Unpacking the effects of a complex intervention on women’s poultry production: Evidence from Burkina Faso

BY JESSICA LEIGHT, JESSICA HECKERT AND AULO GELLI

Integrated interventions aimed at improving both livelihoods and nutrition outcomes are an increasingly important element of policy initiatives for rural development. Such interventions seek to both increase households’ engagement in value chains producing more nutritious foods, and increase consumption of those foods, often using a range of program elements. Rigorous evaluation methods such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can provide valuable evidence about the effectiveness of the whole intervention. However, these methods do not typically provide insights into the individual components of a program, and do not assist us in identifying the elements that are crucial in achieving any program effects.

Photo credit: Abdoulaye Pedehombga