(Español)
Contact: Benita (Elisabeth) Weber de Gavilán or Silverio Gavilán Balovier, Project Coordinator
Calle Arasunú 707, Fernando de la Mora (Paraguay), Tel./Fax 595/21/502 883;
vidaplena@tigo.com.py
"In Paraguay, 45% of the population under 5-years-old live in poverty. Of those, 22 percent are extremely poor. The factor that causes child mortality (25 per thousand live births) and which it is feasible to modify is primary malnourishment (= food-deficit)." [Source: MSPyBS]
This funding request is presented by Fundación Vida Plena in partnership with the Association Development Community San Juan (ADECO); the Obra Social Maria Auxiliadora, dependent of the Salesian Congregation and Villeta Municipality, which will participate, will support and mobilize the residents of the neighborhood to participate in the activities of the project.
2. The project’s objectives
Install conditions for comprehensive development of children and adolescents and
community and family food security among beneficiaries with low income of Villeta
and to counteract the pressure of consumer life style.
3. General View of the project
Poverty and undernourishment are the results of uprooting and marginality, which cause the loss of important knowledge in natural parenting and on natural food production in the home; for example breast milk is replaced by formula and natural food by industrialized products. Villeta (a small riverside town south of the capital Asunción) has a high percentage of families with poorly fed or undernourished children. Through the promotion of breast feeding, the home production of food in the family garden, and the implementation of the ICDP program, the Vida Plena Foundation seeks to obtain lasting attitude changes in at least 20 families with a total of 50 children in a suburban neighbourhood in Villeta.
4. The situation of children in early childhood (0-8 years) in Villeta:
In incomplete families (more than 23.9 percent are mothers without fixed partners), family ties are weak, and at least 50 children, half of them under 8 years, are undernourished, poorly fed, or at risk of malnutrition. For cultural, economic and employment reasons, for lack of models and sound criteria, these families are not prepared to nurse or are unable to adequately feed their newborns. Villeta does not have community counseling for comprehensive care of children. There is low coverage of health services in the public Mother and Child Hospital, there is no continuous and impressive coordination between the various institutions responsible for the care of children in early childhood. For poverty alleviation social entities organize popular pots (soup kitchens) or dining rooms for children in need. However, for the sake of human development it is necessary to embark on more sustainable solutions.
5. This project proposal
The FVP considers it necessary to attack the causes of malnutrition through cultural changes within families and those responsible for the community, through this project’s triple approach.
6. Strategies:
First approach: Community leaders will be trained in the methodology of the breast feeding mothers support group; then they will organize 30 meetings with different groups of pregnant and breast feeding mothers and also counselling on complementary infant nutrition.
Second approach: Members of at least ten families, with the support of an expert in organic gardening, will work as a group to install a ongoing model organic vegetable garden on a community lot. Simultaneously, these same families will install — with the support of the same expert — organic vegetable gardens on their own small family properties. In a community kitchen families will be trained to develop healthy and varied eating habits, preparing homemade and economical food, including organic gardening products.
Third approach: At least ten families assist at ICDP meetings/workshops to develop awareness of child-rearing in a positive way.
7. Who will be the beneficiaries of the project?
Young low-income families of the district of Villeta together with their children, ages 0-18 years.
At least 10 families who practice adequate nutrition for their children, through exclusive breast feeding for six months and the gradual and appropriate introduction of complementary solid foods.
Ten mothers and fathers and other caregivers who practice healthier diets and prepare healthy and economic food in their homes. Fifty children under eight years receiving better nutrition, appropriate to their needs of growth and development.
Fifty children from the age of eight and over who are more alert and communicative because they are being better cared for by their parents and other caregivers.
Activities during the 12 months.
| First semester: | Second semester: |
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Budget (in Euros)
| Human ressources | €9,550 |
| Materials: For Promotion, Dissemination, Snack: juice and small reinforcements, Vegetables from community garden and family gardens. | €7,322 |
| Transport: | €1,333 |
| Administration: | €1,750 |
| TOTAL | €19,955 |
CAPACITACIÓN COMUNITARIA PARA LA SEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA Y EL DESARROLLO HUMANO SOSTENIBLE MEDIANTE EL FOMENTO DE LA LACTANCIA MATERNA, DE LA PRODUCCIÓN CASERA DE ALIMENTOS SANOS Y SALUDABLES Y DE LA CRIANZA EN POSITIVO, EN UN BARRIO SUBURBANO DE VILLETA (DEP. CENTRAL), PARAGUAY
“En Paraguay, 45% de la población menor de 5 años se encuentra en situación de pobreza, de ésos 22% son pobres extremos. Entre los factores de mortalidad infantil (25 por mil nacidos vivos) factibles de modificar se encuentra la desnutrición primaria (=por déficit de alimentos).” (Fuente: MSPyBS)
La Fundación Vida Plena propone fomentar la lactancia materna exclusiva de 6 meses y continuada hasta por lo menos 2 años, con adecuada introducción de alimentos sólidos a la nutrición infantil; la producción casera de alimentos en la huerta familiar y el entrenamiento en la preparación de una alimentación familiar sana y económica; además de implementar el programa ICDP; para obtener un cambio de actitudes culturales en por lo menos 20 familias de la ciudad, en un barrio sub-urbano.
