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Nutrition education plays a key role in promoting healthy sustainable diets for all. Professional training in nutrition education is still rare in many parts of the world. The need for qualified professionals who can deliver nutrition education interventions is particularly high in countries where undernutrition coexists with rising rates of overnutrition and related non-communicable diseases. In 2012, FAO launched the nutrition education course ENACT (Effective Nutrition Education Action) in partnership with a number of African universities and Wageningen University in the Netherlands, with funding from the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The course aims to promote long-term improvements in diets, with a special focus on the social and environmental context, involving all relevant sectors and the entire food cycle, including production, processing, marketing and consumption.
A needs assessment conducted by FAO in seven African countries in 2010 showed that these countries lacked appropriate methodologies and relevant training to promote nutritional behavior change.
Two years later, FAO launched Effective Nutrition Education Action (ENACT)which trains university students, agronomists, nurses, health service managers, community workers and NGO staff to conduct nutrition education interventions to change behavior, from planning to evaluation. While developing the competencies needed for their careers, course participants also learn how to improve their own diets and how to address nutrition-related threats in their communities.
“We now realize that nutrition education is very important at all levels”, said an ENACT student from Cameroon.
ENACT was successfully piloted in Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda between 2012 and 2014. Soon after, the course was translated into French and piloted in universities in French-speaking African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon and Niger.
Improve students’ abilities
This four-month course has been incorporated into the curriculum of various universities. It mainly adopts a tutorial teaching method, emphasizes practice and experience, and focuses on the active participation of students, making them the main body of their own learning process.
“Lecture-style teaching makes us remember what the lecturer said, while tutorial-style teaching makes us think”, An ENACT student from Ghana explains that the course is specifically targeted at students who plan to promote nutritional behavior change in their future professional practice, such as in the fields of nutrition, medicine, agriculture, and social sciences.
Overall feedback was very positive, with 86% of participating mentors and 82% of participating students rating the practical activities that incorporated the teaching methodology as “very useful.” External evaluations showed that the program successfully enhanced students’ professional competencies and prepared them for careers as community or health workers, agricultural extension workers, etc. in national governments and intergovernmental organizations.
“I now feel very empowered to help people improve their diet and eating behaviors,” Formulate A student from Cameroon confirmed that course participants were also prepared to effectively integrate nutrition education into national policies, strategies and nutrition-sensitive interventions.
Strengthen nutrition education
Following the success of the pilot, the partner universities organized a national multi-sectoral workshop with relevant stakeholders at all levels (such as NGOs, government, training institutions and UN agencies) with the aim of developing a joint strategy to mainstream nutrition education in policies and programmes and integrate training into university curricula.
The workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders to strengthen their involvement and collaboration in nutrition education training and to clarify roles and responsibilities. Some stakeholders added the course to existing curricula, while others created a specialized Master’s degree in nutrition education. The course was also successfully integrated into the English pilot countries, which are expected to start in the 2016/2017 academic year. All French-speaking countries plan to roll out ENACT at the start of the 2017/2018 academic year.
Next step
FAO is currently promoting ENACT through orientation courses at other African universities and through training of trainers during regional conferences. FAO is also exploring how to adapt the course to the needs and interests of countries in Asia and Latin America. An online version of the course has been prepared and piloted and will be launched soon. All course versions are available in English and French for inclusion in the curricula of the relevant universities.
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