CHANGING STORIES - SBC and food security & resilience: Food for thought?
Welcome to issue #33 of Changing Stories - MAGENTA's monthly round-up of all that is interesting, inspiring and innovative from the world of Social and Behavioural Change (SBC). Read, think, share, and enjoy!
Study on the empowerment of women and girls for the programme "Support to Resilience, Food Security and and Nutrition"
In order to strengthen existing and future programming to address food security and resilience in Central Mali, UNICEF partnered with MAGENTA to carry out an anthropological study on the drivers and obstacles to women and girls’ empowerment for the joint UNICEF, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation programme to “Support to Resilience, Food Security and and Nutrition".
The research took place through three phases of data collection in the districts of Bandiagara (Mopti) and Baraouéli (Segou), each phase allowing to gain further insights into existing practices and social norms. The research aimed at understanding the specific behavioural drivers in each locality as well as the overall impact of the conflict and climate change.
A total of 28 focus group discussions (FGDs), 26 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 19 key informant interviews (KIIs) took place with different subgroups of populations and key stakeholders in each location. During the data collection, a participatory tool was used whereby videos of the first round of FGDs were presented to subsequent FGDs to allow for further dialogue and exchanges among participants on existing norms and practices.
A detailed analysis report was drafted and presented to national and local stakeholders in Bamako. It was followed by a cascade training where MAGENTA trained key NGO representatives on SBC and Gender for them to facilitated 2 workshops in Segou and Mopti to build capacity of local actors on those topics and discuss the findings of the research. The 3 workshops provided an opportunity for national and local participants to exchange and design recommendations for future programming to strengthen women and girls’ empowerment. The recommendations, along with the research report informed about programming for a wide array of humanitarian and development actors in Mali.
Migrant farmworkers in the U.S. need a medical safety net
Agricultural workers in the U.S. have one of the most dangerous occupations in the nation.?The millions of migrant farmworkers in America — and their children — deserve comprehensive health care services so that they and their children can thrive. Furthermore, doing so benefits everyone by ensuring that food continues to arrive in grocery stores, restaurants, businesses and schools.?
To help migrant farmworkers get the health care they need, FHI 360 is connecting?Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS)?child care providers with local community health centers. MSHS is a subset of?Head Start, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The MSHS program oversees child development centers that have bilingual teachers and are open during hours that accommodate the farming day and the growing season. They specialize in early childhood development as well as parent and family engagement, nutrition and mental health.?
While MSHS’s standard programs provide high-quality, educational child care for free, that does not necessarily mean that migrant farmworker families can access the health care they need. And caring for the whole child means not just looking after their education but also their health — and the health of their families.
Small-scale farmers are vital to feeding West and Central Africa and transforming food systems
Amid increasing global hunger and poverty, devastating climate change impacts, the Covid-19 pandemic and the widespread effects of the war in Ukraine, small-scale producers can play a lead role in reducing hunger and poverty at country and regional levels. On 16 November 2022, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will convene policy-makers, development practitioners, rural producers and farmers organizations at its second Farmers Forum in Grand-Bassam, C?te d’Ivoire to explore opportunities to strengthen partnerships between them. Together, they can work jointly for sustainable transformation of food systems and food security.
The Farmers Forum will be a key component of discussions taking place during IFAD’s 12th Regional Implementation Workshop for IFAD-supported projects in West and Central Africa (WCA), from 17 to 18 November. High-ranking government officials from C?te d’Ivoire’s Ministries of Agriculture and of Finance will be in attendance. Deliberations will focus on access to finance, support to youth in agriculture, and climate change and value chain approaches leveraging IFAD’s long-standing partnership with farmers organizations.
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Make #NotWasting food a personal resolution
All over the world, holidays mean the return of certain specialties: Olivier salad for New Year’s in Russia, red bean porridge for solstice in Korea, haleem for Ramadan in India and the Middle East, mince pies for Christmas in England, poga?a bread for Orthodox Easter or banana cakes for Lunar New Year in Vietnam. Whatever the holiday is and wherever in the world it is celebrated, there is usually a type of special food that goes along with it.
The holidays are a great time to celebrate and appreciate food. Yet, in some parts of the world, holidays have become synonymous with over-eating and food waste. And food isn’t the only thing that is wasted when it goes uneaten: all of the resources (like seeds, energy, land, water, feed, etc.), money and labour that go into producing, harvesting, processing, transporting and preparing it are also wasted. Not to mention the pollution and greenhouse gases that are created for nothing, throughout the entire food supply chain, when this food ends up in landfills. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that between 8-10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that was never consumed.?
We need to stop food loss and waste at all stages of the food supply system. In 2019, FAO estimated that 14 percent of all food produced globally is lost, from post-harvest all the way up to but not including retail. UNEP additionally estimated that?17 percent of food production?globally was discarded or wasted by households, retailers and the food service sector in 2019. This is the equivalent of approximately 931 million tonnes of food.
While we celebrate the people and ideas that we value, let us make saving food one of them.
C?te d’Ivoire: Women are winning the fight against malnutrition
“If malnutrition is a sign of poverty, then our women have partially conquered it in Kpafonon,” says a clearly pleased Solo Laga, a retired teacher. In this village, Solo has seen generations of children fed on Mimintchin (sauce for the poor), as it is known in Senufo, the local language. Anemic, deformed, or suffering from other malnutrition-related diseases, many children did not survive.
The “sauce for the poor” - a distant memory!
The diet in the Poro and Bagoué regions of northern C?te d’Ivoire lacks variety and consists mainly of maize and yams. “Until recently, we were evacuating at least three children a week to the hospital because of blood problems, but since we started cultivating the garden, everyone is in good health,” enthuses Awa Koné, president of the Bêtikana cooperative in Kpafanon.
Since 2019, eating habits have changed: households regularly consume carrots, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, eggplant, sweet potatoes, and eggs produced by the cooperative’s 56 members.
Financed by the World Bank through the Japan Social Development Fund, the Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (ASNAP) project allows vulnerable rural populations to have access to a rich, balanced diet and enables women to empower themselves through the cultivation and sale of organic vegetables.
Enrol to MAGENTA Academy
Register for our upcoming session in 22nd February,?2023: "SBC in a Day". Register before 31st December for an early bird discount, from 350 USD to 80 USD.
MAGENTA Academy is our training and capacity building institute where we upskill our partners on SBC theory and practice. We train governments, CSOs, journalists, and clients on how to enhance their understanding of how to apply behavioural science in their work. Our expert trainers are themselves SBC practitioners and courses range from a one-day crash course on the fundamentals of SBC, to bespoke training courses tailored to meet the capacity gaps of specific stakeholders.??Register now