INTEGRATED NUTRITION AND FOOD

SECURITY STRATEGIES FOR CHILDREN AND

VULNERABLE GROUPS IN VIET NAM

Case Study

SDGs addressed

More info: www.sdgfund.org

This case study is based on lessons from the joint programme,“Integrated nutrition and food security strategies for children andvulnerable Groups in Viet Nam.” Read more

CHAPTERS:

HANOI

Almost 2.1 million children under five in Viet Namare considered too short for their age orstunted. Lao Cai and Ninh Thuan have highpercentages of ethnic minorities provinces andalso suffer poverty rates around double thenational average. The incidence of stunting isabove 40% in Lao Cai, located in the NortheasternRegion, and 30% in Ninh Thuan, located in theSouth Central Coastal Region. Over 50% of childrenfrom the H’Mong ethnic minority group,predominantly found in Lao Cai and 40% ofchildren from the Rag Lei ethnic minority group inNinh Thuan, are also stunted compared to 23% ofKinh children, (the majority ethnic group).

Viet Nam has made great progress in terms ofeconomic growth over the past two decades,however, nutrition and food security remain keydevelopment challenges still to overcome. Thejoint programme supported the development andimplementation of integrated approaches to foodsecurity and nutrition to achieve the targets set inthe National Nutrition Strategy and National FoodSecurity.

1. SUMMARY

Programme beneficiaries.

2. SITUATION

3. STRATEGY

The joint programme focused on fostering politicalsupport to scale up nutrition and built on theexperience of the MDG-F-supported, “JointProgramme on Nutrition and Food SecurityStrategies in Viet Nam.” It promoted best practices,including adoption of effective laws and policies,and development of action plans focused onmutual accountability.

Demonstration of organic fertilizer preparation.

iThe programme aims to Support the developmentand improvement of nutrition and food securityand also supports capacitydevelopment of local institutions, organizationsand policy makers.

Policy was strengthened on food security andnutrition through the approval and implementationof decree 100 on marketing of breast milksubstitutes, national decree 09 on mandatory foodfortification (salt for human consumption and foodprocessing, wheat flour, and cooking oil), andMinistry of Health’s guidelines on Early EssentialNewborn Care. Other accomplishments includedthe restructuring of a proposal on the rice sector,which was endorsed in June 2016 anddisseminated for nationwide application, andannual nutrition profiles at national and sub-regional levels and for 63 provinces, which weredeveloped and published on the National Instituteof Nutrition’s website.

Over the duration of the programme, trainingthrough the Farmer Field Schools benefited some5,466 farmers (2,969 women and 2,497 men).Local government officials in seven programmecommunes in the four targeted districts of the NinhThuan and Lao Cai provinces improved theirknowledge and skills in seven household models ofcrop, livestock and aquaculture production. TheMinistry of Health approved technical guidelineson early detection and early treatment of childrenwith severe acute malnutrition (SAM), along withnational guidelines on diagnosis and earlytreatment of SAM. These guidelines were used inpilot communes in Ninh Thuan and scaled up to334 communes of the 28 districts most affected bythe drought crisis in 2016, benefiting some 7,000SAM children in the affected provinces.

Community Child Feeding Clubs targeting womenfrom households in each respective village provedsuccessful and focused on making the best use ofavailable foods, providing guidance on exclusivebreastfeeding and complementary feeding, as wellas hygiene and sanitation. Clubs met once perweek at the home of the village head withmembers exchanging foodstuffs to improvenutritional diversity. They also had access togrinding equipment at the club location in order tomake fortified flour. Differing from those organizedby other entities, they as they enjoyed theendorsement and participation of local andprovincial government.

4. RESULTS AND IMPACT

5,466 farmerswere benefited

Restructuring of a proposalon the rice sector

Best use of available foods, hygiene and sanitation

Participation of local and provincial government

Training materials and supplies displayed at Community Child Feeding Club.

Challenges included improving intersectorial policycoordination, availability of data and monitoring ofnutrition indicators, difficulties in identifying localexperts in gender and measuring the broaderimpact of programme interventions on policies andplanning der and measuring the broader impact ofprogramme interventions on policies and planning.

➢ By continuing to work with local partners,interventions including the Farmer Field Schoolsand Community Child Feeding Clubs could befurther scaled up. Apart from the targetingmothers, other caregivers in the communitiescould also benefit from participation.

➢ Information is empowering. Generating reliabledata on key health indicators, quantifyingimprovements in household income and sharingthis information with the beneficiaries allowedthem to see the achievements they made throughtheir participation in the joint programme.

By Catherine Wong, Programme Specialist,SDG Fund, with input from Nhat NguyenM.D., Joint Programme Coordinator, FAO,Nguyen Dinh Quang M.D., NutritionOfficer, UNICEF, Beth Osborne Daponte,Evaluation Specialist and Trinh Hong Son,M.D., Evaluation Specialist, and TeresaGeorge Akkara, Intern, SDG Fund, andediting by Vesna Jaksic Lowe,Communications Consultant and Writer,and translation by Victor Garrido Delgado,Communications Consultant, SDG Fund.

In the targeted local communities, positivespillover effects were observed from programmeinterventions. Neighboring households that did notparticipate in the programme but seeing theresults, also replicated the techniques and modelsthe practiced by the programme’s beneficiaries.Where beneficiaries had limited Vietnameselanguage skills, local partners were grateful for thedevelopment of training materials, both on thehealth and the agricultural side in local languages,which helped ensure sustainability and replicationof results.

The baseline and endline surveys were importantto demonstrating the impact of the jointprogramme’s interventions. Effectivecommunication of the results to the provincialgovernment and donors in Lao Cai provinceresulted in the decision by the Provincial PeopleCommittee of Lao Cai to replicate the model in 22additional communes with similar social-economicconditions funded by the local government budget.The Government of the Republic of Korea alsoprovided financial support to expand the model tothree other locations.

7. SUSTAINABILITY AND POTENTIAL FOR REPLICATION

5. CHALLENGES

6. LESSONS LEARNT

Children of programme beneficiary familyplaying outside the farmers field school

demonstration.