ANGeL Project in Bangladesh

Making a Difference

CGIAR IMPACT AREAS: Gender equality, youth and inclusion | Nutrition, health and food security

Improving nutrition in Bangladesh farming households:

The Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project

Increased homestead production of vegetables (by 21-25%*), eggs (by 58-89%*), and milk (by 27-48%*).

farm households across 16 districts

Increased women’s empowerment (by 28%-52%*) and gender parity (by 17%-28%*).

3,125

* Compared with control mean

In December 2017, smallholder farmer Shahana and her husband, Jahangir, (pseudonyms used to protect their privacy) joined the last in a series of agricultural production and nutrition trainings they had taken in Khagrachhari District of Bangladesh. The trainings, Shahana said, had produced clear benefits in their household:

In the past, my husband would buy whatever was available. Now, he buys vegetables, small fish, and dal. My child used to get diarrhea and fever frequently. I tried to feed him as [the trainer] suggested. My husband also helped me. Now my child Nawshin looks better.

Over 17 months and 36 training sessions, along with 25 other farm households in their district, Shahana and Jahangir learned how to grow more high-value, nutritious crops; earn higher farm income; and improve family nutrition in a randomized control trial under the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Gender Linkages (ANGeL) Project. Overall, 3,125 farm households across 16 districts participated.

ANGeL was a three-year pilot project (2015-2018) designed by IFPRI and implemented by the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). ANGeL is the first ministry-led initiative that uses a rigorous impact evaluation to design a national program. The Ministry of Agriculture aimed to use the project results to identify interventions that effectively increase agricultural diversity, improve nutrition, and promote women’s empowerment.

At the Second International Conference on Nutrition in Rome in 2014, the then-Minister of Agriculture Matia Chowdhury affirmed the government’s support of ANGeL. When the project concluded in 2018, Chowdhury reaffirmed its promise: “The Ministry of Agriculture’s ANGeL project is truly a pioneering study for developing this important evidence base… With rigorous evidence generated from the project, we are one step closer to identifying the most effective agriculture-driven interventions to enhance productivity and nutrition, and help women be an equal part of this equation.” In December 2020, the Bangladesh Government and the Ministry of Finance approved ANGeL’s national implementation, with a planned scale-up in 120 rural upazilas (sub-districts) out of 495 upazilas in the country in the first phase, aiming to improve the livelihoods of around 35,000 farm families. (These plans are currently on hold, with funding initially diverted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently to address the food crisis stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war.)

ANGeL’s design

Although research shows that training in agricultural techniques has been consistently viewed as a promising way to improve nutrition, few examples have demonstrated how to do this at scale. To answer this question, ANGeL used a randomized controlled trial design to generate definitive evidence on which combination of trainings is most effective for diversifying agriculture and diets and empowering women in rural Bangladesh.

Altogether, these 3,125 farm households were divided into four combinations of three types of trainings: Nutrition knowledge, agricultural production, and gender sensitization; and a control group that received no trainings: • Nutrition behavior change communication (BCC) (T-N) • Agricultural production (T-A) • Agricultural production + Nutrition BCC (T-AN) • Agricultural production + Nutrition BCC + Gender sensitization (T-ANG) • Control (no trainings received) (C)

ANGeL aims to strengthen the agriculture-nutrition-gender nexus

Agriculture

Nutrition

Gender

Men and women from the same farm households — usually husbands and wives — jointly participated in the trainings, and other key household decision-makers like fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law were invited to take part in the gender sensitization trainings. This way, researchers could differentiate the impacts of various training packages and could be confident that any changes were due to ANGeL.

ANGeL’s impact

ANGeL’s impacts are promising. Households across all combinations of trainings had increased knowledge of improved agricultural practices. ANGeL households applied this knowledge, too — all families that were trained in agricultural production had greater homestead production of vegetables, eggs, and milk.

• Nutrition knowledge • Agricultural production knowledge • Production of high-value and high-nutritive value non-rice crops, livestock, and fish • Consumption of highly nutritious foods • Household dietary diversity • Empowerment of women and men • Gender parity between women and men in households

ANGeL successfully engaged both men and women from farm households in trainings, which improved the following outcomes:

While there is some evidence of ANGeL households selling some of their increased production, across all combinations of trainings, household members consumed more vegetables, eggs, and milk.

ANGeL also increased women’s empowerment and gender parity.

Empowerment is measured using project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)

Sustained high-level policy support for the ANGeL approach

At an international conference on eliminating malnutrition in 2018, Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament, praised ANGeL’s contribution to improving nutrition-sensitive agriculture:

Agriculture, nutrition, and gender: these are all interconnected issues... ANGeL… supported this because if you have a healthy mother, you will have a healthy child, and a healthy nation.

Despite the delay in implementing the national program, ANGeL remains as relevant as ever. ANGeL provides the proof-of-concept that training men and women together from farm households enhances nutrition-sensitive agriculture. In March 2022, at the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Dr. Chaudhury once again applauded ANGeL’s results and the government’s decision to scale up the program nationwide. ANGeL has also become an important part of the Bangladesh policy landscape: For example, it has been cited in a Second Country Investment Plan (CIP-2) monitoring report and in a background paper for the 8th Five Year Plan, and has influenced the addition of a women’s empowerment section to the latest National Agriculture Policy. Altogether, these actions demonstrate the government’s recognition, ownership, and commitment to ANGeL.

ANGeL answered how to improve agricultural production, nutrition, and empowerment most effectively for farm households in rural Bangladesh. The intervention was considered a national success, and before global shocks disrupted food systems worldwide, it was track to be scaled across the country.

Call to action

With appropriate funding, the benefits of ANGeL can finally be scaled up nationally to reach the millions of poor farm families that can stand to benefit the most. Please contact Principal Investigator Akhter Ahmed (a.ahmed@cgiar.org) for more information.

This review of research outcomes was written by Akhter Ahmed, Senior Research Fellow, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, and Country Representative for Bangladesh, IFPRI; Julie Ghostlaw, Country Program Manager, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, IFPRI; and Eleanor Jones, Research Analyst, Director General's Office, IFPRI. The CEROS site was designed by Lee Dixon, Senior Graphic Designer, Communications and Public Affairs Unit, IFPRI.

About IFPRI The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a research center of CGIAR, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components for translating IFPRI’s research to action and impact. The Institute’s regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support to country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

This blog post is part of a special monthly series entitled “Making a Difference,” documenting the impact of IFPRI's projects and initiatives. These stories reflect the wide breadth of the Institute's research, communications, and capacity-strengthening activities around the world, in fulfillment of its mission. The blog series has been peer-reviewed by IFPRI's Impact Committee members.

IFPRI is reaching the lives of millions of people through its contribution to policies and programs that reduce poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. This blog series highlights how IFPRI’s research is contributing to policy decisions and investments made by governments, development organizations, and other partners, and making a difference for food and nutrition security in developing countries around the world.

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