Overview

Poverty, malnutrition, and limited income opportunities remain deeply rooted in rural Northern Nigeria. The Feed the Future project, implemented by Centre LSD in partnership with USAID and Catholic Relief Services, aimed to tackle these challenges head-on through an integrated, five-year livelihoods approach.

The project reached over 52,000 low-income households, supporting them with tools to improve agricultural productivity, increase income, and achieve better nutrition—especially among women and children.

Objectives

• Improve household nutrition and dietary diversity
• Increase agricultural productivity and income through skills transfer
• Strengthen livelihood resilience via business support and cash transfers
• Improve child health outcomes and caregiver practices

Key Achievements

Community Capacity Building

• Trained 8 caseworkers, 64 liaison supervisors, and 281 community liaisons to deliver hygiene and nutrition education to 12,000 households.
• Built the capacity of 345 liaisons in homestead gardening, resulting in the creation of 2,168 home gardens, improving household access to vegetables and dietary diversity.
• Partnered with community agricultural agents to train 281 liaisons on livestock management, covering housing, fattening, breed identification, and animal health.

Livelihoods & Cash Transfer Impact

• Delivered cash transfers over a 15-month cycle to 1,240 households across 8 clusters in two LGAs:
  - 305 treatment households received monthly ₦5,000 payments
  - 294 households received lump-sum payments of ₦15,000
  - Control groups included 326 (monthly) and 315 (lump-sum) recipients
• Business impact from cash transfers:
  - 279 new businesses started
  - 348 existing businesses improved 
  - Danko Wasagu: 228 new, 132 improved businesses 
  - Birnin Kebbi: 51 new, 132 improved businesses
  

Nutrition & Child Health

• Reached 122,410 beneficiaries with child nutrition education
• Delivered health and nutrition services—including malnutrition screening and referrals—to 23,524 children under 5
• Engaged 5,099 caregivers through structured household sessions and group learning activities

Year-on-Year Household Engagement

• Reached:
  - 3,047 Class B households (Year One cohort) 
  - 5,825 Class C households (Year Two cohort)

Impact Snapshot

Conclusion

The Feed the Future Livelihoods Project reflects Centre LSD’s capacity to implement large-scale, community-rooted interventions that address poverty, nutrition, and economic vulnerability in a holistic way. Through strategic partnerships and grassroots mobilization, thousands of families in Northern Nigeria have gained the knowledge, skills, and resources to break the cycle of poverty and malnutrition.

This project didn’t just “feed the future”; it built it, one household at a time.

Gallery

Images from Feed the Future