October 2001
by Katia Noseck Sommer
Lydia Sorflaten
and Johanne Lortie
in collaboration with
"Informal Task Force on Education and Food for All"1
Part 2 of 3
Strategies: Awareness raising; curriculum development; partnership development
Media: Printed materials
The Community Forestry Unit of the FAO has been producing EarthBird environmental education materials for over ten years. The newest additions to the EarthBird Series are the Future Forests environmental education materials. These materials are designed to help young people learn the skills needed to use the forest sustainably and co-operatively, so that young people can ensure that forests resources are preserved for their future. The Future Forests environmental education materials consist of:
 |
At the core of this packet of materials is the Future Forests Cartoon Magazine. The magazine is the fifth in the EarthBird Series The Future Forests Cartoon Magazine conveys the key messages that: forests are important for the future of young people; forests should be used sustainably and co-operatively; that all community members, particularly young people, have something to contribute to using trees and forests wisely; and young people should get involved to ensure that forests resources are preserved for their future.
 |
This guide for teachers and youth leaders provides reference material, instructions for activities and tips for teaching the messages of the Future Forests Cartoon Magazine. The activities teach young people skills needed to get involved in using their forests wisely.
 |
This supplement for English teachers contains English vocabulary, grammar, games, oral exercises, and tips for using the English version of the Future Forests Cartoon Magazine to teach English as a foreign language.
 |
This large, colourful classroom poster helps to reinforce and promote the main messages of the Future Forests Cartoon Magazine. To interest young people in their forests and the way they are used, this poster has a detailed illustration full of plants, trees and wildlife and shows the way communities use them. The poster also includes a hide-and-seek game that encourages viewers to try to find species of plants and animals and forest products hidden throughout the illustration.
 |
The new Future Forests Cartoon Magazine for 12 to 15 year olds has been developed together with partner institutions all over the world. These partners have contributed their expertise and experience to the Future Forests Cartoon Magazine in the following ways:
 |
With the help of partners, we have reviewed and field-tested the Future Forests materials. Partners' input has helped ensure that:
* The cartoon magazine has a stronger plot, clearer text, and more detailed information on environmental issues.
* The teacher's guide is clear and easy to use and has activities that help reinforce the skills being taught.
* The English language supplement includes appropriate exercises and solid instructional material.
* The poster is technically correct and visually interesting.
More importantly, the involvement of committed and active partners ensures that the Future Forests materials will be distributed and used by them. In this way we can help ensure the materials will end up in the hands of teachers who believe in them and not on a shelf.
 |
Partners have also assisted in the translation and adaptation of the Future Forests materials into the five UN languages. Their input has ensured that the translation is appropriate for the teachers and young people who will be using the materials. Partners have also helped to ensure that appropriate local and regional content appears in the materials. This includes:
Partners have also committed to the translation and adaptation of Future Forests materials for additional regions such as Indonesia and Russia.
Strategies: Training of trainers; facilitation of community dialogue/participation
Media: Printed Materials
Syria: "Children, it is the time to act, El Badia nature needs your help". The protection of the Syrian rangeland is of significant importance. The region plays an important role in the economy in the country as most camels and sheep are fed on this rangeland. A major problem is that around 50% of the Syrian Steppe is suffering from the negative effects of drought brought on by natural and human-made causes. In large regions a persistent water scarcity and low soil fertility combine with the lack of local environmental protection practices to further drought.
Change is needed. To protect the severely degraded ecosystem of the steppe, a focus was set on wildlife preservation and range and livestock production increase, while at the same time strengthening population awareness of the environmental degradation and encouraging participation of local communities in project activities.
A project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, of duration July 1995-March 2000, was undertaken to create a tool to be used through Education Programs, to involve people in the conservation of nature and in the development of a sustainable way of living. One challenge is to design materials for people who might find reading and writing difficult. Another challenge, within the social and cultural environment, is to reach the people.
