1000 Days of Motherhood

Project Report | Mar 15, 2019
Additional Lifeplayer units needed now!

By Karen Vollaire | Marketing Assistant

Rural mother's group Western Zambia

Zambia's National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) of the Ministry of Health has been trying to seek local donor funding to provide additional Lifeplayer units for rural listener groups. They have not been able to do so citing funding cuts.

Our friends at NFNC have asked Lifeline Energy again if we can help secure additional units.

Rates of childhood stunting are going down in areas where the listener clubs have been active. Mothers’ groups listen regularly to the “Bushes that Grow” audio segments on maternal health, nutrition, breastfeeding and other healthy practices. Women reported learning new and helpful information and that they followed the advice given by Sister Loveness, a nurse, and others.

However, stunting remains a serious concern in other deep rural areas. The ministry cannot afford to air the “Bushes that Grow” programmes on radio due to broadcast fees. In addition, many poor subsistence farmers do not have radios at home and cannot afford the on-going cost of batteries.

Therefore, we are sincerely asking our community of supporters to help us with providing additional Lifeplayer units. The ministry will cover the costs of distribution through their network of local health officials. As the NFNC is a government entity, all duties and VAT are waived.

Each Lifeplayer unit benefits at least 40 mothers directly and entire families indirectly. Your donation goes a very long way.

We appreciate your continued support.

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Nov 30, 2018
Fathers are listening, too

By Karen Vollaire | Marketing Coordinator

Zambian father listeners

Once before we reported on fathers are listening to the Bushes that Grow audio content for the 1,000 Days of Motherhood project. Reports continue to come in from the field from Zambia’s National Food and Nutrition Council (NFNC) that fathers are still actively participating. In the Western Province, Wankambu, a father of four, said that the men wanted their very own group!

It's encouraging to hear that fathers are keen to learn about nutrition for their families. Family nutrition has long been consideredthe preserve of mothers. Zambia has one of the highest rates of childhood stunting in the world, due to under-nutrition. Fathers, many of whom are farmers, pay a critical role in family food security.

The NFNC has already developed a second series of Bushes that Grow. This time, unlike for the first set of programs, they included feedback from dads. They have also designed a short listening guide and feedback form for the districts. The focus of the new programs is still nutrition, in particular the importance of good nutrition for pregnant mothers and young children and the role that fathers can play is a part of it. The new programs also include easy recipes anyone can follow.

The role that our Lifeplayer MP3 units are playing can’t be under-estimated either. Priority placement is givento deep rural districts. These are subsistence farming communities, often reached by dirt roads, with no access to electricity. Most families don’t even own radio sets and they can’t afford to repeatedlybuy batteries. In addition, both men and women strongly prefer listening in a group and being able to discuss the content afterwards.

Each listener group, already builds on community self-help groups. On average, each group is between 15-20 listeners and they decide on a name and when and where to meet. One group calls itself the Blessing Group, another Twikatani (working together), another Chikonki (love in Bemba) and another Taonga (thankful in Nyanja).

The First 1000 Days of Motherhood initiative is in urgent need of additionalLifeplayer units. Please continue to support this trulyhigh-impact, high-need project.

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Oct 30, 2018
A new 1000 Days of Motherhood Video!

By Karen Vollaire | Marketing Assistant

1000 Days listening group near Petauke, Zambia

We reported in our last update that Zambia’s National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) made a call to action for 50 more Lifeplayer MP3s. This is because the 1000 Days of Motherhood audio programs are not only popular with mothers (and some fathers), but also results are being seen. Evaluations are being undertaken right now to document the reduction in childhood stunting and the improvments in mother’s health as a result of this wonderful, inclusive initiative.

To help Lifeline Energy raise additional funds for units, the NFNC surprised us with a video showing the mothers’ groups listening to the Bushes that Grow series on the Lifeplayers. The local language that you’ll hear being spoken is called Nyanja, one of the largest language groups in Zambia. It’s also the lingua franca next door in Malawi (where it is called ChiChewa). The video link is below.

When you watch the video, which is shot in the Eastern Province near the town of Petauke, you’ll notice people calling the Lifeplayer units, “the radios”. This isn’t uncommon for people to do so, but what they mean Lifeplayers. That is evidenced from the Lifeplayers being used in the video. Please do watch it as it will give you an excellent idea of the how the listener groups work and how our Lifeplayers have been deployed that you have helped to fund.

The Eastern Province suffers one of the country’s highest rates of childhood stunting caused by malnutrition. Earlier in the year, it also experienced a cholera epidemic, which took the lives of of an estimated 1,500 Zambians. More than 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming. It’s an area with low rates of literacy for women. 1000 Days of Motherhood is so critical to mothers gaining health and nutrition information to ensure that their child, from conception is healthy.

To date, NFNC surveys have revealed that around 12,560 households have been reached so far. The program will grow proportionately with the number of new Lifeplayer units. As we have noted before, they are covering all training and distribution costs so all funds that Lifeline Energy raises can go towards Lifeplayer units and memory cards.

We hope that that you enjoy the video and that you’ll continue to support this really wonderful initiative to benefit vulnerable Zambian families.

Links:

Video - Zambian mothers' listener groups created by NFNC

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