Upscaling Participatory Action and Videos for Agriculture and Nutrition (UPAVAN) trial comparing three variants of a nutrition-sensitive agricultural extension intervention to improve maternal and child nutritional outcomes in rural Odisha, India

Maternal and child under-nutrition have adverse consequences for pregnancy outcomes and child morbidity and mortality. This study reports on a four-arm cluster randomised controlled trial in Odisha, India. Interventions included an agricultural extension platform of women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) practices, and follow-up visits to women at home to encourage the adoption of new practices shown in the videos; women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on NSA and nutrition-specific practices, with follow-up visits; and women’s groups viewing and discussing videos on NSA and nutrition-specific practices combined with a cycle of Participatory Learning and Action meetings, with follow-up visits. All arms, including the control, receive basic nutrition training from government community frontline workers. Primary outcomes, assessed at baseline and 32 months after the start of the interventions.

This paper contributes evidence on the impacts of NSA extension through participatory, low-cost, video-based approaches on maternal and child nutrition and on whether integration with nutrition-specific goals and enhanced participatory approaches can increase these impacts.

Authors: Suneetha KadiyalaEmail, Audrey Prost, Helen Harris-Fry, Meghan O’Hearn, Ronali Pradhan, Shibananth Pradhan, Naba Kishore Mishra, Suchitra Rath, Nirmala Nair, Shibanand Rath, Prasantha Tripathy, Sneha Krishnan, Peggy Koniz-Booher, Heather Danton, Diana Elbourne, Joanna Sturgess, Emma Beaumont, Hassan Haghparast-Bidgoli, Jolene Skordis-Worrall, Satyanarayan Mohanty, Avinash Upadhay, and Elizabeth Allen