Positive Deviance/Hearth: A Resource Guide for Sustainably Rehabilitating Malnourished Children

This resource guide is designed for program managers interested in mobilizing communities to sustainably rehabilitate malnourished children.

Positive Deviance is based on the premise that some solutions to community problems already exist within the community and just need to be discovered. Because behaviors change slowly, most public health practitioners agree that the solutions discovered within a community are more sustainable than those brought into the community from the outside. The PD/Hearth process taps into local wisdom for successfully treating and preventing malnutrition and spreads that wisdom throughout the community.

Chapter One will help you decide if Positive Deviance/Hearth is the right approach for your community. Subsequent chapters contain useful exercises, tips and lessons learned by non-governmental organizations successfully implementing PD/Hearth around the world. Practical information and materials guide you through a series of steps to implement an effective Positive Deviance (PD)/Hearth program. We recommend that you read the entire guide before starting implementation, as a thorough understanding of the process will simplify your program planning.