Jakarta's urban poor: 15 family nutrition classes

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We, Bina Beraya Bangsa, are excited to provide an update now that we are halfway through the project.  We abide by our philosophy of collaborating closely with community partners.  For the Nutrition courses, our community partners are the principals of the local kindergarten schools with whom we have had partnerships in the past.  Entering 2025, we had their enthusiastic endorsement and had planned to run the course once during the Spring semester (Jan-May) and then repeat for the Fall semester (Aug-Dec) with a new cohort of families.  However earlier this year due to various factors, two of the school principals were unsure there would be enough participants to secure the minimum number of participants to run the course.  Responding to their concerns, we decided to not run the course at those two schools.  We proceeded to run the course at the third school for the Spring semester.  Below are some highlights.

• 15 parents from different families registered for the course with an average attendance rate of 64%.
• There were five 1.5-hour sessions with each session focusing on one of the major food groups (carbohydrates, protein, fruit, vegetables, water) as well as one other topic (e.g. added salt, added sugar, processed foods, etc.)
• Each session was designed to be interactive. Participants watched a video together.  Key points from the video were reinforced through group discussions and educational games or demonstrations.
• Overall, participants answered 57% of the pre-session test questions correctly across all sessions indicating that participants possessed some knowledge before the course.  Post-session test results show a (19.5%) increase in participants' knowledge.  Knowledge increased significantly in the material related to the main biological functions of each food group.

Building up influencers on the inside

We met with each of the school principals throughout the duration of the course in order for us to stay updated in our understanding of the ever-changing school environment - the limitations and opportunities for the Nutrition course to synergize with existing school initiatives.  The long term vision of this Project is for the schools to be a place where nutrition education is actively implemented.

We consider participants as not only beneficiaries, but also potential key influencers in their wider community.  Hence, some of the activities aimed to equip and build participants’ confidence to share what they learned with their peers outside the course.  In addition, in January we trained a few participants to facilitate discussion in each session, reinforcing material using prompt cards.

At the end of each session, all participants filled out a feedback form giving us real time information on the effectiveness of the method and material according to the participants.  Feedback was consistently overwhelmingly positive. The trained volunteers were further invited to stay behind for a brief time of reflection guided by an activity report form that we filled out together with them.  At the end of the entire course, these trained volunteers gathered to reflect on the pre- and post- test data, provide feedback on the overall course, and help shape the next iteration of the Nutrition course.

Partnering with experts from the outside

While Bina Berdaya Bangsa solely focuses on Krendang, we recognize that other institutions outside Krendang have potential in contributing to Krendang’s welfare.  In 2024, we arranged for faculty and university students from Tarumanagara University to assess the physical health and psychological development of students from the three schools. In May 2025, we arranged for the same faculty to return to the three schools, present key findings from those assessments, teach parents about parenting styles, and inspire parents to effectively shape their child’s habits around eating and other lifestyle patterns.

Looking ahead: 

This month we are meeting individually with the school principals to determine whether the Nutrition course could be run for the Fall Semester.  At the time of this update, at least one school has confirmed the course will proceed for the Fall Semester.  This month we also continue to move forward with planning a series of home visits that will be offered to the families who participated in the Nutrition course to ensure that gains in understanding translates to real change in nutritional habits. Stay tuned to future report updates regarding the results of those home visits.  Will you join our efforts and those of the childhood schools in Krendang to ensure parents are empowered to shape their child’s healthy eating habits for thriving long-term?