Impact Measurement Ecuador

Impact Measurement

Families in 12 Communities that Completed Program

(1/2012 – 10/2013)

Ecuador

Kenya

Peru

Aggregate
# Families that Began

48

180

48

295

# Families that Finished

42

176

18(†)

258

% Retained

87.5%

97.8%

37.5%

87.5%

Avg Period of Food Security, in Months (Prior)

2.7

2.0

1.5

2.4

Avg Period of Food Security, in Months (After)

7.3

5.9

5.0

6.1

% Improvement in Food Security

170.4%

195.0%

233.3%

152.8%

Avg % Underweight Children (Prior)

41.6%

16.0%

82.7%

46.8%

Avg % Underweight Children (After)

23.4%

4.0%

56.9%

28.1%

% Improvement in Underweight Children

43.8%

75.0%(@)

31.2%

39.9%

# with Vegetable Gardens for Family Nutrition (Prior)

0

0

0

0

# with Vegetable Gardens for Family Nutrition (After)

42

176

14

254

% of Families with Sustainable, Nutritious Gardens

100.0%

100.0%

77.8%

98.4%

# Successfully taking Multi-Crops to Market (Prior)

0

0

0

0

# Successfully taking Multi-Crops to Market (After)

42

176

18

258

% of Families taking Multi-Crops to Market

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

# Families with “Robust” & “Frequent” Small Animal Protein (Prior)

4

0

0

0

# Families with “Robust” & “Frequent” Small Animal Protein (After)

42

125

9

198

% of Families with  “Robust & Frequent” Small Animal Protein

100.0%

71.0%

50.0%

76.7%

Avg Family Income, Monthly (Prior)

$198.00

$55.81

$46.43

$100.08

Avg Family Income, Monthly (After)

$290.00

$130.23

$75.00

$165.08

% Improvement in Avg Family Income (Monthly)

46.5%(*)

133.3%(&)

61.5%

64.9%

 Glossary of Terms/Statements

 Underweight Children.  This term represents the percentage of children aged 0-59 months whose weight-to-age is less than minus 2 standard deviations below the median weight for age of the international reference population (moderate to severe).

% of children

under five that are

underweight

=

# of children under age 5 that fall below

“minus 2 standard deviations”

from the median NCHS/WHO standard (moderate to severe)

*100

Total # of children under age 5
that were weighed

Children’s weights are compared with the weights given in the NCHS/WHO standard reference population for each age group. These standards were formulated by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as a reference for the United States and later adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

 Vegetable Gardens for Family Nutrition.  This statement references the availability of a diverse vegetable garden that is designed to meet the fundamental dietary needs of a family.

 Successfully taking Multi-Crops to Market.  This statement references a family’s capacity to take a consistent and strong position in the market with diverse crops – all of which enhances their financial resources.

 Families with “Robust” & “Frequent” Small Animal Protein.  This statement references both the “stockiness” of the animal, as well as the regularity with which families include small animals in their diets.

  • Robust.  This references the health and nutrient-density of the small animal.  For example, many families have a small number of chickens, which are scrawny specimens.  Our program introduces a larger and healthier specimen that increases the protein-per-calories consumed.  Our animals do not receive hormones or antibiotics at any time (though they may receive vaccinations to prevent common diseases).
  • Frequent.  Similar to the above, many families have a small number of chickens, which are not a regular part of the family diet.  In other words, many families will only eat one chicken every 10-14 days, or even less frequently.  Additionally, prior to the program, families are not breeding the animals in a way that both presents income opportunities AND provides for their protein needs.

General notes regarding the data.  Overall, this data represents only those communities that “graduated” families from our programs during 2012 to October 15, 2013.

 Ecuador.  The data represents 3 communities and their graduates (Buenos Aires, Cochas, and Colimbuela – all of which are “Level-1” Programs).  Other programs are currently underway, but are not reflected in this data.  Additional notes:

(*) Regarding monthly income, this data only represents the community of Buenos Aires (representing only 17% of all families in our programs).  We are currently collecting data from other communities.

Kenya.  The data represents 6 communities and their graduates (Gona Village, Mkanyeni, Chikomani, Vikolani, Mnyenzeni, and Chigato; the first two are “Level-2” and the last four are “Level-1” Programs).  Other programs are currently underway, but are not reflected in this data.  Additional notes:

(@)  Because of cultural restrictions & superstitions, we were only able to evaluate underweight children in the community of Gona Village, which incidentally has the largest enrollment of any of our programs (35 families).

(&)This data only represents the 3 communities of Gona, Mkanyeni & Guro (our 3 largest communities representing 44% of all families in our programs).  We are currently collecting data from other communities.

Peru.  The data represents 3 communities and their graduates (Cura Mori, La Piedra and Nueva Esperanza – all of which are “Level-1” Programs).  Other programs are currently underway, but are not reflected in this data.  Additional notes:

(†) While the retention rate was disappointing, it was a result of the water associations that prohibited some of the families from continuing in the program.  This represents an important area of improvement.