Meal quality for households had improved, and women were enjoying a greater degree of financial independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are amongst the findings in a mid-term evaluation of Malawi\u2019s \u2018BETTER, \u2019one of the largest development projects undertaken by Self Help Africa in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surveys and interviews conducted for the assessment found that dietary diversity had improved, financial independence for women had increased, and women were reporting that they had a greater say decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Produced by the International institute of Research and Development (IIRD), the report looked at different aspects of the performance of the EU-funded BETTER, a multi-year project taking place in ten districts of Malawi, and using a \u2018farmer field school\u2019 approach to training households to improve food, nutrition and income security and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BETTER has sought to reach a total of just over 400,000 families, and provide training and information through a network of community-based trainers and facilitators at more than 13,000 \u2018field schools\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BETTER had not yet achieved 35% of its\u2019 expected outcomes and outputs, but a lot of its targets had been surpassed, and many farmers surveyed had embraced the climate smart agricultural technologies it was promoting, the report noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because some of these technologies were viewed as more labour intensive however, the uptake amongst women had been lower than amongst men, the report added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"