A participatory initiative in Rwanda to combat child malnutrition
The Participation Group, comprising several members of the Train to Transform collective, is tasked with overseeing a fund dedicated to supporting participatory initiatives made available to the communities and assisted by member organisations of the collective. This fund is used to finance participatory activities initiated and carried out by the communities themselves. Its primary objectives are to address specific issues affecting these communities and to experiment with alternative approaches to driving social change.
In Rwanda, a number of community-based organisations of two geographical sectors proposed a community action to combat child malnutrition.
The members of the community based organisations collectively diagnosed the malnutrition of certain children in the community and prioritised this action for the Train to Transform support fund.
Once the action had been chosen, a committee of 9 people was elected to draw up the final project, identify malnourished children in the 2 areas in collaboration with the local health centres, and manage and monitor the participatory action.
Several meetings to present the project and promote ownership were also held with the stakeholders to be involved : members of the grassroots community organisations concerned, families of malnourished children, local health centres and local authorities.
In collaboration with the local health centre, more than 240 people from the community carried out the following actions over 12 days :
– Preparation and distribution of balanced meals to 84 children, 3 meals a day ;
– Supporting parents in preparing balanced meals, through training sessions and workshops to cook recipes together using local produce grown in the community.
– Setting up a community kitchen in each grassroots community organisation, to cook village vegetables in collective workshops over a 2-month period ;
– Setting up mushroom beds in the community to supplement the meals of the children monitored during the action.
84 children and their families benefited from the nutritional rehabilitation offered by the communities.
You can find out more about this experience here, thanks to the video made in April 2023 by the people involved in this participative action :
Explore additional participatory initiatives here, undertaken by the communities supported by member organisations within the Train to Transform collective and financially supported by the Participation Fund :
An Adenya Participative initiative : Water Source Rehabilitation
