The Enhancing Child Nutrition through Animal Source Food Management (ENAM) project, part of the Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program (GLCRSP), integrated a microcredit and savings program with entrepreneurial and nutrition education to strengthen women’s income-generation activities with the intent of increasing women’s (caregivers)abilities to purchase more Animal Source Foods (ASF) for family meals. The model stressed the integration of research, community development and capacity strengthening and the full participation of partners. The aim of this qualitative study was to provide an understanding of how the microcredit, entrepreneurship and nutrition education program impacted the daily lives of the women who participated in the interventions. Three questions were addressed: What factors lead to success in a microcredit and nutrition education program? What are the obstacles to women’s successful participation and what strategies are employed to overcome these obstacles? What are the lessons learned for future programs? The qualitative analysis was based on case studies of 12 women considered by their peers to be ‘successful’ ENAM participants, and six case studies of women considered to be ‘less successful’ ENAM participants. The qualitative methodology complimented knowledge gained through quantitative investigations as reported by other authors in this supplement. Data were collected through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and observations. The findings suggested that the greatest benefit to participants from the ENAM experience was its translation into opportunities for obtaining microcredit, which in turn, helped increase women’s business success. Women who were doing well in business before the ENAM interventions did even better as a result of their participation in the ENAM project. Successful women employed multiple strategies to overcome business challenges. Anecdotal evidence suggested that the microcredit-education link in this particular situation did positively impact women’s lives with respect to their small businesses, their personal development, and the health of their families.

Microcredit schemes have been shown to enhance women’s Income Generation Activities (IGA), household food security, and child nutrition. However, spouses or Male Household Heads (MHH) can influence how women’s loans are invested and how incomes ensuing from the investments are expended. This study describes how MHH perceived and experienced the participation of female caregivers from their household in the Enhancing Child Nutrition through Animal Source Food Management (ENAM) project. The ENAM project was designed as an integrated intervention providing microcredit, entrepreneurship and nutrition education to women in rural communities in Ghana. Eighty-five MHH of ENAM project caregivers in two regions of Ghana were interviewed about their awareness of the microcredit and education intervention, their involvement in the IGA that the caregivers’ loans were invested in, and their perceptions of the impact of the project on the caregivers’ IGA as well as household and child nutrition. The majority of MHH indicated that they had been consulted by the caregivers about the decision to participate in the ENAM project. The most common reasons given for consenting to the caregivers’ decision to participate in the program were expectations that the caregiver would receive business capital (30.6%), education on optimal child feeding (36.5%), and income to enable caregivers to contribute more to household expenses (31.8%). With respect to the project’s impact, MHH perceived that the caregivers’ project participation had a positive impact on their business practices, particularly with respect to improved customer relations. The MHH perceived that caregivers’ incomes increased because of their participation in ENAM as evidenced by regular income savings and increased contributions to household food and non-food expenditures. However, MHH reported decreases in their own contributions to almost all household expenditure categories in response to the perceived increase in caregivers’ incomes. The MHH also perceived improvements in home meal quality. In summary, MHH credited the ENAM project with improved caregiver’s incomes and increased share of household expenses. However, this outcome resulted in unanticipated declines in MHH contribution to household expenses. Further studies are needed to understand the impact of empowering women through social experiments on households.

Enhancing Child Nutrition through Animal Source Food Management (ENAM) project provided financial and technical support for caregivers’ Income Generation Activities (IGA) with the aim of increasing their access to Animal Source Foods (ASF) for improved child nutrition. Using baseline data from the ENAM project, this study assessed the relationship between the type of caregivers’ IGA -whether it is related to ASF [ASF-R] or unrelated [ASF-U] - and the quantity and diversity of ASF consumed by their children. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on household socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and children’s ASF consumption in the past week from 530 caregivers of children 2-to5 years old in 12 communities in three agro-ecological zones of Ghana. A weighed food record of children’s dietary intakes was also completed during two 12-hour home observations on a randomly selected sample of 117 children. Approximately 6% (n=32) of caregivers were not engaged in any IGA. Of the caregivers who were involved in an IGA (n=498), approximately one-third of them were engaged in an ASF-R IGA, such as selling smoked fish, selling eggs and the selling cooked food that included ASF. Caregivers (67%) were engaged in ASF-U IGA, such as crop farming, petty trading in non ASF items and artisanal work. The quantity and diversity of ASF consumed by the children did not differ (p=0.988 and p=0.593, respectively) by the type of caregiver IGA. However, after accounting for agro-ecological zone, being involved in an ASF-R IGA positively predicted children’s ASF diversity (p<0.001). The number of children in the household negatively predicted children’s ASF diversity (p=0.011) whereas high/medium household wealth status tended to be positively associated with ASF diversity (p=0.064).The study suggested that there is need to promote ASF-R IGA among caregivers to increase the ability to purchase more varied and nutritious food items for improving children’s growth.

