The Food Security and Nutrition Network resource library features practical implementation-focused guides, tools, and training materials in a number of relevant program areas. You can browse the library by topic or view the newest, highest rated, most downloaded or FSN Network recommended materials. If you know what you are looking for you can also search by author or title.
We welcome submissions of new resources from the community. Please remember we are looking for high-quality, published materials, that offer guidance for improved food security and nutrition implementation.
This report is a comprehensive review of the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) Title II development food aid program from FY 2003 to FY 2009. The report focuses on the areas of agriculture and natural resource management; infrastructure; maternal and child health and nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene; HIV; and Title II program management. Overall, the results of the FAFSA-2 analysis indicate that Title II development programs can reduce undernutrition in young children, improve a number of important maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes, and increase household access to income and food. Most importantly, many children are alive and have been spared ill health and lifelong disabilities thanks to Title II. The FAFSA-2 identifies approaches and practices that are more likely to contribute to positive food security impacts, examples of approaches and practices that have not worked well, and recommendations for future programs. A summary report is also available, which provides a synopsis of the findings and recommendations that are expanded on in the full report.
Authors:
Roberta van Haeften
Mary Ann Anderson
Herbert Caudill
Eamonn Kilmartin
Organizational Authors:
Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III Project (FANTA)
Nine modules and toolkits cover key aspects of menstrual hygiene in different settings, including communities, schools and emergencies for women and girls in lower and middle-income countries.
This Essential Malaria Action Guide for Kenyan Families, developed by Kenya's Division of Malaria Control with SBCC technical guidance from C-Change, outlines seven essential malaria actions (EMAs) that fall into four categories: use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs), malaria case management, indoor residual spraying, and malaria prevention during pregnancy.
The guide provides health managers, health workers, NGO partners, and others working in malaria control and prevention in Kenya with a common set of strategies, a key set of messages for households, and the basis for all social and behavior change communication (SBCC) activities and interventions in this area.
A consultation entitled, "A policy dialogue to strengthen evidence to improve women’s health through gender and health statistics," was held in Washington DC, October 25–27 2010 to discuss issues pertaining to the need for more gender-related health data and statistics. The guide is an annotated compilation of useful resources, developed by MEASURE Evaluation at the request of USAID’s IGWG and the Department of Gender, Women and Health of the WHO.
The low nutrient and energy content of complementary foods in low-income countries has been associated with growth faltering, increased morbidity, and delayed motor milestone acquisition. Complementation of the diet in infancy and early childhood with lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) that have high nutrient and energy density has been suggested as a way to improve growth and reduce morbidity. FANTA conducted a trial in rural Malawi to compare the incidence and prevalence of very severe linear growth failure and symptoms of common childhood illnesses among infants receiving dietary supplementation with milk-LNS, soy-LNS, a corn-soy blend (CSB), or nothing.
Healthy infants were randomized into one of four intervention schemes and tracked for 12 months from the age of 6 to 18 months. The results of the trial provide support to a hypothesis that, in rural Malawi, 12 months of complementary feeding of infants with milk-LNS, but not soy-LNS or CSB, reduces the incidence of very severe stunting between 6 and 18 months of age. The trial did not, however, provide support to a hypothesis that any of the tested supplements would reduce the longitudinal prevalence of common illness symptoms among infants 6–18 months old.
This 4-page technical note on NACS was released by FANTA III. The NACS approach aims to improve the nutritional status of individuals and populations by integrating nutrition into policies, programs, and the health service delivery infrastructure.
This guide was prepared to support grandmother dialogue group mentors who have been trained to facilitate dialogue group meetings with their peers. This guide is designed to provide dialogue group mentors with key questions to encourage lively discussions around issues such as breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and encourage reflection, support, and experience sharing.
This manual provides mentors of grandmother dialogue groups with the information and techniques they need to encourage discussions on family care and optimal infant and young child feeding. The manual provides step-by-step guidance to facilitate a three-day training workshop that uses group activities, focused discussions, brainstorming, and role-playing to introduce issues such as breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as facilitation skills and practice.
The Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) Framework was developed with the support of USAID and has been implemented across Africa and Asia since 1997. It is an operational framework for managing the advocacy, planning and delivery of an integrated package of preventive nutrition actions encompassing infant & young child feeding (IYCF), micronutrients and women's nutrition. There ENA Framework includes 3 main guides: 1. The Booklet of Key ENA Messages 2. ENA Health Worker Training Guide 2b. ENA Health Worker Handouts 3. ENA Community Volunteers Training Guide
This 14-page technical brief discusses nutrtion and brain development in early life. It provides an overview of key nutrients and practices to help prevent undernutrition in early life.
Quality Improvement and Verification Checklists (QIVCs) provide a detailed check of development workers’ performance on their key processes in order to monitor and improve their performance, identify “system problems,” and to encourage them. QIVCs are being used in many countries throughout the world to improve key processes.&
A Positive Deviance/Hearth Nutrition Program is a home-and neighborhood-based nutrition program for children who are at risk for protein-energy malnutrition in developing countries.
A Positive Deviance/Hearth Nutrition Program is a home-and neighborhood-based nutrition program for children who are at risk for protein-energy malnutrition in developing countries.
Quality Improvement and Verification Checklists (QIVCs) provide a detailed check of development workers’ performance on their key processes in order to monitor and improve their performance, identify “system problems,” and to encourage them. QIVCs are being used in many countries throughout the world to improve key processes.&
Quality Improvement and Verification Checklists (QIVCs) provide a detailed check of development workers’ performance on their key processes in order to monitor and improve their performance, identify “system problems,” and to encourage them. QIVCs are being used in many countries throughout the world to improve key processes.&
The Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) Framework was developed with the support of USAID and has been implemented across Africa and Asia since 1997. It is an operational framework for managing the advocacy, planning and delivery of an integrated package of preventive nutrition actions encompassing infant & young child feeding (IYCF), micronutrients and women's nutrition. There ENA Framework includes 3 main guides: 1. The Booklet of Key ENA Messages 2. ENA Health Worker Training Guide 2b. ENA Health Worker Handouts 3. ENA Community Volunteers Training Guide
This 4-page technical note on NACS was released by FANTA III. The NACS approach aims to improve the nutritional status of individuals and populations by integrating nutrition into policies, programs, and the health service delivery infrastructure.
This document focuses on operational issues concerning the use of the Household Hunger Scale (HHS0. The document is targeted specifically to HHS users and potential users.
This paper reports on the experience of using Malnutrition Matters’ VitaCow (VC) and VitaGoat (VG) processing technologies in Africare country programs. VitaCow and VitaGoat are two related types of food processing machines that were designed to convert soybeans into soy milk and its derivatives as well as a variety of other foods (fruits and grains) into processed and/or preserved food products. The paper outlines the strengths and weaknesses that have been observed in applying these technologies to reduce malnutrition and promote income generation. The intent is that lessons learned and recommendations presented here will inform future installations of VitaCow and VitaGoat technologies in Africare programs and those of other Cooperating Sponsors.
This guide and manuals were developed at the request of mother-to-mother support group facilitators in Western Kenya. It is meant to provide more detailed background information on possible support group topics for facilitators to use to prepare for meetings, or to do research if mothers have questions that facilitators do not know the answers to.
This guide was prepared to support grandmother dialogue group mentors who have been trained to facilitate dialogue group meetings with their peers. This guide is designed to provide dialogue group mentors with key questions to encourage lively discussions around issues such as breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and encourage reflection, support, and experience sharing.
This manual provides mentors of grandmother dialogue groups with the information and techniques they need to encourage discussions on family care and optimal infant and young child feeding. The manual provides step-by-step guidance to facilitate a three-day training workshop that uses group activities, focused discussions, brainstorming, and role-playing to introduce issues such as breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as well as facilitation skills and practice.
The Issue Brief summarizes recommendations from a new report of the same name, released by The Chicago Council and authored by Dr. Rachel Nugent of the University of Washington. The report calls on the agriculture and food sectors to play a role in mitigating the global rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and identifies new opportunities for those in health and agriculture to work together to promote better health
Governments and international development partners are increasingly interested in school gardens. These have traditionally been used for science education, agricultural training or generating school income. Today, given the urgent need for increased food security, environmental protection, more secure livelihoods and better nutrition, perceptions of the potential of school gardens are changing with the belief that school gardens can become a foundation for a nation’s health and security.
