Global Service CorpsTANZANIA

Addressing Food Security in Tanzania

Joint Nutrition Initiative Workshop Morogoro, Wednesday 26th March

Who is Global Service Corps (GSC)?

• Tanzania based NGO

• Working in Sustainable Agriculture

& HIV/AIDS prevention since 2001

• Working closely with local partner

organizations, ministry of

agriculture, ministry of food

security and cooperatives, plus

related ministries

• Overall aim is to improve food

security

GSC Vision Statement

GSC-TZ envisions increased

international understanding and

mutually supportive relationships,

leading to  prosperous, healthy food-

secure Tanzanian communities, based

upon vibrant and sustainable

smallholders, a Tanzania with health,

through local and international

cooperation, caring & sharing.

Mission Statement

• Empower vulnerable Tanzanians to

improve their livelihoods through

sustainable agriculture and health

education, using local and

international resources.

• Provide life-changing cross-cultural

service-learning experiences for

visiting and local program

participants, leading to greater

international understanding and

community support.

What problems are we trying to address?

• Hunger and food insecurity

• Related health issues:

malnutrition, child stunting,

anemia and more

• Gender equality

• Misinformation and a lack of

education about nutrition,

HIV/AIDS prevention and

sustainable agriculture methods

• Lack of money and resources

• Climate change and drought

• Lack of access to clean water

What do we want to achieve?

Much like feed the future, we’d

like to see a future where “people

no longer face the agony and

injustice of extreme poverty,

undernutrition and hunger”

http://www.feedthefuture.gov/about

What we need to do to achieve this

• Feed the future’s solution is closely

aligned with ours in that we are working

“to develop Tanzania’s agriculture

sector and break the cycle of poverty

and hunger, thus promoting global

prosperity and stability”. http://www.feedthefuture.gov

• We want to increase agricultural

productivity at a household level and

improve education and nutrition. As a

result, we hope to boost the income and

health of rural families.

Solution

• Sustainable Agriculture and the

introduction of innovative and

appropriate technologies

• Education in the areas of

HIV/AIDS, Nutrition and Life

Skills

HIV/AIDS, Nutrition & Life Skills Education

• The aim is for participants to

be equipped with the skills and

knowledge necessary to

promote good health, and

prevent HIV/AIDS. Our trainings

in nutrition and life skills help

translate knowledge into

behavioral change

HIV/AIDS, Nutrition & Life Skills Education Areas covered by our trainings:

• HIV/AIDS awareness & prevention• Information for those living with

HIV/AIDS• Health information for pregnant

women and children • Nutrition (Safe food preparation

and appropriate foods to eat)• Sex education, human anatomy &

puberty• Life Skills (responding to peer

pressure, decision-making, communication, relationships and goal setting)

Our approach to education

• We visit rural community

groups, church groups, youth

detention centers and schools

• Don’t offer money as a reward

for attendance

• Encourage group participation

and questions

• Adjust our trainings to suit the

audience and their level of

literacy and knowledge

Sustainable Agriculture• By introducing innovative

appropriate technologies at a

household level, we can help to

improve access to water, diversity

in plants grown, income (and

therefore financial stability),

nutrition and overall health.

• These technologies are also aimed

at empowering women and

overcoming issues faced by

inconsistencies in the climate

Sustainable Agriculture

The technologies that we have

implemented include:

• Keyhole gardens

• Water Hafirs

• Sack Gardens

• Grain Storage

• Chicken Vaccinations

• Tree nurseries

Keyhole Gardens

• Made only with available

resources (rocks, sticks etc.)

• Can use dirty water to feed

plants

• Allows a variety of plants to be

grown

• Made to ensure maximum

water retention

Hafirs• In East Africa food insecurity is highly

correlated to rainfall & water

availability.

• Hafir = household water harvesting

technology that stores up to 10,500L

• Low-cost: Approx. $9 per 1000L

Capacity.

• Creates a home water source to reduce

women/children having to haul water

long distances

• Enables water to be harvested from

field run-off or the roofs of houses

• During the rains, they collect and store

water for various uses during the dry

season i.e. watering home gardens

Urban Gardens

Sack gardens designed for use in

households of those with HIV or

those with insufficient land as well

as those lacking labor & resources

Benefits:

• Easy to build

• Cost effective

• Can be built using only

available resources

Grain Stores

• Household grain stores reduce

40% of post-harvest losses

• They encourage exchange of

livestock for grain

• Cost effective

• Easy to build

Rural Poultry Vaccinations

• Chickens are the most commonly owned

species of livestock in Africa

• Chicken production is important because:

• Cost efficient, labor efficient and

environmentally friendly

• Provides petty cash, high quality

protein, pest control solution, plays a

social function and are usually

managed by women & children

• Newcastle Disease kills an average of

70% of the chicken population in

Tanzania and can only be controlled by

vaccinating chickens.

Benefits of the vaccine

• Thermo-stable

• Affordable (30-100Tsh per chicken)

• Produced in Tanzania

• Easy to administer

• 70% annual losses can be reduced to

less than 10%

• Allow chickens to live longer. This means

they produce more eggs & grow to a

larger size for consumption = increased

nutrition and sources of income for

families

• GSC trains and mobilizes community

vaccinators who generate an income

from vaccinating chickens

Other sustainable agricultural projects

• Composting

• Seed saving

• Integrated pest management

• Tree nurseries

How to ensure success? • Whilst the combination of our

education/training program and the

introduction of various technologies

proved to be effective, we found

progress was too slow

• Furthermore, the level of community

engagement was disappointing and

larger scale change was required.

