Role: Consumer Insights & Behavior Change Specialist | Maternal Nutrition
The Problem
The problem was that women in rural Rajasthan were facing X% nutrition issues and were unable to do <issues>. This led me to realize that most interventions were based on assumptions and not on ground research. Published in peer-reviewed journals and informed the Government of Rajasthan’s 2018 statewide maternal nutrition strategy.
When I began working in maternal nutrition, I quickly realised that most interventions were built on the wrong assumption that women simply needed more knowledge to eat better.
My Breakthrough Insight
Through field immersion and extensive interviews, I uncovered something different: knowledge wasn’t the problem, gender norms were. Women knew what to eat. They simply didn’t have the agency to do it.
What I Led
I led mixed-methods research across 2,100+ households, challenged long-standing public health narratives, and designed India’s first culturally-adapted snacking protocol for maternal nutrition. Instead of compliance messaging, I introduced aspiration-driven social marketing to shift behavior.
Impact
My research demonstrated that this approach was 5.6× more cost-effective than traditional meal-based interventions and informed the Government of Rajasthan’s 2018 statewide strategy on maternal nutrition. The work was later published in peer-reviewed journals.
Core Strengths
- Behavior change strategy
- Gender-sensitive program design
- Mixed-methods research at scale
- Social marketing
- Cost-effectiveness modelling
- Public health policy influence
Funders / Partners
This research, Eat more, Eat better, was commissioned and funded by Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) through a grant to Sight and Life.