Overview of SPRING/Senegal workshop process:
Much of SPRING/Senegal’s work focuses on partnering with local agriculture programs and working to identify how to make program practices more nutrition-sensitive. SPRING/Home Office staff members recently visited the new SPRING/Senegal office to deepen understanding of the agriculture to nutrition pathways and connect this way of thinking to the context and work of partners within SPRING/Senegal’s zone of influence. To achieve this, SPRING/Home Office staff designed a workshop that introduced the relevant background information on the zone of influence, nutrients available in local foods, and the agriculture-to-nutrition pathways. The workshop then guided participants through the application of this knowledge by analyzing partner programs to brainstorm potential interventions for the SPRING/Senegal program.
During the first week of the visit, SPRING conducted the week-long workshop with SPRING/Senegal staff. The workshop sessions were interactive and relied on SPRING/Senegal’s staff expertise. Example sessions included debate of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive practices and analysis of local practices through creation of seasonal calendars that included components analyzing production, income, women’s time, and health cycles throughout the year.
During the second week of the visit, SPRING/Senegal staff introduced the concept of nutrition-sensitive agriculture to local implementing partners, Caritas and FEPROMAS, and led a compact two days of sessions. This workshop relied much more heavily on images to illustrate nutrition-sensitive practices and the agriculture-to-nutrition pathways. This understanding and collaboration will inform SPRING/Senegal’s nutrition-sensitive agriculture programming and future partnerships.
