Our Nurturing Nutrition Program provides Malian women and children with on-going nutrition and gardening training, which will create a generation that suffers less from the devastating effects of malnutrition. This project supports 80+ women at the OA Women's Association Garden. It also provides education for nearly 2,000 mothers and children at the Famana and Bassa School Gardens, and 12 primary schools in the rural villages of Ouelessebougou.
Lack of resources and education lead small farmers, who are most often women, to not be able to harvest the most productive yield or to plant crops that are not suitable in their nutritional value. Malnutrition is an important part of this and leads to mental and physical stunting, especially among children.
Women from many villages come and learn about: composting, harvest cycle, increased crop production, nutrition, recipes, and sale of produce. The goal is to increase production so families have more to eat and have enough left over to make extra income. We teach school children about the importance of nutrition, especially while they are young and growing. It also teaches them how they will do better in school if they have better nutrition. We are informing multiple generations this way!
Multiple generations and members of a family now have access to education about nutrition. They will continue to use this information and teach others in their community which will lead to a healthier village. The excess production will provide more opportunity for economic development, especially for women.
