Physical Health Ghana Project #13331

Reducing Malnutrition among Orphans in Ghana

by Americares Foundation Inc.

Project Report | Dec 19, 2013
One Child One World Program Update

By Robin Salmans | AmeriCares

Naomi, founder and head of Royal Seed Children

One Child One World™ Program

AmeriCares continues to support the health and nutritional needs of orphaned and vulnerable children in 30 residential homes in Ghana through One Child One World™, a program launched in 2011 in partnership with Hope for all Foundation and the Youth and Social Enterprise Fund. During the second quarter of fiscal year 2014 we shipped more than $250,000 of nutritionals in support the program. We continue to provide health and nutrition training to 300 caregivers and to work on identifying a sustainable local source of nutrition. We are also encouraging the homes to develop small-scale food projects that could not only provide nutritionals but also be income-generating.

Following is a story about Naomi, the founder and head of Royal Seed Children’s home in Tema, Ghana, one of the 30 participating homes in One Child One World™.

Naomi herself was once a street child. Born to a family with limited resources, Naomi wasn’t able to regularly attend school because her father did not want to invest in education for girls. Instead, she did farm work and sold goods on the road and in the train station to help her family survive. However, Naomi was committed to getting an education, and saved some of her money in order to periodically attend vocational school, without the support of her parents. This experience inspired her to work with street kids, many of whom had a similar story.

One night Naomi had a dream of giving food to an endless line of children, and woke up inspired to take action. Naomi took in four younger street children to live with her in the single rented room where she lived. She fed and sheltered the children, helped them attend school, and taught them some basic income-generating skills, such as dress-making.

Today, Naomi’s Royal Seed Home is government-registered, includes a primary school, and is filled with 150 children of all ages. Many of the children are orphans, but many others are former street children or come from families who are unable to support them for economic, health, or other reasons. The home receives support mainly from private donations from individuals in the community, churches, and businesses, as well as limited government funding.

Naomi has told AmeriCares how much the training provided through One Child One World™ impacted her and her staff. Among the most important lessons she learned was how to care for children who come from challenging circumstances, and how to listen to them and build trust. Seven of the home’s 28 caregivers attended the first caregiver training in spring of 2013. Naomi thought it was important to involve several members of her staff to empower them to expand their knowledge and to then teach others what they’d learned about nutrition, health, and child development.

Another lesson learned from the training was the value of developing small home gardens to fortify the children’s meals with plant nutrition. After the trainings, Naomi and her staff were inspired to plant a garden in a vacant 20-acre field owned by the home. They are now growing sugarcane, bananas, and spinach, and the children not only have better-rounded meals, but they also learn about maintaining and caring for the garden.

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Oct 1, 2013
One Child One World Summary

By Katie Mitchell | Associate

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to an estimated 53 million orphans – 12% of all children in the region. Most orphaned children are taken in by extended family, but with almost half of Africans living on less than a dollar a day, these children often become an unmanageable burden. As a result, a large number of orphans end up living in residential facilities.

To help address the needs of the children in these facilities,AmeriCares is partnering with the Hope for All Foundation and Youth and Social Enterprise Fund in the One Child One World™ project, a four-year initiative that focuses on improving nutrition and health for orphaned and vulnerable children ages 0 – 18 months, living in 30 residential homes in Ghana.

Ghana has seen a marked increase in the number of orphaned and vulnerable children along with a high demand for supportive care and housing. With growing demand, many supportive care facilities are experiencing severe resource constraints, including limited access to well-balanced and nutritional meals for children.

“Children living in these homes are twice as likely to be malnourished.”

Since the launch of One Child One World™ in July 2011, AmeriCares has delivered four shipments of nutritional supplements, infant formula, and personal care and hygiene products. At the end of 2011, nearly 600 children had benefited from the program, including one little boy by the name of Kofi.

Left: Kofi upon arrival. Right: Healthy, happy Kofi

Kofi arrived at Royal Seed Home, one of our recipient facilities in central Ghana, when he was 5 months old. He was drastically underweight for his age and suffering from malnutrition. Thankfully, at the same time Kofi arrived at Royal Seed Home, so did AmeriCares first shipments of nutritional supplements.

In one month’s time, Kofi had gained nearly a pound and caregivers were already noticing other improvements in his health. By the end of March 2012, after four months of receiving nutritional supplements, Kofi had gained 10 pounds. He is now nearly 20 pounds, a healthy weight for a child his age.

Kofi is just one of thousands of children in Ghana who suffer from malnutrition. Research conducted for the One Child One World™ project revealed that children living in these 30 residential homes are twice as likely to be malnourished compared to their Ghanaian counterparts living outside the homes. This is an alarming statistic when you consider the serious health consequences that arise as a result of malnutrition, including increased susceptibility to serious diseases, along with development delays in physical and cognitive growth.

Through the One Child One World™ project, AmeriCares is giving children like Kofi the opportunity to live happier and healthier lives.

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Jul 9, 2013
One Child One World 2013 Mid-Year Update

By Justine MacWilliams | Project Leader

Cheif Michael

The One Child One World baseline assessment conducted in 2011determined that 30% of orphaned and vulnerable children living in orphanages (homes) in Ghana are underweight, as compared to the national average of 14%. Further, 17% of children in the homes were found to be wasting, a result of acute hunger or recent infection. Accordingly, an essential component of the One Child One World project has been to provide fortified nutritional supplements to the homes in order to help the children reach a solid nutritional baseline. AmeriCares has committed to delivering Xango and other donated nutritionals to Ghana on a regular basis over the next three years to meet these needs, while recognizing the necessity of identifying a sustainable local source of nutrition to maintain the children’s nutritional gains into the future.

Identifying this sustainable food source has been a key focus of OCOW FY13 activities. AmeriCares in-country implementing partner Youth and Social Enterprise Fund (YSEF) has been working closely with the Ghana Health Services’ Nutrition Program, the Department of Food and Nutrition at the University of Ghana, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to identify local solutions. Ghana Health Services has an ongoing program focusing on fortified foods, and is stressing the option of soy milk production, and idea which is currently being explored for participating homes (a budget estimate for implementation of such a scheme is being developed).

In addition, the management of the children’s homes will be encouraged to develop proposals for small-scale, home-based food projects, the best of which will be awarded small start-up grants through OCOW project funds. These locally-owned projects will not only help maintain a solid nutritional status for the children, but will also ideally create income-generating opportunities for the homes, through which they can purchase necessary food and other products for the children. Possible projects include:

Soy milk production
Training in animal husbandry/ruminants rearing, poultry, backyard gardening to cultivate fruits, vegetables and keep domestic animals.
Alternative food-based income generating activities: mushroom cultivation, snail rearing, bee-keeping, bakery, soy-milk production
Craft production: knitting, beads-making, soap and powder making, etc

In addition, AmeriCares YSEF is reaching out to food producers with a local presence and CSR interests in children and nutrition to seek additional local funding and food sources for the homes. Some current prospects include Nestle, Cargill, and Unilever

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