For further information:
Contact: Mario Acunzo/ SDRE;
email: Caterina.Batello-Cattaneo@fao.org
or Mario.Acunzo@fao.org
Strategies: Linking nutrition to food production; training of trainers; faciliating community participation; partnership development
Difficult circumstances exist for Panama's rural people (65% of the total population) who depend on agriculture to live. Unemployment is very high, coupled with lack of access to technology, no channels for commercialisation and low infrastructure. There is chronic malnutrition; particularly evident is lack of Vitamin A and iodine deficiency. Highly concerned about this situation, the government of Panama asked FAO to establish a rural development programme focusing on food security. The aim is to improve production and consumption of nutritious foods, and to work within the schools to integrate agro-foresty systems (fruit trees, quick growing plants for animal feeding, e.g. goats; domestic animals, environment components, gardens). Technical assistance was provided through implementation of integrated demonstration units and selected schools involving the following components:
School centred demonstrative technical units were to be implemented in 13 pilot villages. Children from age 6-14 were targeted, One day workshops were given to students, teachers and parents. Only local resources were used, there was no "high-tech" equipment involved.
The project included participation of all relevant institutions involved in developing rural communities in Panama including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Agricultural Development, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth, Women and Family, and the technicians from the development ministry. The office of the first lady of Panama co-ordinated the project (Presidencia de la Repùblica, (Despacho de la Primera Dama)).
Many positive things have resulted from this project. Demonstration Units will serve as open schools. New fruits and grains were introduced into the gardens. New techniques of rice production and composting animals and vegetables waste were used by the farmers (1/3 of whom were female). Workshops were given on horticulture, nutrition, food preparation, preservation and different uses of foods.
Training components included food security, rural development and agro-forestry. The project lasted two years and was originally meant for maintaining school gardens, but the production was so huge that, besides being used for school feeding and being distributed to the parents, produce was sold on the market. Funds were established by this income. Equatorial Guinea is interested in an adaptation of this project. With less human resources, the involvement of only teachers and pupils is planned for organic production and nutrition.
The multi-sectorial approach of the project avoided duplication of human, economic and logistic resources, and was based upon an integrated approach to resolve various human needs. The participatory rural appraisal allowed the population to express their needs, their problems, and to find solutions for themselves, by themselves.
For further information:
Contact Teresa Calderon, e-mail: Teresa.Calderon@fao.org, FAO/ ESPN Headquarters,
or Lydda.Gaviria@fao.org
Strategies: Curriculum development; awareness raising
Media: Printed materials; Internet; video; audio
World Food Day marks the founding of FAO in 1945. For two decades, the Day has been observed across the world to heighten public awareness of the problem of world hunger and focus attention on food security for all. At the beginning of the third millennium, more than 800 million men, women and children are chronically hungry. In his World Food Day message 2000, FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf stated: "The scourges of hunger and poverty are morally unacceptable and have to be defeated. Hunger and chronic undernutrition diminish human life. The lack of physical or economic access to safe, nutritious and healthy food at all times leads to negative consequences for peoples and nations."
Each year, an educational package is put together, based on the World Food Day chosen theme for that particular year. The following Case Study shows how this FAO information has been distributed to 300 schools each year in a small province of Canada, Nova Scotia.
Canada: The Government of Canada commemorates World Food Day each year, to honour the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), looking to FAO as 'an international body formed more than half a century ago to alleviate world hunger'. Each year's theme is detailed in press releases from the national Minister of Agriculture to recognise this important day on behalf of the Government of Canada. A News Release is prepared (a sample is available at www.agr.ca/cb/news/1999/n91015ce.html). Special plans centre around the theme that FAO chooses. For example, in 1999, the Government of Canada launched the first-ever Canadian Agriculture and Food Celebration, timed to coincide with World Food Day and Thanksgiving. The Celebration aims to highlight the importance of the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector. Details are available at: www.agr.ca/cb/cafc-fcaa/kit/kite.pdf or www.agr.ca/cb/news/1999/n91015ce.html.
