ACCESS AND ADOPTION OF NUTRITION SPECIFIC AND NUTRITION SENSITIVE MESSAGES IN ETHIOPIA: A QUALITATIVE GENDERED COMPARISON

The rise of multisectoralism, in conjunction with the increased interest to improve women's empowerment in the agricultural sector, has led to a dynamic and gender focused effort to improve nutrition outcomes through nutrition sensitive interventions. Questions still remain, however, on how well, at the programmatic level, nutrition education through nutrition‐sensitive platforms (such as agriculture and social safety nets) translates into adoption of nutrition‐related behavior change. This qualitative research study compares how nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific education and messaging is accessed and adopted by men and women in the Ethiopian household economy. With a sample size of 32 focus groups, 320 nutrition knowledge surveys and 10 key informant interviews, this research study was conducted in two main regions within Ethiopia, Oromia and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR). Focus groups participated in a unique participatory ‘Gender Box’ activity in which the group was asked to identify nutrition related behaviors and then designate them to either a female, male or ‘both male and female’ box, depending on the perceived gender of responsibility. Results indicate that nutrition specific messages (such as exclusive breastfeeding and cooking) are primarily accessed by women through the health sector but perceived by women to have be the responsibility of both the male and female. Nutrition sensitive messages (such as diversification of crop production) are generally accessed by men through the agricultural sector and media. Perceptions of responsibility for these messages vary, depending on the general nutritional knowledge of the focus group and the level of gender/women's empowerment program exposure. Perhaps most interesting, however, is the message sharing and discussion process. Nutrition specific messages accessed by women are often discussed and shared with their male spouses. Nutrition sensitive messages accessed by men, however, were rarely discussed in the home after exposure. Results from this study provide great insight into the process of nutrition message access and adoption within the household. Results also point toward perhaps a necessary shift away from individual targeted nutrition education to the provision of nutrition education to the household couple, thereby fostering and promoting discussion and message sharing between both genders. Support or Funding Information USAID/Save the Children International