Mother Support Group (MSG) is the frontliner in the community to scale up nutrition interventions
Mother Support Group (MSG) is the frontliner in the community to scale up nutrition interventions in Timor-Leste


Mana Odete Guterres is a volunteer member of the Mother Support Group (MSG) in Suco Caraubalo, Viqueque municipality. She has been the member of the MSG since 2007 and takes part in activities which help mothers in her community to take care of their babies.
She has been helping many families, especially the pregnant mothers during the ante-natal care and post-partum care. Her daily activities are sharing the information and knowledge to mothers on how to cook nutritious food following the recipe book that was produced by the Ministry of Health with support from UNICEF. Mana Odete is also a MSG coordinator in her village that has 133 families.

Mana Lia Amalia dos Reis Fernandes (29) and her baby, Helio (7 months). Mana Lia is one of the mothers that is cared by Mana Odete and other members. Last year, in 2023, Mana Lia was pregnant with her fourth child, Helio. After delivery, Mana Lia immediately put in practice the information that she got from Mana Odete. This includes ensuring that her baby is breastfed within the first hour after birth, ensuring that Helio benefits from colostrum, and continued with exclusive breastfeeding until Helio reached 6 months old. Helio has now been introduced to complementary food and he continues to be breastfed.

During regular home visits, Mana Odete, explains to Mana Lia on the importance of breastfeeding and supplementary food for growing babies. She uses flipcharts that were produced through UNICEF’s support to the Ministry of Health. Mana Lia is aware that continuous breastfeeding of her baby Helio and providing diverse range of nutritious foods for complementary feeding for baby Helio is important for her baby’s health and in prevent all forms of childhood malnutrition.

Mana Odete, also supports Mana Lia with the correct positioning of the baby during breastfeeding. “Even though Mana Lia already has four children including Helio, showing this breastfeeding technic to lactating mothers remains important and helps to reinforce the importance of holding the baby properly while he breastfeeds”. Mana Lia follows the guidance from Mana Odete on how to breastfeed her baby Helio.

Mana Lia is breastfeeding her baby Helio, 7 months old. She was convinced by Mana Odete, the MSG member to immediately initiate breastfeeding after giving birth and to continues with exclusive breastfeeding her baby Helio for six-months. It is the first time for Mana Lia to practice exclusive breastfeeding for her baby Helio, despite of having four children.
Her baby Helio, whom she exclusively breastfed, is healthier compared to her other three children. Her other three children frequently fall sick compared to baby Helio. Mana Lia always breastfeeds her baby Helio at any time, depending on her baby’s needs.

Mana Lia and her family members, including her husband. Her other child is sleeping inside their bedroom. Mana Lia’s husband always supports her to exclusively breastfeed their baby Helio and put their children’s health as their family’s priority.

Mana Lia is happy to be among the MSG members. She always feels supported by the MSG members in her village. She said that the MSG is very important to her and other families because they provide information on health and nutrition for children and show families how to cook nutritious and diverse food for children, also checking the health and nutritional status of the children. Mana Lia likes that the MSG members also visit families at their homes.
Mana Odete, and other MSG member are always providing support to Mana Lia and other families at any time when needed. Flipchart is one of the tools used by mana Odete and other MSG members to explain about health and nutrition to the families and their children, when visiting them.

Not only visiting families, Mana Odete, the MSG member and other members are also active in the community outreach activities, like cooking demostrations at villages, screening of children and disseminating the information to the community members.
Mana Odete is always accompanied by other MSG members, the health professionals and staff from Alola Foundation when doing the community outreach activities.
This picture is one of the examples where mana Odete participates in community outreach activity in a sub-village in Suco Caraubalo, Viqueque municipality recently in April 2024.

With support from UNICEF, through financial support from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP), Mana Odete gained some knowledge and skills from the trainings that she attended and provided by UNICEF Timor-Leste, such as the training on Infant and Young Child Feeding practice and screening the children five years old and below and the mothers.

Mana Odete, the MSG member feeds a child during the community outreach activity in one of the sub-villages in Suco Caraubalo, Viqueque municipality. She shows some technics to the mother on how to entice the appetite of the child to eat, like telling the funny stories or making some funny faces to the child. This is one of the technics to make the child finish her food.

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