From 2013 to 2017 CARE International in Zambia implemented the Nutrition at the Center (N@C) Project in 22 health facilities of Lundazi and Chadiza Districts of Eastern Zambia (15 in Lundazi and 7 in Chadiza district). The impact indicator of the N@C Project was pegged at improving the nutritional status of women (15-49 years) and children whose age was below 3 years old with a focus on reducing stunting generally. During the 4 years of project implementation, a number of activities were successfully implemented; as a result, CARE Zambia decided to institute an endline evaluation whose focus was to assess achievements on several nutrition and general indicators including infant and young child feeding (IYCF), maternal health and nutrition, food security, women empowerment, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and program participation. The current evaluation also aimed at determining perceived or actual weaknesses and strengths of the N@C project as well as document lessons learned to inform future nutrition programming.
Data was collected from 41 health facilities out of the 46 targeted in Chadiza and Lundazi districts. A structured household questionnaire was used to collect data from women who had children below the age of 3 years in both intervention and non-intervention areas. Of the targeted 1266 women, 1195 were successfully interviewed representing a response rate of 94.4 percent. Four focus group discussions and 12 key informant interviews were also conducted. [58 pages]