Intra-household dynamics and dietary diversity

SNV publishes the third technical paper based on insights from the Sustainable Nutrition for All project, focusing on gender relationships.

There are still many questions concerning the complex interplay of agriculture and nutrition and the roles that women and men respectively play. At an intra-household level, there are gaps in understanding how gendered relations mediate processes of production and consumption and how these dynamics affect the nutritional status of household members.

Recognising the importance of this, SNV together with the Centre for Development Innovation of Wageningen UR (CDI) and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) uses an intra-household lens to understand gender dynamics. It addresses different components of women’s role along the agriculture nutrition pathways; particularly women’s intra-household decision making and resource allocation and women’s child care and feeding, and workload.

SNV is pleased to share the third technical paper from the SN4A programme on gender. The paper summarises key findings and lessons learnt from applying an intra-household dynamics lens to nutrition. It aims to assist policymakers, practitioners and researchers in understanding the approaches and tools used and to guide their investments in integrating an intra-household perspective to understand the links between food security and nutrition.

The technical paper is available in full length and a summary version with the policy recommendations.