Each year, an educational package of FAO produced materials is made available by a national co-ordinating committee to a committee in each province. In Nova Scotia, for example, the committee co-ordinated the distribution of these educational materials to schools. Each school received one package which is shared by the various subject areas. Some 300 packages were distributed in this province alone.
One Nova Scotian teacher of World Nutrition says, "I built my course around the World Food Day materials that arrived each year. The package arrived in the library and teachers (global geography, world nutrition, agriculture and foods teachers) must share materials. Innovative teaching techniques have been included in this package that are particularly helpful; for example, Dimensions of Need, An Atlas of Food and Agriculture, case studies, world population graphs, crossword puzzles, suggested activities to make issues come alive for students. Unfortunately, federal funding was cut for this program but two things are fortunate: materials are in the schools from past years and the internet provides access to the current year's information."
For further information on World Food Day:
www.fao.org/fmfh/info/wfd.htm
www.agr.ca/cb/news/1999/n91015ce.html
FAO Director-General's World Food Day and TeleFood 2000 Message -www.fao.org/wfd/wfd2000-e.htm
The FAO Ambassadors Programme: Celebrities support the fight against hunger
World Food Day 2000 information note in pdf
Issues paper 2000: "A Millennium Free from Hunger"
World Food Day 2000 video spot
World Food Day 2000 audio material
FAO focus on "The state of food insecurity in the world 2000"
TeleFood -- FAO's global campaign to build awareness and raise solidarity to end world hunger
Contact World-Food-Day@fao.org
www.fao.org/wfd/Issuepapers2000/issue00-e.pdf
Strategies: Training of trainers; curriculum development; policy dialogue; awareness raising
Seventy-two percent of Namibia's total population is under the age of 30. Namibian youth policy defines youth as young people between the ages of 15 and 30. Youth represent 350,000 persons or 25 percent of the total Namibian population. Almost three-quarters of the Namibian population (approximately 260,000 young people) lives in rural areas.
Rural young people make up the portion of the population most seriously affected by the overall high levels of unemployment in the country. As a result, there is a large and growing out-migration of youth to the cities, dissatisfied with lack of training, education and employment opportunities in rural areas. This largely uneducated and unskilled segment of the population leaves rural areas in large numbers hoping to find jobs and a better life. As with many other countries, the rapid out-migration not only causes severe social, economic, political and environmental problems in urban areas, but compromises food security when so many young people, often the brightest and most capable, leave the countryside causing a vacuum of human resources necessary to maintain basic village-level agricultural production systems.
There is an urgent need to address these problems and the Government of Namibia is giving high priority to seeking effective solutions. The Ministry of Youth and Sport in its Directorate of Youth Development has a sub-division of Employment and Training, which aims at promoting youth job programmes. It has limited capacity and is only able to deal with urban youth who are able to "walk-in" to the multi-purpose centres. In addition they have no experience in developing agricultural training curricula. Similar activities by other ministries are predominantly aimed at supporting adults or at offering formal and higher education. Although some levels of formal education do exist for young people living in the countryside, these do not adequately prepare them for life after school. The project seeks to provide complementary community-based non-formal education that includes practical knowledge and skills for everyday living that can contribute to making work economically rewarding and rural life more satisfying.
The rural youth centres of the Ministry of Youth and Sport are part of the wider National Youth Policy for the Republic of Namibia that specifically addresses rural youth as an important target sub-group. The available financial resources are limited and the country is lacking skilled personnel to carry out the development of a rural youth component to the on-going youth development activities of the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MYS).
The MYS has some success in reaching young people visiting their multi-purpose-training centres. They now need help in developing training strategies and non-formal education curriculum to begin to reach rural youth. Therefore the Government of Namibia has requested FAO assistance to support innovations that would enable the MYS to meet the education and training needs of rural young people.
The European Union, Finland, LUX-Development and UNESCO have also shown interest in supporting the future development of the ten new centres at a later stage. UNFPA and UNICEF have already been active in training in Namibia and once the model for rural youth has been developed and adequately tested, they could support its further development thus complementing Government and FAO work in the area.
