USAID/Guinea: Food for Peace Program Makes a Difference in Guinea

JUNE 8, 2006

Food for Peace Program Makes a Difference in Guinea

Training for improved agricultural productivity, health and nutrition education, and direct food aid have combined to reduce child malnutrition through the USAID-administered Food for Peace program.

TÉLIMÉLÉ PREFECTURE -- Nearly 1,200 farmers, including 834 women, last year received training to improve their agricultural productivity through the Guinea Food and Livelihood Security Project in Pita and Télimélé (FLSPT), a food-security project funded by USAID through the Food for Peace (PL 480) program.

Implemented by Opportunities Industrialization Centers International/Guinea (OICI), the project provides training in agricultural production, health and nutritional education, and food-for-work exchanges in 19 districts in six sub-prefectures - three each in Pita and Télimélé - with a population of about 8,800 residents.

mothers with their children in Telimele prefecture

Mothers sit with their children in Sarekaly village of Telimele prefecture. USAID's Food for Peace program has reduced malnutrition among children in six sub-prefectures by up to 74 percent.

The 1,191 farmers trained by OICI are organized into 34 farmer associations, each with a management committee trained in democracy and governance. The associations are comprised of men and women who are taught to organize themselves, elect leadership, interact with local government, and exercise democratic decision making. Working with government extension agents, associations members have received training in agricultural development, including such vital topics as soil preparation, crop rotation, installation of tree nurseries, composting and forestry.

From January 2005 through the end of April 2006, OICI reports that cases of "moderate" and "severe" malnutrition among children 0 to 3 years of age were reduced 50 percent and 74 percent, respectively, in the target districts. Such improvements were due both to health and nutrition counseling of mothers and direct food aid to their children.

In Pita prefecture, OICI has extended its training to vegetable production in home gardens maintained by 62 women, who use the produce to supplement their families' nutritional requirements or sell it at weekly markets. The women were provided loans to purchase a variety of hybrid seeds - okra, carrots, cabbage, eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes - as well as avocado, mango and citrus trees.

One of the three "Mama lumiere' in Sarekaly village demonstrates how knowledge about the nutrition of locally grown fruits and vegetables is transferred to mothers and their children in the effort to decrease malnutrition.

The health component of the FLSPT project focuses on recruitment and training of local volunteers to act as village health promoters (VHP), along with training of village birth attendants (VBA). These activities in the 19 districts reached 5,140 women and 3,661 men during 2005, OICI said.

In addition, the growth of 1,435 children 0 to 3 years of age was monitored on a monthly basis, OICI said. The VHPs, VBAs and 57 "Mama lumiere" combined to follow more than 6,000 children in the 19 districts, monitoring their growth and providing their mothers with nutritional and health counseling.

In January 2005, 22.4 percent of children 0 to 3 years of age were found to suffer from moderate malnutrition and 7.8 percent from severe malnutrition, according to OICI. By April 2006, the malnutrition rates among participating children had fallen to 11.4 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Story and photos by Richard Stirba