Check out this post from our partner organization Save the Children, the first partner post in our Food Security in Focus series. This post focuses on how proper nutrition, particularly for children, is an essential component to achieving food security. Stay tuned to the blog for more entries over the coming month.

-Kara Arsenault

Today is my first day back at my office in Mozambique’s capitol city, Maputo. For the past week, I have been visiting our programs in the northern province of Nampula, where Save the Children is working to address high rates of childhood malnutrition.

In one rural community, I joined mothers and grandmothers who gathered to learn about nutrition from a trained community volunteer. The mood was animated and lively, with the women anxious to learn how to prepare food in a way that would make their children stronger. The women were a little shy when it came to asking me questions, but they were quick to smile.

During this gathering, the mothers learned how to cook enriched porridge. They had fun while preparing the food—there was a camaraderie among them that allowed them to let their guard down and just enjoy being together. They frequently sang while working.

Their children are part-and-parcel of who they are. They would never, for example, eat alone while their children played. When it came time to try the meal, each mother made sure her child got his or her fill before eating herself.

I am proud of the programs that Save the Children supports, like working with health centers and communities to prevent and treat malnutrition, helping farmers grow more nutritious food that they can sell on the market, encouraging exclusive breastfeeding, and helping caretakers feed their families well. And I’m proud of our emphasis on building community and government capacity to achieve these goals.

Together, these components ensure that families are food secure and that their well-nourished children thrive in economically-viable households. Here in northern Mozambique, we expect our USAID-funded work to significantly reduce the prevalence of malnutrition by 2011, the end of the three year program.

Malnutrition takes a big toll on children’s health. I’ve been working in this field for more than 10 years and I’m still humbled by the tireless efforts of health workers helping many dozens of people a day and parents walking hours to bring their sick children to clinics. To me, the workloads appear daunting and the conditions challenging. I learn a lot from my field visits, not only on the technical level of “what are we doing out there” and “how many results have we achieved,” but more importantly, on a human level, how people feel about their lives and their work. I come away feeling like our work is making a difference on both small and large scales. I always return to my desk with a renewed spirit of work.

-Tina Lloren, Regional Food Security and Nutrition Advisor, Africa Area Programs, Save the Children