The objective of the project is to develop and test leader guides and small enterprise development modules, as part of an innovative community-based rural youth programme, enabling girls and boys and young men and women to gain basic knowledge and skills in agriculture and nutrition through practical experiences and activity-based learning, thus contributing to their ability to make an economically rewarding and satisfying life for themselves and their families in rural Namibia.
Three sets of leader guides will be developed according to the new activity-based, experiential learning methodology with a life skills development perspective. They deal with very basic knowledge and skills related to nutrition and agriculture. The challenge for the curriculum writers is to take the basic subject matter and transform it into a series of simple, activity-based lessons, using non-formal educational youth development experiential methodology. Each set of leader guides will have basic, intermediate and advanced booklets, each containing from 10 to 15 activities. Technical support for the actual writing of the leader guides will come from the SDRE Technical Officer and the International Rural Youth Development Expert.
To compliment the learning activities in the leader guides, each trainer and volunteer leader will be provided with a basic manual or set of references in the areas of foods/nutrition, poultry and vegetable gardening. The Technical Services of AGPC, ESNP, AGAP will select the appropriate manual to be supplied to the project. For this element of the work plan, project computers will be used for desk-top publishing and Web searches in support of curriculum development.
The outputs of the project will be:
Strategies: Facilitating community participation; awareness raising
Education has long been recognised as a key to improving nutritional status, enhancing household food security and raising incomes of rural families. Educating young people especially enhances the potential for improvement for future generations. For more than 50 years, FAO has worked to co-ordinate agriculture, health and education efforts to achieve this goal. In recent years it has become increasingly clear that the equitable participation of community members in decisions that affect their ability to acquire and utilise food effectively is crucial for achieving and sustaining improvements in their lives. Activities described in an issue of Food, Nutrition and Agriculture , No 22 1998,(www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESN/fna22-e/resume-e.htm#editorial) illustrate strategies to facilitate such participation and improve nutritional status, enhance household food security and raise incomes of rural families.
Educating the public, especially young people, about nutrition often through garden projects in schools, has shown to have a positive impact on nutrition and health status. Here are examples of how communities express their development priorities and how institutions are involved in developing activities to work together more effectively.
Specific strategies: Linking nutrition to food production
Vietnam: A nutrition improvement project benefiting 5,588 households with 3,716 young children was implemented in four communes of Vietnam. The project collected data to monitor vitamin A status, household garden production, food intake and growth patterns of young children. The project was followed by significant increases in the production of fruits, vegetables and other foods from family gardens; increased intake of nutrients including iron, vitamin C, carotene and protein among households with young children; and improvements in the nutritional status of young children and the nutritional knowledge of mothers. Acute respiratory and diarrhoeal infections are the major causes of mortality in infants and young children in Viet Nam. A morbidity survey showed a highly significant reduction in the incidence and severity of both illnesses in a project commune but no statistically significant change in a control commune in the same district.
In the project commune there were major increases in food available for consumption or for sale and in food intake. Data on household food production, the nutritional knowledge of mothers, dietary intakes of households and the nutritional status of young children were compared to explain the significant differences in morbidity trends between the project and control communes. In terms of growth, the project commune had witnessed an increase in the number of children defined as normal and a significant decrease in those defined as stunted (low height for age) in the project commune.
For further information: (www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESN/fna22-e/resume-e.htm#editorial)
Specific strategies: Facilitating community participation; linking nutrition to food production
Zambia: In the Luapula Valley of northern Zambia, rates of chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are unacceptably high. Preliminary survey results indicate that the majority of children under five years of age are stunted because of chronic protein-energy malnutrition. A participatory rural appraisal found that nutritional vulnerability is a result of chronic household food insecurity; poor access to adequate health care, water and sanitation facilities; inadequate care for vulnerable people; and lack of essential knowledge and basic skills because of poor education and communication.
