WHAT WE DO

Partnership for Improved Nutrition in Huaphanh Province, Lao PDR (EU Scaling)

Background

The present action is entitled “Partnership for Improved Nutrition in Huaphanh Province, Lao PDR” and aims to provide support to the Government of Laos’ (GoL) National Nutrition Strategy Action Plan (NNSAP) and convergent approach in line with the objectives of Partnership for Improved Nutrition (PIN). The overall objective of the program is to improve food and nutrition security among rural households and create sustainable agricultural wealth at the village and household level in Huaphanh, as well as to improve nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and children <5 years in project districts.

SCALING does this by addressing the 2 main drivers of stunting in Laos: 1) The predominance of suboptimal practices related to adolescent and maternal health and nutrition. 2) The lack of local environmental support for improved nutrition.

In its implementation SCALING emphasizes the importance of enhancing governance capacity, particularly at the provincial, district and community levels. The design of the program builds upon the consortium partners’ operational platforms and their technical expertise in geographic areas defined by the EU. Specifically, Save the Children (SC) will leverage its background in health service strengthening and nutrition in Luang Prabang; CARE will bring proven technical approaches on gender and nutrition (Linking Agriculture Nutrition and Natural- LANN) as well as synergies with programming in Luang Namtha; Comité de Coopération avec le Laos (CCL) brings expertise in nutrition and WASH and an operational basis in Phongsaly; and ChildFund Laos will leverage its health and nutrition program in Huaphanh. The combined strengths of SCALING consortium partners leveraged through the program design ensure a deep understanding of the context and needs of GoL and communities, and make full use of strong long-term partnerships with all stakeholders.

Project Description

Project Goal

The overall objective of the program is to improve food and nutrition security among rural households and create sustainable agricultural wealth at the village and household level in Huaphanh Province, as well as to improve nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and children <5 years in project districts.

Project Objectives

  1. Improved nutrition and hygiene-related behaviours and access to quality nutrition and Reproductive Maternal Newborn and Child Health (RNMCH) services in 1 target district;
  2. Local environment mitigates adverse underlying causes of malnutrition in 1 target district;
  3. Nutrition governance strengthened at district, cluster and community levels in 1 target district.

Key Outputs:

Output 1.1: Adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and caregivers of children <5 years practicing improved feeding, caring, and hygiene and sanitation behaviours.

Output 1.2: Increased access to quality Nutrition and Reproductive Maternal Newborn and Child Health (RNMCH) care is delivered in health centres and via outreach.

Output 2.1: Gender norms enable improved care and feeding practices, women’s decision-making, reduced workload, and control over resources and health.

Output 2.2: Water and sanitation infrastructure is functional.

Output 2.3: Improved access to and use of nutritious foods.

Output 3.1: National policies and strategies informed by global evidence and local experience.

Output 3.2: Provincial and district, cluster, and village development plans are convergent and nutrition-sensitive, and districts have functioning nutrition committees.

Output 3.3:  Sufficient, quality nutrition-related data from 1 target district is available (National Nutrition Strategy (NNS): Specific Objective (SO) 10.

Delegation of the European Union to the Lao PDR

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