Assessing Impact and Impact Pathways of a Homestead Food Production Program on Household and Child Nutrition in Cambodia

Cambodia's homestead food production program increased household production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and maternal and child intake (or frequency of intake) of some of these foods. Weaknesses in the evaluation design (e.g., lack of comparability between groups at baseline, failure to control for self-selection of households into the intervention, and collection of baseline and endline data during different seasons) prevent drawing firm conclusions about the program impacts. Analysis of impact pathways also shows that household-level benefits from the program did not translate into significant improvements in maternal and child health and nutrition. A careful redesign and rigorous assessment of the program using a program theory framework would help unleash its true potential to improve maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes.