On January 26, 2017, members of a local community video production team shot a short video about the benefits of orange-fleshed sweet potato. The video was shot in the department of Koungheul within the Kaffrine region and starred actors who are respected members of the community. The production team was comprised of local SPRING/Senegal partners including local radio station Radio Bambouck 92.1FM.
On January 18, 2017, SPRING/Senegal facilitated a one-day workshop on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Kaolack Region. Attendees included representatives of some of the partner organizations that SPRING works with in cereal value chains and vegetable and tree crop production. Several participants attended the workshop with their spouses. The workshop focused on how reducing women’s workload can positively impact family nutrition.
On January 18, 2017, SPRING/Senegal facilitated a one-day workshop on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the region of Kaolack. The workshop was organized as part of SPRING’s strategy to improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of two. Women in Senegal often play several key roles in the household: they are responsible for cultivating vegetables and other crops, preparing food at home, keeping the household tidy, and caring for their children.
As part of a strategy to effectively reach and support busy urban communities, the SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic project has launched a Facebook page, with plans to reach people in-country through other platforms. This page will be used as a platform to learn more about the SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic program and activities as well as a space to encourage better nutrition practices among the Kyrgyz people.
On November 7, 2016, SPRING/Sierra Leone and Helen Keller International (HKI) hosted a learning event in Lumley Beach, Sierra Leone, to share findings from three assessments conducted in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone. The three assessments were a barrier analysis and an adapted value chain analysis on fish and pumpkin consumption, and an assessment of a trials of improved practice (TIPs) study on infant feeding behavior and critical hygiene actions in the first 1,000 days.
In 2016, SPRING conducted a number of assessments to inform behavior change strategies in Tonkolili district in support of improvements to child nutrition in the first 1,000 days.
SPRING/Sierra Leone recently used Trials of Improved Practices (TIPs)—a qualitative research methodology—to select improved WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) and nutrition behaviors in consultation with household members.
The TIPs approach allows researchers to pretest behaviors at the household-level before they are widely promoted. By focusing on behavior (what people do), rather than on knowledge (what people know or believe), TIPs provides an in-depth understanding of—
Community radio programming using SPRING’s multi-channel approach was at the center of a recent community day in Thiarre Commune in the village of Thiokomaty, Senegal. In the morning, the SPRING/Senegal team and staff from local partner organization UPCL taught hygiene and handwashing at the local primary school.
Nutrition advocates in Niger face a challenging environment. Malnutrition in women and children is compounded by factors that hamper the success of nutrition social and behavior change: