Comprehensive strategy to combat chronic malnutrition in Guatemala
A UNICEF project with the support of the European Union that seeks to contribute to the reduction of chronic malnutrition in the country.
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An UNICEF project with the support of the European Union that seeks to contribute to the reduction of chronic malnutrition in the country.
The UNICEF Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Chronic Malnutrition project, with financing from the European Union, has a duration of four years (2020-2024) and seeks to help reduce chronic child malnutrition in Guatemala through an integrated package of nutrition, health, water and sanitation, education and early childhood development interventions.
Coverage is provided to the prioritized departments based on the prevalence and number of girls and boys suffering from chronic malnutrition: Quiché (68 per cent), Huehuetenango (67 per cent ), Chiquimula (57 per cent) and Alta Verapaz (50 per cent).
At the national level they represent 40% of boys and girls under five years of age with growth retardation.
Initiatives that are part of the project:
Iniciativas
The Community Centres for Comprehensive Child Development (CECODII) are friendly spaces for mothers, fathers or caregivers to attend early learning sessions with children under 4 years of age and achieve healthy cognitive, social and emotional child development in the framework of comprehensive care.
Progress as of June 2023:
- 90 managers and technicians trained in the Acompáñame a Crecer Programme methodology.
- 564 CECODIIs operating through the project “Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Chronic Malnutrition”, implemented by UNICEF with European Union support.
- Strengthening the programme by training human resources to ensure quality in the different modalities of care: individual care with home visits for children aged 0-2 years; group care through the CECODII for children aged 2-4 years; and care for pregnant women, nursing mothers and meetings among families.
The Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Chronic Malnutrition project between the European Union and UNICEF seeks to strengthen the basic knowledge of healthcare personnel of breastfeeding, support the dissemination of the methodology of midwives who promote breastfeeding, and foster the development of methodology to recognize midwives as promoters of breastfeeding.
Progress as of June 2023:
- CPLM methodology training: 206 persons from 8 municipalities.
- Knowledge sharing: 1,000 midwives from about 12 municipalities.
- Breastfeeding promoters: 887 midwives from 12 municipalities.
- Reception of voice messages about breastfeeding: 400 midwives from 7 municipalities.
The Community and Private Sector Resilience initiative (BCR) of the project between the European Union and UNICEF aims to involve companies positively in the protection of children and adolescents from disaster risks by leveraging the capabilities of the private sector to strengthen the resilience of the communities in which it operates and/or influences.
Progress as of June 2023:
- Five co-creation workshops developed.
- Training for 30 CONRED technicians.
- Development of a subnational analysis of the integration of the private sector in community resilience.
- Consultation and analysis carried out with more than 170 organizations (companies, NGOs, Government).
- Territorial Strengthening Accreditation of 4 CODREDs and 20 COMREDs.
- 10 municipal workshops were conducted to strengthen and integrate the private sector in emergency preparedness and response.
UNICEF has provided technical assistance to SESAN (responsible for line 5 of the GCNN) for the construction of the Communication for Social and Behaviour Change Strategy (CSBCS, known as CCSyC by its Spanish acronym). For the first time, Guatemala has a strategy of this type, which establishes common results (expected behaviours) for each line of action.
Progress as of June 2023:
- 1 CCSyC strategy developed.
- COMUSAN plans for the GCNN CCSyC Strategy developed.
- 22 COMUSANs receive direct technical support for the design and implementation of actions of their CCSyC plan.
- 1 basic message package of the CCSyC strategy validated.
- 1 package of methodological guides of the CCSyC strategy developed with their generating images.
- Partnership between COMUSAN and local radio stations established for the dissemination of messages produced by COMUSAN within the framework of its CCSyC plan.
The intervention consists of the preparation of a diagnosis of municipal public finances that includes context indicators, financial management and administration, Public Investment in Children and Adolescents (known as IPNA by its Spanish acronym) and a budget linked to the Great National Crusade for Nutrition (known as GCNN by its Spanish acronym). The project between the European Union and UNICEF also aims to provide technical assistance for the development and implementation of an improvement plan to strengthen capacities and tools in municipal public finances.
Progress as of June 2023:
- 22 municipalities with diagnoses carried out.
- 21 municipalities of four prioritized departments have carried out an improvement plan
Through sanitation marketing, the dynamic and sustainable growth of the different links in the chain of services (e.g., credit, counselling) and products (e.g., bathrooms, accessories) related to sanitation and hygiene is promoted to ensure an adequate offer of services and products for rural populations.
