A delegation of U.S. congressional staffers visited SPRING/Senegal programs on Tuesday, August 2, 2016, as part of a week-long tour of health programs in Senegal arranged by USAID and World Vision.
The visitors represented the offices of Senators Rob Portman and Bob Corker; Representatives Curt Clawson, Chris Collins, and Martha Blackburn; and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Guests met with SPRING/Senegal staff to understand how SPRING is working across sectors to drive results at scale for USAID’s Multi-sectoral Nutrition Strategy goals, as well as the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future and Global Food Security Act legislation objectives.
In Senegal, SPRING is using community videos paired with facilitated discussions to promote proper hygiene and maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) behaviors. SPRING/Senegal leverages the influence of existing local partners and prioritizes social behavior change communications through locally targeted mass media, community video, and outreach events.
Visitors met with Mrs. Khady Ndour, a grandmother and active community leader in a local agriculture co-op and women’s groups, who has received training in MIYCN and hygiene counseling that are a part of the community video screenings. The delegation visited Mrs. Ndour’s home to get a sense of agriculture and hygiene practices in the community before attending a community video screening and facilitated discussion with Mrs. Ndour at the city hall. Mrs. Ndour showed a draft community video from a recent training on hygiene practices with a group of local women, whose responses and feedback will be used to complete the video for full dissemination.