Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network

Justification: Due to the limited information about nutrition-related issues and policies, some religious representatives show a negative attitude or even resistance towards nutrition behaviour change, especially when it revolves around food consumption of some particular food or species. Religious leaders have a great influence on the local population and they could play an important role in disseminating better practices and behaviours to reduce malnutrition.

 

Expected outcome: 1) Improved collaboration and linkages between faith-based organisations and food and nutrition actors (e.g. health system, public and private sectors, civil society etc); 2) Increased involvement of religious leaders in implementation of and informing about food and nutrition policies and programmes.

 

Innovation and intervention: building on the successful experiences shared by the Sierra Leone and Kenya CSAs, the SUN Alliance in Rwanda wants to work with faith-based organisation to strengthen their involvement and collaboration on nutrition enhancement programmes. To achieve that the SUN Alliance members will work with diverse religious groups to: organise awareness workshops for religious leaders at national level on malnutrition issues; design nutrition education messages suitable to be delivered during prayer sessions; organise radio talk shows featuring faith leaders to disseminate messages widely; organise meetings with the National Faith Network and the main nutrition actors at national level to evaluate results and identify areas for further collaboration.