"Jerign Sa Gokh" was born - a savings group committed to promoting community nutrition.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Located in the town of Tattaguine, the saving for transformation (S4T) group 'Jerign Sa Gokh' numbers 25 members, six of which are beneficiaries of Nutritional Reinforcement Programme (NRP) initiatives.

S. Ndiaye is one such member. Taking the lead from other village members, her resolute commitment to activities to improve nutrition has enabled her own child to reach adequate nutritional status and enjoy good health. Aware that child health management is the responsibility of parents, the S4T group 'Jerign Sa Gokh' quickly saw that the ongoing participation and commitment of women to the process would be key to implementing community-based health initiatives. They have pulled together to support the activities of the NRP and galvanise the community's efforts to improve health, particularly the nutritional status of children. Thanks to their efforts, the goal of on-site weighing has received a boost. The key to this success has been a strategy implemented by community relays who hold a weekly chat session with women members of the S4T group when they have their weekly savings and credit group get-togethers. 

Factors that contributed to the change

The chat sessions with savings groups have been instrumental in improving the indicator on beneficiary participation in Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) activities. The way that the beneficiaries have acted on the advice has translated into a positive impact on the number of children with adequate nutritional status.

Why highlight this change in particular?

The involvement of S4T group members in IEC / BCC activities has been instrumental in raising the project indicators (number of attendees at chats, number of children with adequate weight gain, etc.). Out the number of chat sessions held in one six-month period (March-September 2018), we went from 33 to 46 (+39%) with attendance at chats rising from 567 to 901 people (+59%). As things stand with nutrition, we went from 710 children with an adequate weight gain to 752 children, and currently the rate of malnutrition stands at 1.66% - well below the threshold of 5% fixed by the Malnutrition Prevention Unit.

Author, Paul Waly Diouf, NRP Coordinator in Fatick