To date more than 100 communities have started micro-projects, many involving school gardening in conjunction with nutrition education and water user groups. Help comes from agriculture, education, community development and health organisations; and technical personnel and district project co-ordinators. The project follows a "community action planning" strategy in which the community members fully participate in the planning process and take the lead in determining needs, identifying solutions, initiating actions and monitoring progress. After setting priorities and plans of action, the communities develop micro-projects, which have included, for example, community-managed oil-palm nurseries, seed multiplication groups, farmers' field schools, small-scale irrigation and dry-season vegetable gardening, school gardening in conjunction with nutrition education and water user groups. An active dialogue has begun, and people are taking action to improve their nutrition situation with assistance from the community support services and the project. Through the process, farmers and extension workers have come to understand that nutrition problems have many aspects and that they should think about solutions in an integrated manner.
Specific strategies: Facilitating community participation; awareness raising; linking nutrition to food production
Nigeria: The Food-Based Action Programme for Household Food Security and Nutrition Improvement for Kano State was developed through participatory methods to respond to the high levels of malnutrition in the northern savannah zone of Nigeria. Technical officers from all government sectors participated in the programme's development, along with people from the community. FAO provided a multidisciplinary team of experts specialised in participatory rural appraisal (PRA), farming systems and agricultural extension, nutrition programmes and training, and nutrition-related health issues to facilitate the process. The teams visited 12 villages in three agro-ecological zones. A total of 1,718 households provided information about farming, resources, nutrition and health. The PRAs found that household food insecurity and malnutrition were widespread. Inadequate access to fertilizer, improved seed varieties, pesticides and labour-saving farm and food-processing implements were major constraints to improving household food security. An underlying cause of food insecurity was fragmentation of agricultural land resulting from population increases. Poor access to drinking water, reduced infant feedings and diseases contributed to malnutrition. Extension and health and nutrition services were insufficient.
The action programme focuses on several issues:
Problems have been identified, now actions are needed that hopefully will help children that are directly affected by the problems.
Specific strategies: Facilitating community participation and social dialogue; awareness raising
Under a framework of co-operation between FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Development in Morocco, a project was designed to develop teaching materials to help agricultural extensionists educate rural populations on subjects related to food and nutrition, food hygiene and quality. It soon became apparent to the project's promoters that the project was broader in scope and that a communication strategy was needed to meet the ultimate aim of enhancing the quality of certain locally produced foods. Activities for social communication on nutrition were developed and promoted in the three project areas (Azilal, Tadla and Beni-Mellal) during the six months of the project's execution. The key protagonists, the men and women farmers, expressed an interest in these matters and were ready to engage in dialogue with the extension workers.
Education by social dialogue would, ultimately, improve nutritional status, thus making life better for children as well as adults in the community,
For further information:
www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESN/fna22-e/resume-e.htm#editorial
Strategies: Facilitating community participation and social dialogue; awareness raising
Media: Printed material
Sudan:Nutrition education material for use at the community level in developing countries has been prepared in the context of an FAO technical assistance project in Sudan, in collaboration with the School Gardening and Nutrition Education Department (SGNED) of the Ministry of Education.
The document, entitled "Family Nutrition Guide", gives basic information on food and nutrition matters, and addresses common nutritional issues and problems in rural communities in developing countries. Applying a positive approach and emphasising concepts like the balanced diet, as well as the particular needs of the different family members, and protecting the quality and safety of foods in the household, it provides the basis for healthy nutrition for all family members.
The "Family Nutrition Guide" for Sudan was developed primarily as the training guide for so-called village nutrition guides, holding three months training courses on nutrition (and community-development) for women in rural Sudan. Other extension workers, such as community health workers, agricultural extension workers and community development workers, who are involved in promoting community level nutrition, could also make good use of the document. Finally, the "Family Nutrition Guide" should be useful for all those women who attend basic nutrition training, as well as other literate and generally educated persons who are responsible for the nutrition of families.
