Giving Compass' Take:

· SPRING, a multi-sectoral nutrition project for the United States Agency for International Development, is taking a different approach to poor nutrition—behavioral change. SPRING explains that poor nutrition is rooted in human behavior and the best way to address it is by addressing and changing that behavior.

· How is behavior contributing to malnutrition? How can this behavior be changed?

· Learn how international cooperation can solve world hunger and malnutrition.

The roots of poor nutrition lie in human behavior. Improvements in nutrition are not possible without broad, widespread changes in the everyday behaviors of people and organizations around the world. Evidence shows that people can change their behaviors to improve nutrition outcomes, especially when the environment in which they live and work supports those changes.

Since 2012, Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) – a multi-sectoral nutrition project for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – has taken a behavior-centered approach to all of our work to reduce stunting and anemia. This means that from the beginning of any intervention, we have clear behavior-change goals in mind.

Over the life of SPRING, an emphasis on multi-sectoral nutrition has underscored the complexity of behavior change, expanded our understanding, and shifted the focus from communication to a more comprehensive behavior-centered perspective.

To improve population-level nutrition outcomes, we must reach enough people with evidence-based social and behavior change (SBC) interventions while strengthening policies, markets, physical and social environments to influence behaviors. SPRING has focused on innovating and then adapting and scaling proven strategies to new contexts and sectors to contribute to population-level change.

Read more about improving nutritional outcomes by SPRING's Catalyzing Social and Behavior Change Team at News Deeply.