Monitoring and Evaluation of a Community Nutrition Intervention Programme for Pregnant Women in Jigawa State

Monitoring and evaluation frameworks are fundamental to assessing the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of nutrition interventions targeting vulnerable populations. This study conducts a monitoring and evaluation assessment of a state-funded community nutrition intervention programme for pregnant women in Hadejia and Dutse local government areas of Jigawa State, North West Nigeria. Jigawa State records persistently high levels of maternal and child malnutrition, and the programme under review incorporates iron and folic acid supplementation, nutrition counselling, and fortified food distribution. A mixed-methods programme evaluation design was used, combining review of programme monitoring data including coverage and uptake statistics, community surveys with 220 current and recently discharged programme participants, and key informant interviews with programme coordinators, community volunteers, and local government nutrition officers. Evaluation dimensions covered programme reach, inputs, process fidelity, output delivery, and short-term outcome achievement. Findings are expected to reveal satisfactory commodity delivery but inadequate counselling quality, with programme monitoring systems capturing outputs but not outcomes. Community volunteer attrition and inadequate supervision were identified as implementation challenges. The study recommends strengthening outcome monitoring mechanisms, standardising counselling content, and improving volunteer retention strategies within the programme. Keywords: monitoring and evaluation, community nutrition, maternal health, Jigawa State, programme assessment.