Meals, Education, and Gardens for In-School Adolescents Project in Dodoma, Tanzania (MEGA)
Principal Investigator: Wafaie Fawzi
The Meals, Education, and Gardens for In-School Adolescents (MEGA) Project aims to implement and evaluate a comprehensive, school-based nutrition intervention package among secondary schools in Dodoma, Tanzania using a cluster randomized design and mixed methods evaluation. The intervention included four primary components: (1) school garden, (2) school meal program, (3) agriculture, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) education, and (4) community workshops.
The goal of the MEGA project is to study the effects of the integrated intervention on the nutrition and health of adolescents and their families in Tanzania. Ultimately, we aim to use the findings from this study to inform the scale-up of future school and community-based interventions to improve nutrition through training, improved crop production, and increased consumption of vegetables.
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Systems for Nutrition
Principal Investigator: Wafaie Fawzi
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Systems for Nutrition will design, lead and implement a program of nutrition-sensitive food system research and capacity building aimed at addressing the opportunities and challenges with the role of food systems in inclusive economic growth, nutrition, food safety, agriculture, gender-sensitive and youth inclusive development and resilience. The Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation Lab is broadly expected to help implement and communicate impact pathways from nutrition-sensitive food systems research to development outcomes through partnerships with USAID Mission-supported value chain programs, national partners, private companies and associations, community-based organizations and other donors and their programs. The Innovation Lab will deliver on this vision by a) strengthening the capacities of select country and regional research institutions to undertake research that is relevant and sound, to communicate findings in ways that are more likely to influence government partners, policymakers and practitioners, while b) implementing an integrated country, regional and global research agenda.