The purpose is to facilitate the establishment of a dynamic and healthy environment and market in which the private sector can develop and offer sanitation solutions and services that are demanded by rural communities in the process of improving their sanitation and hygiene conditions and practices.
Progress as of June 2023:
- Sanitation and hygiene coverage statistics analysed.
- A model for integration of actors developed for the marketing of sanitation-related articles.
- A directory of potential hardware stores and financing entities was created.
- A survey was conducted of actors in the supply chain of goods and services in municipalities in Huehuetenango, Alta Verapaz, Quiché and Guatemala.
- 8 coordination meetings with guilds, chambers and other private sector actors.
The EU - UNICEF project aims to provide technical assistance to municipal offices for the development and implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) management models through coordination actions with governmental and non-governmental actors participating at the sectoral level.
The implementation of these processes is relevant for making better decisions regarding access to water and sanitation services by excluded and vulnerable populations.
Progress as of June 2023:
- A proposal for a WASH management model was developed by governmental and non-governmental sector partners.
- Contributions were systematized and presented in participatory events coordinated by COPRESAM and RASGUA.
The EU - UNICEF project seeks to strengthen the capacities of municipal officials for improving the management, coverage and sustainability of municipal water and sanitation services. This will be achieved through effective management of WASH information to enable them to advocate for the municipality to invest in proposal development actions, which would help close the gap in access to WASH services by the rural and urban population.
Progress as of June 2023:
- Municipal diagnoses prepared for the 22 municipalities.
- An information collection tool was developed in KoboToolbox.
- A training process began for 22 municipalities to improve their management in the municipal framework.
Development and implementation of innovative and attractive digital resources (Happy Heart and Inclusive Health) that can help improve health, nutrition, water and sanitation and child development practices with a gender-sensitive and culturally relevant approach.
We work in collaboration with the Mayan Language Academy to ensure that interventions have the appropriate cultural relevance to reach diverse populations, prioritizing mothers, pregnant women, caregivers and adolescents.
Progress as of June 2023:
- Align digital platforms with national strategies such as The Great National Crusade for Nutrition and the Plan for the Prevention of Pregnancies in Girls and Adolescents (PLANEA). The tools are also aligned with departmental campaigns, such as Wank Sa’Tuqtuukilal (‘Let's Live in Harmony’).
- 170 comprehensive messages on nutrition, breastfeeding and health developed, translated, aligned with the National Communication Strategy for Social and Behaviour Change, and translated into seven Mayan languages.
- More than 11,000 mothers, pregnant women and caregivers from Quiché, Alta Verapaz, Chiquimula and Huehuetenango and 900 adolescents from Alta Verapaz receive messages through mobile technologies.
- Ministry of Health approval for the development and implementation of digital platforms.
Sustainable Total Sanitation and Hygiene (SAHTOSO by its Spanish acronym) is a methodology developed to increase sanitation coverage and eliminate environmental faecal contamination (ECOFAM) that includes the elimination of open-air defecation (FIDAL by its Spanish acronym). This methodology is community-led, free of subsidies, based on behavioural change and favouring the development of attitudes and practices aimed at eliminating faecal-oral contamination to reduce diseases caused by faeces.
Progress as of June 2023:
- 613 ECOFAM-certified communities.
- 262,665 people live in ECOFAM-certified communities.
- At least 37% of the community SAHTOSO monitoring committees are made up of women.
Learn more about United Nations projects financed by the European Union:
The Primary Health Care and Nutrition Project funded by the European Union seeks to help reduce chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years of age, adolescents and women of reproductive age, with emphasis on the thousand-day window of opportunity, in 22 prioritized municipalities from the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Chiquimula and Alta Verapaz.
The programme to build resilience in communities vulnerable to food insecurity and climate crisis (PRO-Resiliencia) seeks to provide tools that allow them to improve the long-term living conditions of some 30,000 people in communities of El Progreso, Chiquimula and Zacapa. PRO-Resiliencia is a four-year programme implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP) with funding in the amount of EUR15 million from the European Union.
In Guatemala, UNICEF signed a collaboration agreement with the European Union for implementation of the ‘Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Chronic Malnutrition’ project financed by Development Cooperation Instrument Number CRIS: 2019/041-909, with the aim of improving the nutritional status of children, women of reproductive age and adolescents in the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Chiquimula and Alta Verapaz.
For more information about the UNICEF project, contact us:
- María Claudia Santizo, [email protected]
- Ada Pinzón, [email protected]