Developing Food-Based Recommendations for Complementary Feeding Using Locally Available Foods at the Household Level in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe

This report describes technical assistance provided by the USAID Advancing Nutrition project to the Amalima Loko program. The USAID-funded Amalima Loko program is a five-year (2020–2025) Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) operating in five districts of Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North province. It aims to improve the nutritional status and practices among women of reproductive age and children under five years of age. As part of a package of multi-sectoral efforts to improve nutrition indicators, Amalima Loko envisioned developing local food-based recommendations (FBRs) to utilize locally available foods and support caregivers in addressing sub-optimal feeding practices. It shares how a field team applied an approach for developing FBRs based on locally available foods that caregivers can use at the household level to improve young child feeding practices.