Jennifer Coates, PhD., is an Assistant Professor in the Food Policy and Applied Nutrition Program at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where she specializes in methods for food security and nutrition assessment and the evaluation of programs spanning humanitarian emergency and development contexts. Her current research portfolio includes a study in Kenya of exit strategies from food aid programs; in Haiti and Ethiopia of the impact and cost-effectiveness of food support to HIV+ individuals; and in Ethiopia of livelihood dynamics in chronic emergencies. She has worked to develop and validate universal household food security measures and is currently developing new methods for conducting nutrition causal analysis.
Jennifer teaches a course on international food policy and on program monitoring and evaluation at the Friedman School. Jennifer frequently conducts evaluations for UN organizations, provides technical assistance to PVOs implementing food security, nutrition, and health activities, and has served as an ongoing consultant to the USAID-funded Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) Project. Prior to joining the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Jennifer worked with John Snow, Inc. for nearly seven years managing large, USAID-funded integrated MCHN and reproductive health projects.
Email: jennifer.coates@tufts.edu
Reports
Great strides have been made over the last 20 years in the long-term management of HIV infection in developing countries, resulting in improved immune function, reduced mortality, and prolonged survival. However, underlying malnutrition continues to impede positive health outcomes, and HIV infection in turn worsens malnutrition. The Ethiopia Food by Prescription (FBP) program, implemented by Save the Children US (SC US), USAID/Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health since 2010, provides therapeutic food along with nutritional assessment and counseling to malnourished HIV+ individuals. The Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy was contracted by SC US to research the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this intervention, in order to contribute much needed evidence to guide programming and policy, both in Ethiopia and worldwide.
This final report covers the last round of the participatory impact assessment conducted in Tsaeda Amba Woreda in Eastern Tigray in July 2010, and summarizes findings from both rounds of the household survey. These results demonstrate the impact of the drought and the high price of food in 2008 and 2009. Results also demonstrate the impact of ACRP in terms of capacity building, establishing and consolidating Community Disaster Preparedness Committee and mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into on-going programs.
Based on data collected in January 2010 through focus groups and household-level interviews in Tsaeda Amba woreda, this assessment depicts the breadth of institutional constraints to risk reduction and livelihood security. Major areas of findings include access to land and natural resources, credit and the risks of default, and traditional practices and institutions. While a participatory baseline assessment, published in December 2009, focused mostly on forms of covariate risk and the measures proposed the ACRP to address them, this second report highlights more idiosyncratic forms of risk.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
By Daniel Maxwell, Patrick Webb, Jennifer Coates and James Wirth (2012). Food Policy , Vol. 35(2), pp. 91-97.