a child’s arm is measured to check if he suffers from severe malnutrition

Preventing Child Wasting in the Mandera Triangle

The Hanaano program, funded by Irish Aid, is focused on preventing child wasting through integrated nutrition, livelihoods, agriculture, and WASH strategies. However, to ensure long-term, sustainable solutions, it is essential to understand the root causes of persistent malnutrition.

To strengthen the evidence base, Concern Worldwide is partnering with Tufts University’s Feinstein International Center to investigate what drives child wasting in this evolving livelihood system and identify effective prevention strategies.

At the local level, Tufts & Concern will work with project partners — RACIDA (Kenya), Pastoralist Concern (Ethiopia), and Lifeline Gedo (Somalia) — to foster dialogue with communities and local institutions, gather feedback and promote a shared understanding of research findings.

There are three main objectives of this research partnership:

Objective 1: Investigate the immediate drivers and underlying drivers of acute malnutrition in children and women in the Mandera cross-border area.

Objective 2: Investigate the basic drivers of acute malnutrition in children and women in the Mandera cross-border area.

Objective 3: Support multi-directional learning, uptake, and dissemination by informing the development of an evidence-based strategy for preventing wasting and acute malnutrition.

The anticipated timeframe for the research is November 2024 to October 2026.

Kenyatta University

Concern Worldwide

Using a mixed-methods approach, including both qualitative methods and a yearlong longitudinal study in four purposefully selected sites along the Daua River, this study will generate actionable insights to inform both policy and programmatic decisions.