This is a multi-disciplinary research partnership, led by IDS, which brings together a diverse group of anthropologists, historians, public health and nutrition specialists, and epidemiologists in Peru, Colombia and Nicaragua to create a network to tackle the challenge of malnutrition in Latin America.
Peru, Colombia and Nicaragua, like many low- and middle-income countries, are struggling with a high burden of multiple forms of malnutrition. Despite a long history of nutrition interventions, uptake of nutrition messages at the community level has been varied. There is a disconnect between the lived experiences of those targeted for nutrition interventions over time, and the assumptions that shape national and international policy and practice. A new way of ‘doing nutrition’ is needed.
The project’s main goal is to reframe future programme approaches by examining both past and present nutrition interventions from policy to on-the-ground implementation. It will take into account what has – or has not worked – according to the perspectives of those communities most commonly targeted for nutrition interventions. By working across public health, anthropological and historical boundaries the project aims to reach new conceptual and practical understandings and approaches.
Pilot oral and archival historical methods and exploratory ethnographic research will be used to map out divergences between nutrition policy aims and ground-level response to and understandings of nutrition programmes and concepts as they accrue over time. Activities include national level meetings in all three countries to build consensus among stakeholders, pilot community work in three communities followed by national ‘witness seminars’ (group oral histories with high level nutrition actors), archive scoping and a multi-disciplinary literature review.
These activities are expected to lead to the three following interrelated outcomes:
- Creation of a cross-sector alliance of actors in each country, dedicated to exploring how interdisciplinary evidence can improve nutrition outcomes.
- Development of a conceptual approach that takes into account the impact of the history of nutrition interventions and how this is understood locally.
- Capacity building impact – methods and learning in translating social science and community engagement for integration into programme implementation for actors across the network.
Project details
START DATE: May 2021
END DATE: April 2023
VALUE: £166,808
PARTNERS:
IDS: Nick Nisbett, Erica Nelson, Santiago Ripoll, Karine Gatellier,
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA): Samuel Andres Arias Valencia, Lorena Patricia Mancilla Lopez
Universidad Peruano Cayetano Heredia (UPCH): Ruth Iguiñez Romero, Maria Amalia Pesantes ,
University of Sheffield (UoS): Bronwen Gillespie,
Universidad Nacional San Cristobal de Huamanga (UNSCH): Mariano Arones Palomino,
Mesoamerican Agroforestry Network: Jorge Vasquez,
(Partner institution TBD in Nicaragua): Miguel Orozco, Marcia Ibarra
SUPPORTED BY: The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
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