Culinary Lesson for Women – CL4W
Little effort by FNVC with significant promise to control food waste and make more food go round in the household
Lack of functional knowledge and skills on food and nutrition among housewives is responsible for their careless attitude to hygiene in food handling; excessive food loss and waste especially during kitchen preparation, and their inability to prepare and serve balanced nutrition meal to household members despite abundant food items around. All family members are affected but critically affected are new born and weaning babies, school-age children, pregnant and lactating women, the sick and elderly. This is the prevalent situation in most sub-Sahara countries that pose great concern towards achieving the SDG2 by the year 2030 (only 11 years a head). For some countries, communities and even families, culinary knowledge and skill is paramount priority now to contain hunger and malnutrition challenges within tolerable SDG2 levels where the remaining years to achieving the desired goal appears just impossible. In a community that is bedeviled with poverty, corruption and poorly enlightened yet naturally with vast food resources, vocational culinary lesson becomes most feasible option particularly for core actors (women) in the household food value chain to empower them for efficient and effective handling of food and nutrition issues in the family. It is on this premise that Food and Nutrition Vocational Center (FNVC) which is an adult education NGO provides short intensive weekend vocational training on food and nutrition for housewives in a densely local government area of Kano metropolitan in northern Nigeria. Three hours per day in borrowed classroom from local primary school within the housewives’ close surrounding area. Training focused on food hygiene and safety; household food loss and waste control, recipe innovation and homebound food business management. It is free training that lasts ten weekends and turned out 20-30 housewives every quarter (three months). An immediate opportunity that availed to the trained women is school meal business, preparing high quality safe and affordable meal to primary school pupils during morning break period. Been highly concerned caregivers to school-age children the trained women were quick to relate acquired knowledge with emerging opportunity in the ongoing official school feeding program and they are making tangible impact.
Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai
Founder/Director
FNVC
Kano Nigeria
Mr. Rabiu Auwalu Yakasai