This post was originally posted on Laterite.com. Click here to read the full article.
The IGNITE mechanism is a five-year investment implemented by Tanager, Laterite, and 60_Decibels to strengthen the ability of African agricultural institutions to integrate nutrition and gender into their interventions. As part of the work, IGNITE has developed a diagnostic tool to identify areas where institutions can work to institutionalize gender and nutrition, and assess the progress of an institution towards the goals of gender and nutrition mainstreaming.
The first version of the diagnostic tool was rolled out in 2019 and scores institutions across eight domains: 1. Policies and Approaches; 2. Culture and Capacity; 3. Budgets; 4. Data Collection; 5. Data Analysis & Use; 6. Do No Harm; 7. Accountability and 8. Integration of gender and nutrition.
The diagnostic assessment was built to:
- Demystify gender and nutrition, by helping organizations get up to speed with industry best practices, and by providing a first step towards mainstreaming gender and nutrition.
- Identify opportunities, both by stimulating the institution to reflect internally and spot gaps where they exist; and by offering opportunities for IGNITE to support with technical assistance and capacity building.
- Spur institutional commitment, by ensuring senior leaders buy-in to the diagnostic process, providing accountability for the team involved, and showing the institution is focused on gender and nutrition.
- Provide a tool to measure IGNITE’s impact, which is necessary for continued learning purposes and assessing impact.
- Stimulate relationships based on mutual understanding and trust between the institutions and IGNITE.