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Care Groups: Field Experiences and Adaptations in Food Security Programs

Resource Type:
Documents

Facilitator: Tom Davis, TOPS Social & Behavior Change Senior Specialist, Senior Director of Program Quality Improvement, Food for the Hungry

Discussants: Adugna Kebede, Director for Health, Nutrition and HIV&AIDS for Southern Africa Region, World Vision; John Chimpukso, Program Manager, Emmanuel International; Hilda Kawala, Program Manager, World Vision International; William Kawenda, Program Manager; Project Concern International; Doris Mphande, Health and Nutrition Program Coordinator, Save the Children

Content: A Care Group is a group of 10‐15 volunteer, community‐based health educators who regularly meet together with NGO project staff for training and supervision. Each of these volunteers then go out at least monthly to do promotion of behaviors with a small cohort of mothers of young children. They are different from typical mothers groups in that each volunteer is chosen by the 10‐15 of her neighborhood mothers she serves and then is responsible for regularly visiting these mothers, sharing what she has learned and facilitating behavior change at the household level.

Discussion: In a roundtable discussion, participants described how they have used and adapted Care Groups in their food security programs. The latest Care Group criteria document was presented, and participants discussed ways they have adhered to—and deviated from—these criteria, as well as results they see when they make adaptations. TOPS invited participants to apply for Care Group training opportunities that will be offered over the next few years, including three regional and five country-wide events.

The way forward: Participants identified four recommendations:

Processes

  • Document experience of the MYAP in Malawi using men as the focus for care groups in order to evaluate if it should be replicated or not

Information Sharing

  • Online resource center: post curricula (caregroupinfo.org)
  • Online discussion forum:  Looking for a place to ask questions about Care Groups. Not necessarily complex technical questions but advice on how to deal with difficult tricky situations from other people who have worked with this intervention. Possibly a discussion board.  The site could include FAQs

Training

  • Formal training for Care Group practitioners or people who want to integrate Care Groups into their programming