Giving Compass' Take:

• Madelyn Vital reports that the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Smart Food initiative are working to educate Kenyan women about proper nutrition to address high rates of childhood malnutrition in Kenya.

• What are the long-term impacts of malnutrition? Where else in the world could this model make a difference? 

• Learn how the Right to Food campaign is tackling childhood malnutrition in India. 

The Smart Food initiative is working to empower rural Kenyan women, families, and communities through participatory cooking classes, nutrition training, and door-to-door educational outreach. According to Feed the Future, about 21 percent of Kenyan children under the age of five are experiencing stunted growth, which is evidence of chronic malnutrition.

The Kenyan Ministry for Public Health and Sanitation reports that “poor infant and young child feeding practices, poor maternal nutrition, low access to adequate and diversified diets, childhood illnesses and inadequate access to health and nutrition services” partially caused this high percentage of malnutrition.

To address these issues, the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Smart Food initiative are working with rural Kenyan communities to promote millets, sorghum, and legumes, or Smart Foods. According to ICRISAT, “the benefits of healthy eating, as highlighted during the training, are improvement of children’s performance in schools, reduced chances of family members becoming ill, and improved productivity, because healthy people have more energy to work harder and make more positive decisions, and in turn, make more money.”

Through these interactive training programs, ICRISAT intends to repopularize, increase demand for, and encourage the development of Smart Food crops. Their hope is that this will benefit small-scale farmers by increasing their incomes and the wellbeing of their families.

Read the full article about Smart Food by Madelyn Vital at Food Tank.