Summary

Food insecurity is one of the most pressing problems for rural Malagasy households, with up to 50% of children in some villages suffering stunted growth due to malnutrition. Recurrent droughts and cyclones, lack of crop diversity, and limited access to agricultural inputs (seeds and training) severely impact harvest yields, whilst malnutrition is exacerbated by lack of education and information about good nutritional practices. The isolation of these communities restricts trade and development opportunities and state-provided health services are inaccessible for many people.

The government has put in place a National Office for Nutrition (ONN) to respond to nutritional needs of vulnerable groups, with a particular focus on pregnant women and mothers of young children. ONN is implementing the National Programme for Community Nutrition (PNNC) which aims to build the capacity of isolated rural communities to be self-sufficient in matters of nutritional health by bringing information and expertise to the community level. Azafady was selected to implement Project Votsotse in partnership with CARE International, targeting pregnant women and nursing mothers in 7 rural communes across the Anosy region. Funded by the European Union and TRAID, the project implemented the PNNC and held mass communication and child growth monitoring activities in 42 villages, enabling isolated communities to access training and information that improves their ability to combat malnutrition.

Project Aim

To assist communities, especially pregnant women and mothers of children under 5 years old, in making sustainable improvements to nutritional practices through community education and by establishing locally managed structures for community nutrition.

Objectives

• Locally managed structures are operational in 42 villages that do not currently have a PNNC, who conduct child growth monitoring sessions and provide community education on improved nutritional practices.

• Information on nutritional education is accessible to community members in 42 villages.

• Culinary demonstrations showing ways to enhance the value of local food resources and an agricultural demonstration site for the introduction of improved farming techniques are implemented and locally managed in 42 villages.

Principal activities

Training and capacity building
Committees of local volunteers were elected by the community and trained to mobilise and educate the community, especially pregnant women and nursing mothers, on nutritional health and nutritional practices. These committees worked with Azafady's community agents in educating mothers through focus groups and home visits about the importance of good nutrition and in ways that they can take action to improve nutrition, encouraging mothers to monitor the growth of their babies at the PNNC site.

Mass mobilisation
Communication tools in media appropriate to these target communities were produced in order to disseminate messages about nutritional health and hygiene. This included posters and leaflets to support the PNNC activities, and cinema projections in the local dialect which were screened in community meeting places.

Culinary demonstrations
The project actively promoted quality complementary foods. Culinary demonstrations held at the PNNC sites showed how to improve the value of local food resources and introduced new varieties of foodstuffs. Community members were encouraged to join farmers groups through which improved farming techniques were disseminated.

Emergency food distribution
As a result of the child growth monitoring activities, Azafady staff were able to detect the early warning signs of a food security crisis, a situation that prompted an international response. As a result of this, in July 2009 project activities were temporarily diverted into emergency food aid distribution in partnership with the World Food Programme. Some 330 tonnes of food were distributed throughout the project zone where levels of malnutrition had reached up to 50%.