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Sharing Early Experiences with the Prevention of Malnutrition in Under Twos Approach (PM2A)

Resource Type:
Documents

Facilitator: Joan Jennings, TOPS Nutrition and Food Technology Senior Specialist, Save the Children

Content: Participants involved with the PM2A approach in Guatemala, Burundi, and Madagascar shared their experiences to date. Niger also shared experiences with its approach to combining recuperative and preventive approaches in a development food aid program. Participants discussed critical concrete aspects of implementing the PM2A approach, such as targeting beneficiaries and timing of enrollment, food commodity selection, and ration size, and aspects of the community structures and linkages to health services of the project’s SBC approach.

Discussion: Mercy Corps shared their experience to date in Guatemala, while the FFP Officer for Burundi discussed the experience of the consortium of PVOs in Burundi. Both of these countries are sites for on-going PM2A operational research. Land O’Lakes shared their experience within a consortium in Madagascar, which is not an operational research country. Reasons for variations among programs in each of the key aspects mentioned previously were shared and discussed.

The various projects have some similarity among ration size and commodity selection for rations for pregnant or lactating (P/L) women and/or children. There is greater variation among rations for household distribution (meant to supplement household food supply, encourage program participation, and discourage sharing of the ration targeted to P/L women or children).

Representatives mentioned the SBC structures in place; unfortunately, there was not enough time to thoroughly discuss any variations. Participant concerns about pro-natal effects of the approach and/or disincentives to local food production were also discussed, and participants were made aware of some of the various aspects of the approach that are under study through the operations research being done in Burundi and Guatemala.

 

The Way Forward: Recommendations were made in two areas:

Processes

  • TOPS and the FSN Network should continue to identify and support opportunities for implementers to continue to discuss and share their early experiences implementing this approach.

Donor Policy and Practice

  • The potential for a pro-natal effect of the approach should be studied.
  • The potential for disincentives to local food production should be studied.