Research from high-income countries shows that marital transition affects individuals’ nutrition outcomes. Yet, little is known about its effect on women’s food security status and nutrition outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, most published studies merge cohabitation and marriage into one category, but these statuses might have a distinct effect on nutrition outcomes in different settings. This study examined the association between the marital transition of women living in a rural district in Ghana and their food security status, minimum dietary diversity, and overweight (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2). This analysis used representative data from women with a child less than 12 months from the Upper Manya Krobo District, which was collected for the 2014 baseline of the Nutrition Links project in 137 villages (clinicaltrials.gov NCT01985243). Women’s marital transition was assessed by merging their current and previous marital status into five categories: i) continuously married; ii) remarried; iii) cohabitating with a previous union; iv) cohabitating with no previous union; v) single (majority never previously married). The adjusted logistic regression showed that, compared to women who were continuously married, those cohabitating—with or without a previous union—and those who were single were more likely to be food insecure (aOR = 2.49; 95% CI [1.31, 4.72], aOR = 2.01; 95% CI [1.13, 3.58], and aOR = 1.85; 95% CI [1.02, 3.38], respectively). Women who were cohabitating—with or without a previous union—were more likely not to meet the minimum dietary diversity than those who were continuously married (aOR = 1.82; 95% CI [0.98, 3.38] and aOR = 1.78; 95% CI [1.01, 3.12], respectively). Finally, compared to the continuously married group, cohabitating women with no previous union were less likely to be overweight (aOR = 0.40; 95% CI [0.22, 0.74]). These results are consistent with previous publications that showed married women were wealthier and more overweight. Moreover, these results indicate that cohabitation affects nutrition-related outcomes differently compared to marriage in a sub-Saharan setting. More attention must be placed on better understanding the social aspects that link women’s marital transition to diet and nutrition outcomes. Key words: Marriage, marital status, food security, diet, overweight, women, Ghana, Africa

Backyard Poultry (BP) production is widespread among rural households in Ghana and provides an opportunity for small scale enterprise development to contribute to poverty alleviation. Traditionally, efforts to improve poultry production activities have emphasized the technical aspects of production while neglecting the social and organizational processes that underlie BP enterprises. A value chain framework was used to qualitatively assess BP enterprises in two communities in the Techiman Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region in Ghana. The main purpose of the study was to understand how the activities and relationships among actors along the BP value chain influence BP enterprise performance and its implications for development of the industry. Community key informants defined a BP enterprise as ownership of at least ten post vulnerability age chickens (defined as ability to roost on trees to escape predators and disease). All identified BP farmers in the communities were classified as ‘high’ and ‘low’ enterprise performers based on flock size of ‘post- vulnerability age chickens’. The study participants included a purposive sample of ‘low’ (n=10) and ‘high’ (n=10) performing BP farmers from each community as well as service providers and support institutions in the BP value chain identified through snowball sampling. Qualitative data were collected using focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Content analysis was used to summarize themes and patterns from the interview transcripts and to compare high and low performing BP enterprises based on the identified activities and relationships. Higher BP enterprise performance was associated with stronger inter- and intra-actor integration of activities in the various functions of the value chain and higher investment of resources in the activities of the value chain. Additionally, opportunities for import substitution to meet the high national demand for chicken meat were identified. Sustainable improvements in the BP sector must involve social, relational, organizational, as well as technical innovation.