By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
Worried by the challenges posed by Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in some Area Councils in the nation’s capital, International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH), took its campaign against malnutrition to Kwali and Bwari Area Council.
The campaign was to empower women with skills and knowledge on how to address issues of malnutrition.
To address the challenges, the NGO selected 30 women in Barangoni community in Bwari Area Council, while another 30 were targeted in Kwali community of Kwali Area Council.
The three-day training funded by the European Union Agents for Citizen- Driven Transformation (EU-ACT), will equip them knowledge to improve their diet, while the skills will help them use waste substances to create wealth for themselves.
The beneficiaries were trained on how to produce charcoal briquettes from farm produce wastage such as groundnut peels, corn source, saw dust and sugarcane peels among others.
They were also trained on how to make organic fertilizer from wastes such as; blood and bones collected from animals, ash, manure and other decomposed waste.
Speaking, the Executive Director of the ISMPH, Mrs Moji Makanjuola, said that the training was organised in order to support poor women whose children suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition.
She said the training was a pilot in Bwari and Kwali.
She explained that: “Because we found out that most women whose children come out with SAM are women who are not gainfully employed, they are the poorest of the poorest.
“The training that we have given is such that they can do it themselves because they are using raw materials that they don’t have to source from far, but they are things that are available within their vicinity for them to use and we have ready up-takers, people who can buy it from them.
“We believe that when they buy from them, they will have the economic power to see that when they notice the sign of their children being malnourished or being sick, they can quickly go to the health facilities around so that they can stop it before it becomes serious cases.”
She noted that: “A child that suffers from Severe Acute Malnutrition is susceptible to all kinds of sickness and the doctors and nurses have said that if we get it from the beginning it can be stopped.
“This training I can say is multipurpose because we are not just teaching them how to make money, we are also teaching them somethings that mothers should know and also encouraging the fact that we have some of these foods they can give their children that are affordable and readily accessible.
“With the little money we hope they will make from this skills, they will be able to feed their children well.
“That is why we have brought in a nutritionist to speak with them, we have also brought those I call ‘economic helpers’ to help them to know how to produce these things.
“From the result we are getting, these things are doable, we are hoping that we will bring this case to the FCT administration so that we can expand to other area councils and indeed, all over the country.”
Also speaking on what necessitated the programme, Bukola Smith, Programme Officer of ISMPH said, the project was designed as a pilot in Bwari and Kwali to help address cases of malnutrition.
“They are also communities of choice for people fleeing insecurity from other parts of the country. It is also a community with a lot of vulnerable people.
“We chose Barangoni community because of the issues of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). Prior to this, we gathered materials and discovered that malnutrition and poverty is the major problem of the people. We also discovered that despite the fact that it is an agrarian community, they do not have proper knowledge on the kind of diet they should eat.
“What we are doing is to address both issues of poverty and lack of knowledge on nutritious food. We are also having health experts to tell them about locally available food they could eat.
“This training will empower them to be self reliant. We are also happy because these waste are things that are common in the community. Also in the production of charcoal briquettes, they have available materials to use so as to achieve results.
“We believe that when they are able to transfer this waste to wealth knowledge, the standard of living will improve and the issue of malnutrition will be addressed because the women will have more money in their pockets and knowledge to do the right thing and properly take care of their families.”
She added that the machine will be in the Chief’s palace for proper monitoring and maintenance. “We will be monitoring to ensure progress and to ensure that the people take it seriously and the aim of the programme is not defeated.”
While appreciating the NGO, the Etsu of Kwali, HRH Alh Dr. Shaban Audu Nizazzo in his reaction to the empowerment programme said the empowerment by ISMPH funded by EU-ACT is aimed at improving the lives of a common man and ensuring they are elevated both socially and economically in order to depend on themselves to live independent lives.
“We have no doubt of the Executive Director of ISMPH of what she can do with her NGO towards improving the lives people in the community to be independent to their selves.
“When she finally comes with her team, we said yes, that the person that would lead us through to the financial and economic empowerment has finally come and will allow her to do this programme for our people.
“Therefore, we are hoping at the end of the programme, the situation of our people will not be the same, it would be improved and they would have a good direction and good purpose of life for themselves,” Nizazzo.
Similarly, the Women Leader in Kwali, Hajara Aliu who is also a retired nurse said the programme is very nice and rewarding.
She said assuming this programme was here before her retirement, she would put it into practice and would have elevated her more than what she is at the moment.
She however said this programme would be a capacity to help her family and the community at large.
“My expectations is that beneficiaries should be able to learn, put it into practice to get something to feed their families. The plan going forward is to encourage those that have learnt one or two things here is go into their various communities and networks to train others so that the knowledge would circulates for them to empowered towards alleviating malnutrition and poverty,” she said.