The document currently available has been explicitly prepared for use in rural communities in Sudan, but its concept can be adapted to the circumstances and the needs of other countries.
For further information Single copies of the English version of the "Family Nutrition Guide" (for Sudan) can be obtained from: Peter.Glasauer@fao.org
Strategies: Training of trainers
Media: Printed materials
Namibia: The essential role of nutrition in the promotion and enhancement of the overall quality and span of life is widely and well recognised. Poor nutrition constrains economic performance and adversely affects physical and mental development, not only reducing the quality of life, but also threatening life itself. In addition to access to a variety of nutritious, safe and affordable foods, people need accurate information on what constitutes a healthy diet and how they may best meet their nutritional needs. Nutrition education is a key element in promoting good nutrition practices. National dietary guidelines are among the most important tools on which to base the development of any nutrition education material or related programmes, and they can help to disseminate consistent and co-ordinated nutrition messages.
In the past, nutrition education in Namibia was poorly co-ordinated and hampered by the fact that teachers, nurses and NGOs used a variety of approaches, dietary guidelines and food guides of their own choice (e.g. pyramid, squares, meal approach, nutrient approach). This was not only confusing for the recipients of the information (general public, specific target groups) but lead also to uncertainty among the providers of nutrition education. Instead, in order to increase effectiveness of nutrition education, the disseminated nutrition messages should be consistent and co-ordinated.
The Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) of FAO agreed, therefore, to assist Namibian authorities to aim for a unified starting point and to develop national food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) which can serve as a basis and reference point for nutrition education and communication work nation-wide.
The Namibian FBDG were developed into a 16-page booklet, entitled "Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Namibia - Food Choices for a Healthy Life", presenting, illustrating and briefly explaining the 10 individual guidelines as elaborated by a national multi-disciplinary working group. The booklet is complemented by a food guide (poster), which presents the written statements of the booklet in visual form to make it more practically useful. The food guide contains an outline of possible daily food choices, based on Namibian dietary patterns and takes into account the nutrient content of these foods, so that it can also be used as a practical guide for meal planning.
For further information
Contact the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Windhoek, Namibia, for additional copies
Strategies: Linking nutrition to HIV/AIDS awareness; policy dialogue and advocacy; awareness raising; training of trainers; partnership development
The Nutrition Programmes Service (ESNP) of FAO has initiated the preparation of a report on the subject. The document includes a review of the current knowledge on the subject, an inventory and analysis of pertinent materials and programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as recommendations for follow-up.
The main findings of the report and the ESNP plans for follow-up are summarised below.
Rationale and issues
Main recommendations of consultant's report
The issue (nutritional care and support for people with HIV) could be pursued and/or improved through a variety of documents, training and co-ordinating initiatives:
Regional (international) level
National level
Local level
The consultant recognises the availability of nutrition guidelines (or their development, where still missing) as important, but sees the more pressing need in making sure that such a document is used and part of an integrated national assistance programme.
Based on our understanding of the subject and taking into due account the information provided by the consultant, we conclude that dietary management (nutrition) is an important mitigating factor for people with HIV. We further conclude that this tool (dietary management) would need to be promoted, improved and applied in a concerted and integrated manner. Given the urgent need to act quickly and the fact that most countries would require assistance in making use of this mitigating tool, it would be recommendable that an appropriate organisation assumes a catalytic, leading role in the international community, initiating and promoting immediate and as comprehensive as possible action, following the recommendations of the consultant.
So far, and as a first step, the decision has been taken that ESNP develops so-called "Guidelines on Nutrition for People living with HIV/AIDS" for use by community level health and other extension workers, as well as the educated public. While a sample of such a document will be developed in a specific country, accompanying "Instructions for their Local Adaptation" will allow experts in other countries to adapt them to their local needs and circumstances.
For further information: Copies of the report can be obtained from Peter.Glasauer@fao.org
Contact:
Peter.Glasauer@fao.org or
Maren.Lieberum@fao.org
Click here to go to Part 3
|
