Vitamin A deficiency is a significant public health issue, especially in Africa and South-East Asia. In addition to visual impairment, the lack of vitamin A in children significantly increases the risk of severe illness and even death from common infections such as diarrhea and measles. AIR is working with the International Potato Center to improve vitamin A intakes by children aged 0 to 59 months and their mothers in the Shinyanga region in Tanzania.

Despite efforts by the Mozambican government to improve access to pre-primary education, many challenges remain in the education system overall and in pre-primary education. AIR conducted a mixed-methods experimental evaluation of a pilot program being implemented to improve children’s educational outcomes through a pre-primary intervention in target districts and communities in the Zambézia province.

Despite the increasing demand for food in both developed and developing counties, smallholder farmers are not able to integrate to local markets because of low capital, limited access to credit, and risk aversion. AIR is evaluating the 2SCALE agribusiness project, which was designed to help rural smallholders move from subsistence farming to farming as a business and supply agricultural products for local, national, regional, and international markets.

Smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya rely on livestock for income and food security. However, milk production is regularly threatened by a number of factors. The overall goal of the Smallholder Dairy Commercialisation Programme is to increase the income of poor rural households that depend substantially on production and trade of dairy products for their livelihoods. AIR is investigating the program's impacts and implementation.

Although there has been less experience with universal cash transfers (UCTs) in Africa, particularly in humanitarian settings, they are among the more promising options for delivering assistance. In order to help fill the evidence gap on cash transfers in humanitarian settings, AIR partnered with UNICEF-DRC to compile and analyze data and lessons learned from the Alternative Responses for Communities in Crisis (ARCC) II program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Smallholder farmers rely on crops for income and food security, but their ability to generate income and maintain food security is threatened by a number of factors. Kenya’s Plantwise program is a global initiative that provides smallholder farmers with vital information on the maintenance of crop health and environmentally sustainable responses to adapt to climate change.