UNICEF Study on Potential Food Systems Based Solutions for Improved Quality of Complementary Foods for Young Children

Status: Completed (December 2017 – July 2018)

Agri-Food Economics Africa was commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in December 2017 to conduct a study on assessing potential food system-based solutions to enhance food availability and access for improved complementary feeding for young children. The study focused on the arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) counties of Baringo, Tana River, Turkana and West Pokot in Kenya. The overall objective of this study was to assess potential food system approaches for ensuring sustained access and availability to appropriate complementary foods for young children in these counties. Thus the study set out to understand the seasonal availability and access of affordable nutritious foods in these counties, and additionally considered enablers for increased consumption and behavior change at the household level, including the role of various actors.

The study was mainly qualitative, relying on key informant interviews (KIIs) in the capital city as well as in the four study counties, and literature review. Agri-Food Economics Africa undertook 15 KIIs in the capital city and 85 KIIs in the study counties. The key informants targeted for interview were county officers’ in-charge of food system-related dockets and other actors implementing food security, agriculture, resilience/livelihood programs in these counties.