BY: KONDWANI KANDIADO
World Vision Malawi has amplified the voices of the children on child hunger and malnutrition through nutrition dialogue workshops in some primary schools in Dowa. This is aimed at finding lasting solutions to help deal with hunger and malnutrition among children in the district.
Speaking on Tuesday during a nutrition dialogue workshop at Kasangu primary school in Kasangadzi area programme-Dowa, the organisation’s Advocacy Campaigns and Safeguarding Manager, Lizzie Lombe said nutrition dialogues help allow children to speak out about issues that affect them such as child hunger and malnutrition and suggest solutions within their understanding.
“We expect that with these dialogues, we will not only amplify the voices of the children so that they can be heard, but also contribute towards increased investment in school feeding programme as well as other necessary actions at policy level,” said Lombe.
She said they had also decided to involve different stakeholders like parents, faith leaders and chiefs to take part because they have crucial role to play in helping fight hunger.
“While we acknowledge that it is an issue that has been there for sometime, we are mindful that as we inculcate these discussions, we will stir urgent attention from these stakeholders,” she said.
Mayeso, a standard 8 learner at Kasangu Primary school said the nutrition dialogue have helped equip them with information to help fight hunger and malnutrition.
“We will relay the same message in our school clubs that we have so that we fight hunger and malnutrition together,” he said.
He said the initiative will help reduce absenteeism among fellow learners and also help fight the tendency of engaging in promiscuous behaviour among some girls to get food.
The school’s headteacher, Catherine Kapapa said the dialogues will help promote nutrition among learners and pupils and leads to improved learners’ performance.
“When learners attend classes on an empty stomach, most of them sleep during classes and they do not pay attention thereby leading to poor performance and subsequent dwindling standards of education in most primary schools,” she said.
She said with the initiative, parents will be able to have small vegetables and fruit gardens in their homes and also children will be able to hunt for some locally available foods that were often being overlooked to boost nutrition ,” she said.
Nutrition dialogues are part of the organisation’s Enough campaign launched in August this year to help end hunger and malnutrition among children.
