SESSION 10

PREPARING PLANS OF ACTION WITH
THE COMMUNITY

Objective

By the end of this session, field workers will have assisted communities in designing a realistic project and plan of action for home garden and nutrition improvement.

FIGURE 10.1
Preparing plans of action with the community

OVERVIEW

The principles studied in the previous session are now applied in the designing of real-life plans of action for local needs and conditions. Some of the interventions can be planned and implemented by individual households, while others can be done collectively. The option chosen largely depends on what the community members decide to do and how they organize themselves.

ACTIVITIES

Selection of priority issues. Depending on the local potentials and limitations, community members are asked to choose the solutions that they want to implement first and list them in the order of importance. Interventions given equal priority can be placed together on the list.

Preparing the project and work plan. The field workers will then facilitate community discussions and work with the community step by step in the various elements of the plan of action. To facilitate dialogue in preparing the planning of each of the selected interventions, field workers work through the following list of questions with a community group:

• Why do you want to implement the intervention (rationale and goal)?
• What do you want to achieve (objective)?
• How will you implement the intervention (strategy)?
• What immediate results of the various activities do you foresee (output)?
• What must be done and by whom (activities)?
• What materials (e.g. planting materials, technical advice, equipment) will be needed in order for the foreseen actions to take place (inputs)?
• Which items or services must be purchased, and at what cost (budget)?
• Who will pay for these items or services (source of inputs/finance)?
• When will each of the foreseen activities begin and how long will it take for each of them to be completed (timetable or work plan)?
• What problems do you foresee during implementation and how can these problems be avoided or minimized (risk factors)?
• How will the community check to see if the intervention is progressing in the right direction (monitoring)?
• How will the community determine if the intervention has achieved its intended aim (evaluation)?

Further refinement of the plan. During the process of discussing and responding to the above questions, the community finally decides whether or not a particular solution is realistic, particularly after establishing the cost of the inputs. This enables community members to decide if they can afford the option in the short term or if they will have to wait until they have raised enough resources from within or outside the community.

Follow-up to the development of the community plan of action. After finalizing the community plan of action, each group or person involved or responsible for implementing a particular activity can begin to take action, as indicated in the work plan. The community members need to set up a mechanism for ensuring that activities that involve different sectors and responsibilities (e.g. a cooking demonstration to which the field workers - health workers, home economists and nutritionists in particular - and participating households will be invited, and for which cooking utensils and food items must be on hand) are properly coordinated by the person appointed for this task by the community. The field workers should provide technical support and assist the communities in monitoring progress, using indicators selected by the community to do this.

Evaluation of the field visit and evaluation of the training. At the end of the field visit, field workers evaluate the day's activities and discuss the follow-up action to be taken upon returning to their local communities.

TECHNICAL NOTES

To be effective, plans must be small and manageable

It is better to undertake and complete one activity successfully than to undertake several activities and not complete them. Far too many community projects begin with good intentions, then fail to achieve anything. There are many reasons for this, but a common reason is that the activities planned are too ambitious, do not properly address the real needs and opportunities of the participating households and often require too much from the field worker and the households.

When planning community projects, field workers should therefore aim at small, achievable objectives, outputs and activities that can be carried out within a time frame that is realistic and that suits local requirements. Two objectives for this training course, for example, might be that by the end of the course:

• 80 percent of the households attending the course should be able to apply at least two new techniques to improving the productivity of their home gardens;
• 80 percent of the households with malnourished children will have selected two new crops to cultivate that will significantly diversify their families' diets.

The most effective strategy is to work with the people and resources available

In order to be successful, community projects must be planned together with the households concerned. They also must work within the limits of available resources. Some examples of local resources commonly available are:

• well-developed home gardens in the area;
• local skills in, knowledge of and good practices for home gardening, food processing and preparation;
• natural resources, such as land, soils, water and forests;
• local nurseries;
• local research and extension service stations of the given country's Ministry of Agriculture;
• community groups and associations;
• the local government;
• NGOs;
• local colleges or universities;
• information collected during the home garden visits.

PROJECT OUTLINE 2:

PROMOTING A NUTRITIOUS DIET THROUGH NUTRITION EDUCATION AND HOME GARDENING

RATIONALE

There is evidence of malnutrition in the village, which threatens the growth and development of the children. The dietary deficiencies are partly because of people's lack of knowledge about the right crops to grow and proper ways to prepare the kinds of nutritious meals that would meet the needs of all household members. Nutrition education for home garden managers and their families would enable people to grow a variety of foods, make better use of existing food sources and prepare nutritious foods for their families.

GOAL

Improved food production and nutrition through better home garden utilization and nutrition education.

OBJECTIVE

To help 50 households learn about adequate food and nutrition and how to create a nutritious diet using local foods.

STRATEGY

The home garden managers and their families have not previously had the opportunity to learn about the importance of growing a variety of foods and eating a nutritious diet. In order to encourage them to diversify home garden production and make better use of locally available foods, field workers organize nutrition education sessions in the communities. The training and education sessions begin with an assessment of what the local people already know about the crops they grow, store, process, prepare and eat. A knowledge, attitude and practices survey will be conducted in order for field workers to gain a better understanding of the local people's cultural beliefs, attitudes about food and food sharing in the household, and their food preferences and restrictions. Based on this information, nutrition education messages and materials can be prepared and disseminated in a variety of settings, including schools, health centres, agricultural extension meetings, markets and village gatherings.

Education sessions will be extremely practical and will emphasize learning by doing. Nutrition education sessions will use pictures, flip charts and local drama, song and dance, and will include demonstrations of simple food preparation and processing techniques and the preparation of new recipes in which all household members can participate.

OUTPUTS AND TARGETS

• 50 households participating in assessing their own food and nutrition knowledge and practices;
• a picture book or charts created to show the food values of a variety of locally available crops;
• practical nutrition education integrated into primary school lessons for boys and girls;
• two songs composed and then performed during village drama sessions and on market days, encouraging households to feed their children more fruits and green leafy vegetables;
• weekly food demonstration sessions conducted in the village on how to prepare nutritious weaning foods.

ACTIVITIES

• preparation of booklets or charts;
• composition of songs and preparation for and conducting of village drama sessions;
• preparation for and demonstrations of food processing and preparation;
• preparation of nutrition education materials for use in primary schools on what a nutritious diet is, the importance of a nutritious diet and its effect on health, the food value of commonly grown local crops, simple food processing techniques and recognizing and creating a nutritious diet.

INPUTS

• material designer: ten days;
• artist: five days;
• nutritionist: three weeks;
• trainer: three weeks;
• printing of materials: one week.

TIMETABLE

• training a local drama group: ten days;
• training community mobilizers for food demonstrations: ten days;
• training teachers on how to plan and integrate nutrition education into the primary school curriculum: ten days;
• preparation of training materials: ten days;
• preparation of picture charts: ten days;
• printing of picture charts: five days;
• training, education and drama sessions in villages, schools and other settings: one half day every week for 52 weeks.

BUDGET

• community contributes food for cooking demonstrations;
• technical assistance provided by local NGO.