the interventions to be tested, we identified several opportunities and challenges within existing platforms or specific programs implemented by BRAC. Opportunities: BRAC's existing microcredit platform 'Dabi' works through a unique 'credit plus' approach, addressing the special needs of poor populations. Dabi provides loan only to women for investment in any productive sector, thus bringing a gender-lens to the credit program by design BRAC's Gender Quality Action Learning (GQAL) program has developed and implemented an established a set of interventions to target specific social issues, and was open to exploring opportunities to integrate nutrition-related gender concerns. BRAC's vast experience in implementing intensive behaviour change counselling programs for infant feeding and maternal nutrition through their health worker network BRAC's experience in implementing large scale programs on crop cultivation, fisheries, and poultry & livestock for horizontal & vertical production Challenges: Different sector-specific BRAC programs deliver their interventions at scale and with focused intensity to deliver impact. While aiming to reach households with each stream in an integrated manner, it is unclear whether it will still be possible to ensure integration at the same intensity as is possible with more vertical programs. Identifying ways in which the delivery of the integrated package will be as effective as the individual streams is a key challenge, therefore. The initial vision for the TRAIN interventions was that specific services would be offered free of cost to beneficiaries. At the same time, as BRAC moves towards a broader institutional entr