Table 3 Outcomes of interest

 Height/length

Stadiometer (children and caregivers) (locally made, with 1 mm gradations)

Length/height will be measured to the nearest 0.1 cm

Baseline, midline, endline (mothers/caregivers at endline only)

 Weight

Electronic mother-baby weighing scale with reading increments of 10 g (SECA Model 874)

Weight will be measured to the nearest 100 g. Duplicate measures will be repeated if the difference between the measurements is >0.1 kg.

Baseline, midline, endline

 Anemia/Hemoglobin

Hemocue Hb 301 portable photometer

Measurements will be obtained to the nearest 0.1 g/dL

Baseline, midline, endline (subsample)

 Iron and vitamin A status

Enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) method

Capillary blood samples in children 18-24 months

Endline (subsample)

 Language and cognitive and socio-emotional development

Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Inventory [51]

Combination of primary caregivers report and direct observation of children 0–36 mo [52]

Baseline, midline, endline

Bayley Scale [53]

Direct assessment (children 28-34 months)

Endline (subsample)

Intermediate indicators

 Household food security

Household Food Security Questionnaire (FANTA)

Questions adapted and modified to reflect the cultural context, as needed.

 Maternal knowledge on nutrition and child development

Questions developed to determine what knowledge is retained from the nutrition education sessions, group activities and/or home visits.

Questions on correct identification of symptoms of illnesses, malnutrition and markers of appropriate child development

Baseline, midline, endline

 Food diversity, maternal and child diet

24 h food recall and food diversity score for pregnant women, mothers and children (FANTA, FAO, WHO)

Questions adapted and modified to reflect the cultural context, as needed.

Baseline, midline, endline

 Appetite and responsive feeding

Module adapted from Alive and Thrive

Questions adapted and modified to reflect the cultural context, as needed.

Baseline and midline

 Maternal child stimulation

Family Care indicator scale (FCI) [54]

Questions to mothers/caregivers regarding household items for child stimulation (e.g. books and toys), and activities (e.g. reading, singing playing).

Baseline, midline, endline

 Maternal time use and time spent with child

24 h recall in time spent across different activities, including time spent with target child

Baseline, midline, endline

 Maternal receptive vocabulary

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) [55]

Administered to pregnant women, primary caregivers and community nutrition workers

Baseline

 Maternal depressive symptoms

Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) [56]

Baseline, midline, endline