The nutritional status of women at the time of conception and during pregnancy are important, both for mom’s health, and in ensuring healthy fetal development. Maternal undernutrition contributes to 800,000 neonatal deaths annually and is a risk factor for fetal growth restriction, which is associated with a substantially increased risk of stunting at 24 months of age. Good nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life is essential for children to attain their developmental potential; between conception and age two offers a critical window of opportunity to establish a lasting foundation for health. We adapted our core curriculum to address the unique needs of pregnant women - preventing malnutrition before it even begins.
Gardens for Health recognizes the importance of teaching families to receive key agriculture, nutrition, and health education that will allow their children to thrive. We need food systems that ensure all families have access to a diverse array of nutritious foods. The Maternal Nutrition Program is inspired by feedback from program graduates of our flagship Child Nutrition Program. The Child Nutrition Program was put in action in 19 Health Clinics across two provinces in Rwanda to implement our integrated nutrition and agriculture programming for vulnerable smallholder families, reaching 3000 people annually.
Our Maternal Nutrition curriculum encourages mothers to attend prenatal care in health facilities while also addressing the factors that can contribute to malnutrition. We cover topics like the importance of prenatal visits, how to create a balanced meal, why hygiene and food safety is important to preventing malnutrition, the importance of the timely introduction of breastfeeding and complementary feeding, and postnatal care.
Agriculture
We believe in the power of sustainable agriculture, where farming and soil conservation can bring forth nutritious food and create healthier, thriving communities. Our agriculture team works to blend sustainable agriculture and Rwandan farming practices to build resilient vegetable gardens. By empowering families to create food sources resilient against droughts, storms, and unexpected climate challenges in the future, they can make the most of their limited resources.
Caregivers meet in small groups throughout the course of our program to receive practical, hands-on agriculture trainings on bed-building, planting and transplanting, in-season care, pests and diseases, seed saving, composting, and more.
Healthy lands can effectively improve the long-term physical health of vulnerable families. Our weekly agricultural trainings promote regenerative farming practices that improve soil quality, reduce soil erosion, and improve water retention, while also increasing access to a diversity of foods.
Our Home Garden Package is the core deliverable that we provide to each household in our program. It includes seeds, seedlings, and fruit trees. We prioritize endemic vegetables with seeds that can be saved, so that families can continue to nurture a flourishing home garden long after they graduate.
We designed our Home Garden Package with the element of choice in mind. Families are not simply given a standardized, one-size-fits-all seed package. They can make a knowledgeable decision about which crops will grow best on their land, most improve their diet, and earn the most profit at local food markets.
One Pot, One Hour: One Complete Meal Model
Families with limited resources — from money to time, to firewood and water — are often at risk of malnutrition. Our innovative “One Pot, One Hour” method was developed in response to these resource constraints. Families prepare a balanced meal using ingredients that are readily available and affordable, on a single stove and pot.
In 2015, this approach was adopted by the Rwandan Ministry of Health and shared with over 44,000 Community Health Workers across the nation as part of national efforts to improve nutrition in the first thousand days of life.
Health
Over the course of 14 weeks, we train expectant mothers and partners on how to keep their newborns healthy. Our health curriculum goes beyond household food production, addressing the numerous other factors that can contribute to malnutrition.
Because malnutrition is complex, there is no straightforward solution. In recognizing this, our health curriculum provides families with the comprehensive knowledge they need to tackle malnutrition from every angle.
Besides lessons on handwashing, hygiene, and family planning, we give families a platform to discuss controversial topics that may delay progress toward a healthy life, including mental health, gender-based violence, traditional healing, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Men’s Enagement
Applying a gender lens to our nutrition-sensitive programming ensures the support of the entire household when adopting healthy habits. We started this unit in 2016 after mothers said they wished to involve their partners in maintaining healthy changes at home.
We engage the husbands of program participants in a four-day workshop that covers essential trainings in agriculture and nutrition topics.
Sustainability
Over the past decade, we have run our program in 20 health clinics and worked in close partnership with the local government to adopt our program at the national level to end malnutrition. Our goal is to incorporate agriculture into the prevention and treatment of malnutrition. To date, 19,448 parents have graduated from our program, improving the lives of their families.
To continue engaging program graduates, we organized 1,234 program graduates into 46 peer support groups that maintain healthy habits, establish savings, and spread their knowledge in the community.
“Life is better with veggies. And now we share these skills and knowledge with our neighbors. We’ve given 30 households seedlings so that they can plant their own gardens, and if they don’t have land, we invite them to come and harvest from our own.”
