Singida Nutrition and Agroecology Project (SNAP)

October 6, 2020 updated by: Cornell University
The purpose of this study is to test if a participatory, agroecological peer farmer-led education intervention can be effective at improving legume production, food security, and infant and young child feeding practices in Singida District, Tanzania.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Approximately 40% of under five children in Tanzania are stunted, with higher levels in rural areas. Our inception research in Singida identified five pressing issues faced by smallholder farmers that may contribute to this high rate of stunting. They are (A) hierarchical, or "top down" farmer education, (B) low soil fertility and little knowledge of agroecological solutions, (C) high levels of gender inequality and high workloads for women, (D) food insecurity and low dietary diversity, and (E) sub-optimal infant and young child feeding. Singida Nutrition and Agroecology Project (SNAP) is a randomized effectiveness trial of a participatory, agroecological peer farmer education intervention. Each intervention village will choose 2 mentor farmers, 1 man and 1 woman, who will participate in a field visit to and training by existing mentor farmers in Malawi and a two week long follow-up and refresher trainings in Tanzania integrating agroecology, climate change, nutrition, and gender equality. Mentor farmers will then conduct monthly visits to participating households and support the households in conducting experimentation with agroecological practices and/or new behaviors regarding nutrition and gender equality. Quarterly meetings among mentor farmers and biannual meeting of participating farmers within each village will be held to discuss progress and challenges of peer education and household experimentations.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

700

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 100 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Are among the most vulnerable, as indicated by food insecurity
  • Have a child who will be <= 1 year old in February 2016
  • Are farmers who have regular access to the same farms/plots (but they do not need to own the land per se)
  • Female headed households are acceptable, so long as not more than half the selected households in the village are female headed (to be able to detect change in gender equity)
  • Willing to stay in study for 3 years, i.e. do not plan to move
  • Interested in experimenting with new farming techniques

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Refuses to take part

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Intervention (Participatory education)
Participatory education
Behavioral: Mentor farmer training (Malawi)
Mentor farmers, 1 man, 1 woman, from each village will participate in a field visit to and training by existing mentor farmers in Malawi. Only the intervention arm of this study will receive mentor farmer training in Malawi, delayed intervention arm will receive mentor farmer training from farmers participating in the initial intervention in Tanzania.
Behavioral: Mentor farmer training (Singida, Tanzania)
Mentor farmers will receive training in Singida, Tanzania on agroecology practices, climate change, nutrition, and gender equality. Intervention villages will receive training in 2016. Delayed intervention villages will receive training in 2019.
Behavioral: Mentor farmer visits and facilitation
Mentor farmers will conduct monthly visits to participating households and support the households in conducting experimentation with agroecological practices and/or new behavior regarding nutrition and gender equality. Quarterly meetings among farmers within each village will be held to discuss progress and challenges of household experimentations. Intervention households will receive support and facilitation for approximately 2 years. Delayed intervention households will receive support and facilitation for approximately 6 months after end line survey.
NO_INTERVENTION: Control
Delayed participatory education

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in dietary diversity score (mean and proportion of score >4)
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
As defined by World Health Organization (see Citations), this refers to the number of food groups (out of 7) consumed by children the previous day ."
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in mean child's height-for-age z-score
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
According to World Health Organization growth chart
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Change in proportion of children who are stunted (HAZ<-2)
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
According to World Health Organization growth chart
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Change in mean child's weight-for-height z-score
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
According to World Health Organization growth chart
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Change in proportion of children who are wasted (WHZ<-2)
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
According to World Health Organization growth chart
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Change in mean Food Insecurity Score
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Change in proportion of households with severe or moderate food insecurity
Time Frame: Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)
Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)
Twice a year for the first three years of study (2016, 2017, 2018) and once in the final year (2019)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Cornell University

Collaborators

Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology
Action Aid Tanzania
Ilonga Agricultural Research Institute

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Rachel N Bezner Kerr, MS PhD, Cornell University
  • Principal Investigator: Sera L Young, MA PhD, Cornell University
  • Principal Investigator: Elias Mtinda, Action Aid Tanzania

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2016

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

February 1, 2019

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

May 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 11, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 3, 2016

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

May 4, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

October 8, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2020

Last Verified

October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1511005983

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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