Participatory Cooking Demonstrations and Nutrition Education Empower and Improve Farmer Communities and Their Knowledge

The Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze activity’s Care Group model is a conduit for improved nutrition for farmer communities. Comprised of household members, the Care Group brings together community members for the purpose of nutrition education and cooking demonstrations so participants can learn how to prepare nutritious foods for themselves and their families.  

Care Groups are typically comprised of 50-75 households, or approximately 100-150 people. They are facilitated by trained community-based volunteers to disseminate basic nutrition concepts, good nutrition practices, and food safety best practices to fight against all forms of malnutrition for women of reproductive age and children under two years old. Additionally, the volunteers promote other healthy and essential practices such as water, sanitation, and hygiene best practices, gender education and empowerment, methods for improving savings culture, family-centered conflict resolution, and enhancement of community-centered development. 

Hinga Weze introduced this model in the Gatsibo District, one of its ten target districts in Rwanda. The Tuzamurane Twita ku Mirire Myiza (“Develop ourselves with a focus on better nutrition”) Care Group was one of the first participants, comprised of 73 households. This Care Group had difficulties raising money to purchase nutritious foods for its members, coupled with a general lack of knowledge on hygiene and food safety practices. 

The leader of the Care Group, Mukazuza, noted that through support from Hinga Weze, the Care Group members, both men and women, successfully acquired and applied knowledge on the components of a well-balanced diet and how to prepare nutritious meals from locally available foods or items grown in home gardens. Care Group members also received training on how to establish and maintain home gardens, which serve as a source of additional fruits and vegetables, and demonstrations on home gardening and nutritious cooking were held for the Care Group to participate in.  

Mukazuza credits the community nutrition transformation and improved gender equity to Hinga Weze’s presence in the district. She noted that, on a personal level, her own health and that of her grandchild had improved considerably due to improved knowledge acquired through her Care Group. 

Since its inception in mid-2017, Hinga Weze has aimed to sustainably increase smallholder farmers’ incomes through increased productivity, improved nutritional status of Rwandan women and children, and increased resilience toward the changing climate. Hinga Weze has supported 66,562 households with 14,009 cooking demonstrations taking place in communities across its ten target districts in Rwanda, transforming nutritional practices, stabilizing gender norms, and empowering farmer communities.