World Connect

The First 1000 Days Community Health Worker Education and Nutritional Garden Project

Year: 2016

Country: Rwanda

Project Status: Funded

Impact Sector: Health

Project Investment: $749.00

Project Launch: 1-9-17

Cyabayaga is a rural Eastern Rwandan community that expanded considerably following the Rwandan Genocide. Although the population has grown, local institutions have not kept pace with its increased demand for necessary services. The Cyabayaga Medical Center is seeking to develop programming through community health workers that reduces child and maternal mortality by nourishing mothers and their babies in the region. Through the development of a supplemental garden and health education, mothers will acquire the needed knowledge to ensure the survival of themselves and their children.

Final Report: 8-4-17

19 community health workers were trained on the First 1000 Days ideology and practices. They could successfully train a group of women in their villages on these principles and conduct home visits for 190 additional women. 65 people each week received food from the gardens for 5 months. Seedlings were given to 27 women in the milk distribution program for malnourished children and to 190 women participating in the First 1000 Days Program. Both distributions were part of kitchen garden training. 18 children received fresh vegetables from the health center garden during a 12-Day Hearth feeding program in February 2017.
Community health workers taught 289 mothers during daily lessons as part of the 12 Day Hearth Feeding Program carried out in June 2017. They also used scales to weigh the children. The community learned about different types of vegetables such as collard greens and that carrot leaves and beetroot leaves are edible and to incorporate them into their diet. The 3 women who worked in the gardens were able to start a cooperative and sell a portion of the vegetables to the larger community. They also had access to fresh vegetables daily.