Food insecurity and malnutrition, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, continue to be a global challenge, exacerbated by COVID-19. In its latest report on food security and nutrition, The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that, in 2020, nearly two billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity, disproportionately affecting women and children.
Our Work
AIR brings vast experience designing and implementing mixed-methods studies, randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, performance evaluations, third-party monitoring, and costing analysis with an emphasis on food security, agriculture, and nutrition. In humanitarian settings with limited access to survey data, AIR uses a combination of technologically advanced data collection methods with traditional observant monitoring to track trends in food prices and food security.
Recent examples of work include the following:
- AIR’s wholly owned subsidiary Kimetrica manages the Learning and Data Hub, part of USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) project, to share, and facilitate the application of early warning and agroclimatic analysis and data to help meet the goal of sustainably preventing food insecurity and famine.
- The Food Security Third Party Monitoring project provides critical, near real-time analysis to support targeting of life-saving support in some of the world’s most crisis-prone locations.
- We are conducting a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of an agricultural extension program in Ethiopia.
- AIR implemented a mixed-methods evaluation to determine the impact of a comprehensive nutrition program in Zambia.
- In Bangladesh, AIR used a quasi-experimental study to assess the impact of an early childhood nutrition program.
- In Uganda, we are examining how graduation programs can contribute to improvements in livelihoods for refugees and host populations.
