The USAID Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) project created the Designing Effective Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Activities Workshop to guide market and agricultural projects to integrate nutrition directly into their existing activities, instead of developing separate nutrition activities. The Design Guide Workshop is peer-led and the accompanying materials include all the tools facilitators need to deliver a three-day activity design workshop.
During the workshop, facilitators guide activity teams through a stepwise, participatory process to consider nutrition-sensitive agriculture outcomes and think through interventions that fit within their existing scope. This process is complex, and requires a skilled team of facilitators (two or more) that can help their teams reach a consensus through a strategic planning exercise. USAID Advancing Nutrition leads activities supporting prospective facilitators by—
- orienting them to the Design Guide materials
- supporting them as they adapt the content to their context
- strengthening their technical skills in program design, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and workshop facilitation
- connecting them with others using the Design Guide.
The CoP supports prospective Design Guide Workshop facilitators to develop the necessary skills listed through participation in an online community. CoP members can access technical resources and how-to guides, participate in office hour discussions, and share their experiences. The CoP provides an opportunity to learn from others' experiences using the Design Guide and designing nutrition sensitive agriculture activities. Current members represent a broad range of organizations—development practitioners, donors, government workers, researchers, and more. See the Community Charter for more information on the goals, norms, and structures of the CoP.
The ToT is a three-day, in-person event led by USAID Advancing Nutrition that aims to help aspiring facilitators lead a successful workshop by deepening their understanding of the Design Guide materials, as well as nutrition-sensitive agriculture, program design, and best practices in adult-learning and group facilitation. It uses a Teach-Back approach to allow participants the opportunity to practice facilitating sessions of the Design Guide workshop and receive feedback from experts and their peers. USAID Advancing Nutrition delivered the first ToT in Spring 2019, a second in Spring 2022, a TOT in Kenya in February 2023, and a final TOT virtually, to participants in Haiti.