Vietnam has developed a national nutrition strategy with a homestead food production model. The lack of Vitamin A can cause blindness and 27% of lactating mothers with children under five years old suffer from malnutrition. A pilot has been launched focusing on mothers within 20 village model farms.

The core objective of the Hellen Keller International (HKI) programme is to enhance livelihood, food security and malnutrition of poor households, especially among women and children. The aim is to produce and spread the consumption of diverse nutritious food for 200 households as a pilot model to fight malnutrition and blindness. Also, some behaviours could be changed, for example towards breastfeeding, where the NGO explains to the locals what could improve the mothers and children's nutrition. The sustainability of the project will be ensured through the training of 50 people on production and 30 local health centres.  

The Alstom Foundation decided to extend its support to this project in 2014. In addition, this project is also an income generation project: participating households can sell homestead foods produced from the village farms to other families in their community. That way, other households of the local communities can also gain a balanced diet from this project.

Partner: Hellen Keller International was founded in 1915 by Helen Keller and George Kessler. Its commitment is to address the roots and consequences of blindness and malnutrition by establishing programs based on research in vision, health and nutrition. The NGO is intervening in 22 countries including 13 in Africa, 8 in Asia-Pacific and in the United States.

Partner: Vietnam Institute of Nutrition

Sponsor: Michel Burtin