PREVIEW

A case for integrated development: pathways to improve child well-being

December 27, 2016
Authors: Diana Duff Rutherford and Jessica Bachay
Organization: Development in Practice

Integrated programming, and specifically integrating economic strengthening, into programs for improved childhood wellbeing, may be essential to ending the generational cycle of poverty.  Under the Supporting Transformation by Reducing Insecurity and Vulnerability with Economic Strengthening (STRIVE) project, value chain strengthening and savings groups were tested as interventions for improving childhood wellbeing.  This article includes a diagram of the causal pathways from economic strengthening to childhood nutrition that was tested.  For improving childhood wellbeing outcomes from integrated programs, the authors recommend: (1) integrating economic strengthening interventions with complementary development activities; (2) deep formative assessment to inform programme design; and (3) the use of community-based feedback loops.