With social distancing measures duly observed, a viewing of community videos produced under the USAID Transform Nutrition (TN) project took place in the Namitatari area in Rapale district yesterday. Some 140 people watched the videos, which had been made by the local community video group. “The videos help a lot, because they show people what to do and what to eat,” says Célia Mussequesse, an MCH nurse at the Rapale Health Center.
Using community members as actors, the videos explained the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and different ways to prepare enriched pastes for small children. “Many of the mothers add just sugar and salt to their pastes despite what they have learnt in nutrition sessions, but when they watch the videos and see the process, almost everyone starts enriching their food,” says nurse Célia.
The videos were shown in connection with the visit by a mobile health brigade, where young children had their weight checked and received deworming tablets and vitamin A supplements (also known as “the drop”). The videos are produced by community groups trained by h2n staff to use a mobile phone for filming and editing to tell their own stories of positive role models and ways of doing things.
“People learn the technical part very quickly and already know how to tell good stories,” says Daniel Cazimoto, h2n field coordinator for community video under the TN project, which is implemented by a consortium of ADPP, h2n, GAIN, Unilúrio and Viamo. “First, the groups themselves learn the content they want to convey through participation in a creative process and then they share it with all the members of their community,” concludes Cazimoto.