The Government of Japan supports integrated child-friendly spaces

Twenty-month-old Rafiatou Mande is sitting on his mother's lap, taking big gulps of porridge prepared by the women from the mother-to-mother support groups for infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices called GASPA. His mother Assetta encourages him to take the last few spoonfuls.         

A month ago, Rafiatou refused to eat. Home screenings made by a community-based health worker (CBHW) revealed that he was malnourished. The CBHW referred him to the Health and Social Promotion Center where it was confirmed that he had moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). After a short treatment at the health center, Rafiatou and his mother were further referred to the child-friendly space where mothers meet for awareness sessions on IYCF practices.

Thirty-year-old Assetta Kanazoe comes from Tanwalbougou, a rural commune located 50 miles from Fada in the Est region of Burkina Faso. 

“We were at home when suddenly we heard deafening noises. These were airstrikes that targeted unidentified gunmen. As they fled, they attacked the villagers, stealing their property and killing those who resisted. We fled to Fada.”, says Asseta. 

The Child Friendly Space (CFS) in Sector 6 Nord is an integrated space where several activities are implemented to provide a multisectoral response to the needs of every child. This allows children to benefit from key basic social services and important information in one place. 

The CFS has about 90 women spread across six GASPA, with each GASPA made up of 15 women. These women are trained in home screening for malnutrition by measuring the upper arm circumference. They are also made aware of several themes related to IYCF through demonstrations on the preparation of enriched porridge and the use of multiple micronutrient powders for children aged 6 to 23 months to fight against micronutrient deficiencies. 

“Since I have been attending this space, my child’s health has improved significantly, and he is getting stronger day by day. Rafiatou benefited from the micro-nutrient powder which helped him enormously.” rejoices Assetta. 

Lompo Tapoa Habiba is the Health Nutrition Manager of the Yanyenma consortium, a UNICEF-supported NGO made up of the Todima, Todi Yaba associations and the Association for the Development of Village Communities (ADCV). Under her supervision, a mass campaign made it possible to detect more than 10 cases of severe and moderate acute malnutrition in October 2023. To prevent children from relapsing into malnutrition, she succeeded in establishing an awareness session every month for each GASPA. 

“Currently, we take two GASPA at the same time to allow them to benefit from at least one awareness session during the month.”, she says. 

For Habiba, the GASPA provide an important platform for the integration and cohesion of women who come from several localities including host communities. Internally displaced women represent more than 80 per cent of the group. They live as one community and support each other. Additional awareness sessions on issues of hygiene and sanitation, education and child protection have also been integrated into the GASPA sessions. 

Thanks to UNICEF with funding from the Government of Japan, training was initiated for project stakeholders to address critical questions relating to hygiene and sanitation, notably the hygienic management of menstruation and other activities. Income-generating activities such as soap making, weaving, dyeing as well as other activities and pre-professional training for the benefit of children aged 13 to 17 registered in the child-friendly space were also provided. 

“What remains to be done for greater impact is to help mothers to develop income-generating activities and to promote food cultivation so that they can feed themselves and their children.”, notes Sylvie Forgo, Health and Nutrition officer at the UNICEF Fada N’Gourma Field Office.

Thanks to financial support from the Government of Japan through the 2022 Supplementary Budget, UNICEF was able to respond to the WASH and Nutrition related needs created by the deterioration of the humanitarian context, affecting communities in the several regions. Through this project, UNICEF provided support for 904,133 people from crisis-affected communities, including 88,033 children under 5 years old who benefitted from high impact nutrition interventions.