Ideation Workshop Kickoff: seeking solutions for optimal infant and young child feeding practices

Mary Ann Schreiner using the “Healthy Eating Plate” as an an example of a "nudge"

Today, in Kigali, Three Stones launched an Ideation Workshop to identify innovative approaches for improved nutrition, specifically complementary feeding (CF), for women of reproductive age and their young children.

Three Stones is working with the Gikuriro* program to develop evidence-based tools to promote positive behaviors. The tools will focus on the development of nudge** prototypes to support optimal CF and unique /communication materials to improve practices around minimum acceptable diet and meal frequency for children under two. Three Stones will coordinate with NECDP, RBC, RHCC and USAID to ensure alignment with national priorities.

A full room of participants pitching their ideas during the Ideation Workshop

The Challenge: Positive mid- term evaluation results show gains in knowledge for CF practices of Gikuriro program mothers. While knowledge has been improved, optimal infant and young child feeding practices remain low. Identifying sustainable and scalable solutions to improve CF practices will require unique and innovative interventions to elicit long-term behaviour change.

A call for SBCC innovations was issued to identify and test unique, affordable and sustainable solutions to improve diverse diets and meal frequency for children 6 – 23 months of age. The proposed concepts should utilize innovative nudges targeting communities, parents and caregivers of children 6 – 23 months old to contribute towards the fight against malnutrition and stunting.

Theme:

1. What affordable innovate idea or tool can be used to remind communities/parents/caregivers to feed their children from 6 months old complementary foods at least two times a day in addition to breastfeeding?

2. What affordable innovative idea or tool can be used to remind communities/parents/caregivers to feed their child from 6 months old a diverse diet with foods from at least four food groups each day?

*Gikuriro is a 5-year USAID-funded program focusing on behavior change, capacity building and nutrition and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) service delivery. The program is implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and SNV. The Gikuriro program works through decentralized Government of Rwanda (GoR) systems and structures and is aligned with USAID’s MultiSectoral Nutrition Strategy to improve nutrition to save lives, build resilience, increase economic productivity, and advance development.

**Nutrition “Nudges” can be described as default choices or reminders that make one choice more likely than another. An example of a nutrition nudge is a “Healthy Eating Plate” guide showing optimal portions of each food group recommended for healthy meals as a nudge to include four food groups in each meal.