School children in Barahona province have serious nutritional deficiencies, with 14% of children under five suffering from chronic malnutrition. The high number of families in Barahona suffering from hunger is due in part to the region's poverty, but has been exacerbated by Hurricane Noel. Recently, MUDE worked with the FAO on a nutritional education program for elementary schools. Seeing the pressing need in Barahona, they now wish to implement the same program in one of the province's schools.

In the south, the problem is basically focused on two main concerns: lack of food and nutritional information. The lack of food is a consequence of the devastating tropical storms that have passed by the country causing great damage to productive lands. The families do not have knowledge and timely information about food alimentation and nutrition. Furthermore there are no official programs on education or training for families to address the issue. The situation is aggravated by the fact that subjects like these are rarely approached in Primary Education. In the current moment there are no programs that address the habits of a correct consumption of foods for a better nutrition.

This project will assist approximately 300 children between ages 5-14, 20 teachers, and 20 community leaders, who all live in the impoverished community of Peñon in Barahona province. Peñon has a total of 4010 people, of which 2034 are men and 1976 are women. According to ONAPLAN's Map of Poverty (2002), its province has high indices of poverty, making it a priority for our attention.

Short term goals of the project

Train 20 teachers to teach nutritional education to benefit 300 students through a course of 5 training sessions

Train 20 parents on how to provide better nutrition at home through a community forums held at the school

Create 1 educational vegetable garden as a nutrition teaching tool

Form a School Vegetable Garden Committee to involve the community in the project, giving them a stake in its success and sustainability

Project Timeline:

Approach Ministry of Education in Barahona (Month 1)

Design and Print Educational Materials (1 & 2)

Session about methods and tools for teaching (2)

Training on Nutrition and Healthy Nutrients (2)

Acquire the materials for School Gardens (2 & 3)

Installation of School Gardens (3)

Technical Supervision of School Gardens (3 & 4)

Exchange with school personnel (3 & 5)

Formation of School Garden Committee (5)

Monitoring Evaluation of Project (all)

Long term goals & impact of the project

Contribute to improving the health of children from the impoverished, rural Peñon community, promoting nutritional safety at the school, family and community levels by involving teachers, parents, and community members.

How will this project involve the community?

As stated above, this project involves all aspects of the community. Teachers and some parents will be trained in nutrition education and best practices. Students will benefit from this education and changes in their families' eating habits. Other community members will be connected to the project by being offered membership in the Committee to oversee the garden's sustainability and success.

The project leaders are women's and parents' associations, principals, and teachers from the Peñon School. They are suited to lead the project as MUDE finds it most effective to utilize existing groups and strengthen them to empower the community. MUDE has worked with Peñon on emergency relief efforts for Hurricane Noel and found them very receptive. The project also has the support of the State Secretary of Education. Leaders always play and active role on projects that MUDE develops. However the primary contact will be part of MUDE's personnel which will dedicate time for the project execution.

The volunteers can contribute to activities including the construction/installations of the school vegetable gardens and as much as possible in the training of facilitators. Some of the activities include soil preparation, construction of hut for seed production and storage, giving maintenance to school gardens, learning activities regarding school gardens and community, etc. They can also make contact with community members in order to bring them together to help with the school garden and planting. They can work with activities from the school garden committee.

Some of the skills and knowledges that the volunteers will need to have are: social sensibility, ability to talk in public, good human relationships, ability to handle tools like hammer, shovel, raket, etc. This last ability can be acquired with technical support that the Project has stipulated.

The volunteers will contribute to the school garden installation and, when posible, they can participate in the trainings. On the other hand they can have contact with members of the community to achieve commitment and interest in community memebers to school garden activities. Volunteers can work on incentivating by interaction to parents and community members on the importance on participating on school forums and on making the school a better place for their children. They can promote a culture about production of School Gardens and to strengthen the relationship between children and the importance of taking care of nature.

In the community the majority of people speak Spanish, so if the majority of volunteers speak Spanish there will not be any language barriers.

Some of MUDE's staff speak English and can provide occasional translation. In this case, in the days where the staff can participate, non-Speaking students will be able to contribute.

This project will require educational materials, teacher training and brainstorming sessions, community discussion forums, training workshop for School Vegetable Garden Committee, supplies to create school vegetable garden, staff salaries, office expenses, transportation, per diem and postage.

Budget.-

Training: $2,277

School Garden Equipment: $621

Educational Materials: $1,215

Office Expenses and Transportation $2,308

Perdiem and Postage: $699

Personal (employee salaries,bylaw): $2,880

Total: $10,000