Governments and international development partners are increasingly interested in school gardens. These have traditionally been used for science education, agricultural training or generating school income. Today, given the urgent need for increased food security, environmental protection, more secure livelihoods and better nutrition, perceptions of the potential of school gardens are changing with the belief that school gardens can become a foundation for a nation’s health and security.
The low nutrient and energy content of complementary foods in low-income countries has been associated with growth faltering, increased morbidity, and delayed motor milestone acquisition. Complementation of the diet in infancy and early childhood with lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) that have high nutrient and energy density has been suggested as a way to improve growth and reduce morbidity. FANTA conducted a trial in rural Malawi to compare the incidence and prevalence of very severe linear growth failure and symptoms of common childhood illnesses among infants receiving dietary supplementation with milk-LNS, soy-LNS, a corn-soy blend (CSB), or nothing.
Healthy infants were randomized into one of four intervention schemes and tracked for 12 months from the age of 6 to 18 months. The results of the trial provide support to a hypothesis that, in rural Malawi, 12 months of complementary feeding of infants with milk-LNS, but not soy-LNS or CSB, reduces the incidence of very severe stunting between 6 and 18 months of age. The trial did not, however, provide support to a hypothesis that any of the tested supplements would reduce the longitudinal prevalence of common illness symptoms among infants 6–18 months old.
This paper reports on the experience of using Malnutrition Matters’ VitaCow (VC) and VitaGoat (VG) processing technologies in Africare country programs. VitaCow and VitaGoat are two related types of food processing machines that were designed to convert soybeans into soy milk and its derivatives as well as a variety of other foods (fruits and grains) into processed and/or preserved food products. The paper outlines the strengths and weaknesses that have been observed in applying these technologies to reduce malnutrition and promote income generation. The intent is that lessons learned and recommendations presented here will inform future installations of VitaCow and VitaGoat technologies in Africare programs and those of other Cooperating Sponsors.
Anthropometric measures are used to assess the nutritional status of individuals and population groups, and as eligibility criteria for nutrition support programs. This bookmark provides measurements for children under five.
The period of complementary feeding (6–23 months) is a time when young children are most vulnerable to undernutrition and consequent growth faltering. Feeding of children during this time, commonly referred to as complementary feeding, involves providing food in addition to breastmilk to meet the nutritional demands for childhood growth. It is well recognized that an underlying cause of child undernutrition is inappropriate feeding practices. Changes in behaviors related to feeding practices are possible through well-designed and implemented behavior change communication programs. This review analyzes complementary feeding behavior change interventions aiming to improve complementary feeding practices and child nutritional status. Recommendations are made for their effective design and implementation. Critical to the success and sustainability of interventions is involving the needs and interests of the community.
This report offers an integrated look at agriculture, food, nutrition, and the growing threat of diet-related chronic diseases. It presents analysis and recommendations suggesting that the farm and food systems across the globe are dynamic and robust, capable of producing adequate food to meet people’s needs for the foreseeable future, but in need of signifi cant course corrections as well.
The Issue Brief summarizes recommendations from a new report of the same name, released by The Chicago Council and authored by Dr. Rachel Nugent of the University of Washington. The report calls on the agriculture and food sectors to play a role in mitigating the global rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and identifies new opportunities for those in health and agriculture to work together to promote better health
Known as Community Case Management of Sick Children (CCM), this approach utilizes trained and supervised community members linked to facility-based services to deliver life-saving interventions for sick children, in partnership with their families. CORE Group-- in collaboration with Save the Children, BASICS, and MCHIP-- developed Community Case Management Essentials, a guide that methodically documents what is known about CCM and how to make it work for health program managers.
This is a guide for program managers and community theater groups on how and why to integrate maternal, infant, and young child nutrition content into existing community theater activities. It provides recommendations for strengthening theater performances based on PATH’s successful experience implementing Magnet Theatera for a variety of public health topics throughout Africa and Asia, and the Infant & Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project’sb experience using theater to promote optimal infant and young child feeding practices in Zambia.
This document provides an overview of the Community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (C-IMCI) framework. The C-IMCI framework consists of three elements and a multi-sectoral platform that focus on specific behaviors and practices of health workers and caregivers of young children. Included in this document: the history of C-IMCI’s development, its elements, benefits, and rational for use.
Collaborate with your peers to share knowledge, learn from program experience, and develop and adapt tools and materials for improved program implementation. If interested, contact info.fsn.network@gmail.com.
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