Projects

Improving Household Nutrition Security and Public Health in CARICOM. Otherwise known as Food and Nutrition (FaN)

Finding effective, gender-sensitive ways to improve food sovereignty, household food security, and nutrition to reduce the burden of obesity-related NCDs

Aim

Utilizing stakeholder interaction, extensive research, and intervention co-creation to identify and intervene at key leverage points in the regional food system to improve healthy eating and promote sustainable livelihoods in Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Activities

The research objectives included systematic reviews and some original data collection which also served to guide intervention design. Significant was the involvement of multiple sectors in the Group Model Building (GMB) exercises to develop a shared understanding of the determinants and drivers of unhealthy eating and the identification of intervention opportunities that were most appropriate to the study countries. The flexibility built into the project budget, where the methods of determining interventions were specified but not the interventions themselves, meant that there was great flexibility in responding to opportunities as they arose and in re-orienting project interventions to be COVID-19 compliant.

Further information about the FaN project can be found on this dedicated website: Food4Change Caribbean

Outcomes

• A mixed method analysis documenting nutrition related health status and NCD risk factor profiles and to understand drivers of consumption and dietary patterns, particularly in relation to gender and socio-economic position.
• Food system mapping to understand the current food systems. This included a stakeholder analysis of key players in the local food systems (producers, processors, importers, and retailers, within government and private sectors); utilizing stakeholder interviews to build a picture of the functioning of the food systems from their perspectives, including the political, policy and institutional arrangements that enable or hamper their functioning; and group model building workshops with stakeholders to develop causal loop maps to determine points of intervention within food systems.
• The co-creation of 15 gender-sensitive interventions in Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines at school, community and policy levels.

Project Summary - Food4Change Caribbean

Outputs

• Bulletins
• Videos
• PowerPoints
• Posters & Factsheets
• Policy Briefs
• Publications
• Intervention Toolkits