IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH STUDIES
The POSHAN team works on both large and small implementation research studies to answer questions of relevance to India’s nutrition programs. Our prominent implementation research studies include the following:
Evaluation of ICDS-CAS (Integrated Child Development Services - Common Application Software) in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar
The Government of India has initiated the National Nutrition Mission, or POSHAN Abhiyaan, with the vision to ensure a malnutrition-free India by 2022. One of the key activities of this project is ICDS-CAS (Integrated Child Development Services - Common Application Software) to improve service delivery under the ICDS program. The ICDS-CAS is implemented through a mobile application installed on smartphones for frontline (Anganwadi) workers and their supervisors, along with a comprehensive multi-level web-based dashboard, providing real-time information about frontline service delivery. It is intended to identify the areas of implementation to be focused on and to monitor and strengthen service delivery. It aims to replace the manual ICDS registers at the Anganwadi Centres. POSHAN is collaborating with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); University of California, Berkeley; and NEERMAN on the overall evaluation of ICDS-CAS.
The overall evaluation of ICDS-CAS includes the following:
- Impact evaluation that aims to estimate the impacts of CAS on frontline worker service delivery and maternal knowledge and practices
- Process evaluation that aims to understand and document pathways to impact of the CAS intervention and to identify facilitators and barriers to implementation and scale up
- Cost analysis that aims to assess costs
- Technology evaluation that aims to assess the user experience with the application.
A study protocol has been published based on this evaluation.
Along with the overall evaluation of ICDS-CAS, the team is also engaged in the following:
- Data use study: As a part of the final component of process evaluation, in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar the team assessed the use of data in ICDS to understand the use of data systems and the CAS dashboard by ICDS staff.
- Data quality assessment study (or growth monitoring study): The POSHAN team conducted a multi-state observational assessment of growth monitoring process in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The team examined the steps leading up to the measurement and recording of the measures which enable identifying gaps that could potentially have implications for data quality.
Improving Maternal Nutrition Services in Uttar Pradesh
POSHAN is collaborating with Alive & Thrive (A&T) in the Kanpur Dehat & Unnao districts of Uttar Pradesh (UP) to evaluate the feasibility and impact of integrating a package of maternal nutrition interventions. These interventions should align with the latest global evidence and the national policies and guidelines of the government of India within routine reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) services. These include provision of iron and folic acid (IFA) and calcium supplements, interpersonal counselling on diet during pregnancy and consumption of IFA and calcium, community mobilisation, and adequate weight-gain monitoring during pregnancy.
As a part of this study, a baseline survey was conducted in 2017. Additional study components include a process evaluation using multiple methods, a nested cohort study following individual mothers, a Cost of the Diet assessment, and articles in journals.
