Monrovia – Welthungerhilfe (WHH) and one of its local partners, Afromedical Community Health Welfare Services (ACHWS) held a one-day food fair event in Chicken Soup Factory, Montserrado County.
The fair was held to increase awareness on Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA), vegetable production and consumption, child care practices and prevention of infectious diseases (malaria, diarrhea, etc) in communities.
The ceremony was held on Friday, October 27th under the theme: “Raising awareness to increase positive behaviour change in WASH, Nutrition and Health”.
It brought together stakeholders, government line ministries (MoH, MoA), other partners and over 200 beneficiaries from different components of the project in Montserrado and Bomi.
The project titled: “Improvement of Health Care in Montserrado and Bomi through infrastructure development and Capacity Building measures” started since January 2016 and has already supported 1040 households through awareness raising activities focused on WASH and Nutrition.
In addition, 13 health facilities are renovated (USD 950,000.00) across the two counties with funding from the German Ministry of Development Cooperation.
During the program, beneficiaries showcase their achievements from various components of the project and also mentioned the impact the project has made in their lives and communities.
The Food Fair held competitions amongst beneficiaries in four different categories: Backyard Gardening, WASH, Nutrition and Cooking Demonstrations. The winners were awarded with prizes such as wheelbarrows, handwashing buckets, shovels, hoes, cooking pots, etc.
Many people used the occasion to exchange best practices with others from different communities through numerous stage performances and music on nutrition and hygiene.
Serving as keynote speaker, the Executive Director of Bi-lander Inc, Mr. Philip Kamara Valey said nutritional food and agriculture play a significant role in the stability of the global economy.
According to him, the Liberians must focus on their strategic plan to match food consumption for the growing population in order to reduce food insecurity.
He encouraged the participants to see their role in the food fair as a major quota of contribution to food security using the bottom to top level in the country.
“So far, the progress has been very good and we are happy to observe a positive change in behavior in various communities of the project,” said Jackson Nabaala, head of project, Welthungerhilfe. “
“Positive behavior changes are encouraged in communities by trained mobilizers and multipliers across the two counties through house-to-house campaigning and radio jingles.