Nutrition and Hygiene for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria - A Training Guide for Community-Based Organizations

The Nutrition and Hygiene for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria training package is designed to provide basic technical knowledge on nutrition and hygiene needs for children who are 2-17 years old, particularly orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), and more specifically those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. The package was produced by Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) for its partners, who asked SPRING to create a training package to use with their local civil society organisations (CSOs) who work with OVC. The materials can be used by any organisation that works with children 2-17 years old and that wants to provide children and adolescents with information about nutrition and hygiene.

Specifically, the training package is intended to be used to train adults who work with children ages 2-17. The activities in the training are for the children to do, although for the youngest age bracket, caregivers may also be trained in these activities. OVC organisations working with SPRING identified community health workers, kids’ club leaders, and other community workers as the intended audience for this training, since they are the adults who provide support and information to mothers, fathers, and children from early childhood through adolescence, as well as to other community members, about nutrition and feeding young children and adolescents.

The training package is organised into five main sections:

• Guidance for Facilitators - This provides a background to the development of the training package, as well as the summary of the training materials and handouts that will be provided for the training.
• Module 1: Introductory Module for Facilitators - The first training section is designed for the adults to be trained to lead sessions and activities with children. This module introduces the concepts of behaviour change communication and communication with children and basic concepts of nutrition. This module also contains a pre- and post-test questionnaire to be used to assess baseline knowledge on the subjects to be trained and the change in knowledge by the end of the training. This pre- and post-test questionnaire is to be administered when training adult facilitators only and not with children in the communities. This module will be the basis for training all facilitators.

The remaining three modules are organised according to the age of the children to be trained:

• Module 2: Activities for Children 2-5 Years
• Module 3: Activities for Children 6-11 Years
• Module 4: Activities for Adolescents 12-17 Years

In addition, the training package includes a set of job aids that includes illustrations and handouts used in the various modules.