• We needed to come up with a more

effective approach

• The Rapid Results Multiplication

Approach was developed

Rapid Results Multiplication (RRM)

• While our technologies have been

successful, we came to realize that

motivation is needed to keep them

alive

• In 2012, we introduced the RRM

approach to increase adoption and

use of food security technologies

through community mobilization,

training, competition & awards

Rapid Results Multiplication (RRM)

• Essentially developed to improve

community engagement and

therefore to improve food security

at a household level whilst

ensuring the quality is not

compromised.

• Wanted to ensure that results are

on a large scale and therefore

more adequately addressing the

issue of food insecurity in

Tanzania.

Volume Results

Community Mobilization

Business Methods

Human Psychology

Sports/Competitive

Approach

How it works• Complete ownership and buy-in of

community leaders, and those trained

• Work with leaders to establish ambitious

but achievable output goals.

• Set a limited “campaign” period, usually

30 days per village.

• The first five day training is held in initial

village selected. A min. 10 keyhole

gardens are built & a vegetable seedling

nursery is est. at each garden for

transplant into keyhole gardens

How it works

• During this training, GSC identifies

existing groups or organizes small groups

of 5 ppl to work in teams, geographically

distributed over the village & sub-village

areas

• Leaders are selected for each group & a

specific number of households are

assigned to each group.

• The competition awards and criteria are

explained, indicating that the GSC team

will be determining winners during

follow up visits.

How it works• The authorities select 1 Sub-Village

Promoter per sub-village. GSC works with

these leaders & teams during the training

and follow up visits to facilitate the

construction or application of specific

agriculture & food security technologies in

their area. A nominal payment is given if

the min. goals are achieved within 30 days.

• GSC ensures quality control during keyhole

garden construction & planting of tree

seedlings

• At the conclusion of the 30 day period,

agricultural awards are provided for the

winners.

For best results

This approach brings rapid results over a

limited time. It is best used with technologies

that:

• Are easy to teach and therefore

easy to replicate

• Are inexpensive or free to

construct

• Are useful technologies for the

households

• Can improve availability of

nutritious foods

• Can be completed in a short

period of time

Evidence of RRM success

• The RRM was first trialled by GSC-TZ in the

villages of Maweni and Maroroni with

surprising results. Within just two months,

keyhole gardens and tree nurseries had

been constructed in nearly 400 households.

• In 2013 GSC partnered with Fintrac to work

on the TAPP 60 project. At Mulama village

in Kilimanjaro, 40 keyhole gardens were

built in just one week.

• This provides a great case study for the

success of GSC’s Nutrition & Sustainable

agriculture work and for the RRM approach

that we use

TAPP 60 – A Case Study

• June 2013 – December 2014

• Expected to reach 13,500 people

• Working in 60 villages selected from four

regions: Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha &

Manyara.

• 35 villages have been trained so far:

• 735 keyhole Gardens

• 6 Hafirs

• Follow up research includes: visiting

households for Quality control

• Examples/evidence of success –watch the

clip

TAPP 60 – Project Details

• Main Activity: Training & Mobilizing

communities in the areas of HIV/AIDS,

Health, Nutrition & life skills plus

sustainable agriculture.

• Community engagement has been achieved

through local leaders using small groups

and farmer groups, mainly TAPP farmers.

• Key Interventions used:

• SA: keyhole gardens, tree nurseries &

Hafirs

• HA: Practical life skills and prevention

skills. Lessons on living with HIV plus

education on hygiene and gender roles

in relation to HIV/AIDS PHMTC, Nutrition

& Decision making skills.

TAPP 60 – Project Details

• How Nutrition & HIV/AIDS education &

Sustainable Agriculture trainings are

integrated:

• Hafirs provide water for the keyhole

gardens.

• Keyhole gardens help to bring food

closer to homes & anyone can attend

to & managed them with ease. In doing

so, they allow families to improve their

eating habits, seeing as a variety of

fresh vegetables are now readily

available to them. This in turn leads to

better health & nutrition which is

reiterated in education sessions.

GSC – The key to our success

• Highly educated and experience staff

• Local knowledge & understanding of

community needs

• Ongoing relationship with communities

• Introduction of innovative agricultural

technologies

• Education in the area of Nutrition &

HIV/AIDS

• RRM approach = behavior change in

communities

• Exceptional reputation

• Volunteers from the US help to educate and

spread the word.

• Donor & Partner contributions

Conclusion• By integrating cost-effective Sustainable

Agriculture practices with Nutrition

education, GSC hopes to improve food

security and subsequently reduce the rate

of poverty in Tanzania

• The RRM approach helps to increase the

rate at which we meet our goals and helps

build momentum and motivation to do so.

• By taking a capacity building approach to

our work, we hope to make ourselves

redundant in these communities and see a

continuing reduction in poverty within

Tanzania.

• The TAPP60 project provides evidence

of our success

Thanks & Goodbye

• Please visit our demo plot outside

• Find either Anna or Simon with any

questions

• Visit our website

(www.globalservicecorps.org) for more

information

• Thanks & Goodbye