Data for Evaluation of advancing local dairy development in Nigeria: Endline report

This dataset presents data collected for the evaluation of the Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria (ALDDN) program. Purpose: The evaluation examines a processor-led dairy development intervention implemented from 2020 to 2025 across northern Nigeria, designed to strengthen the dairy value chain, improve smallholder livelihoods, enhance nutrition, and promote women’s empowerment. The study focuses on understanding both program impacts and implementation dynamics across production, nutrition, and empowerment domains. Approach and methods: The evaluation uses a mixed-methods approach combining a process evaluation, a quasi-experimental impact evaluation, and outcome tracking. The impact evaluation applies coarsened exact matching to compare treatment and comparison households, while qualitative interviews and longitudinal tracking provide complementary evidence on implementation and trends over time. Data sources: three rounds of household surveys (baseline, midline, endline), community-level data, qualitative interviews and focus groups, and program monitoring data. Primary data collection was conducted between 2020 and 2025 across multiple states in northern Nigeria. Findings: The evaluation finds that ALDDN increased adoption of improved dairy practices, leading to higher milk production and dairy income. The program also strengthened market linkages, with substantially higher milk sales to processors. However, these gains did not translate into higher total household income, as households shifted resources from non-dairy activities. Impacts on nutrition were modest, with slight improvements in milk consumption but no change in women’s dietary diversity, while women’s empowerment gains were limited primarily to collective agency rather than decision-making power. This work was funded by the Gates Foundation.