Savanna Signatures, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), is rolling out a social and behavioural change communication intervention to improve nutrition practices among schoolchildren and communities in the Upper East Region.
The initiative seeks to complement the region’s existing school feeding programme by introducing targeted education and communication activities aimed at influencing attitudes and behaviours towards healthy nutrition.
The intervention will initially cover four districts — Bawku West, Bawku Municipal, Garu and Tempane — with 44 schools selected for the school-based component.
Mr Godwin Etornam Adu, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Research and Learning (MEARL) Officer of Savanna Signatures, disclosed this after a stakeholder engagement with health, education and nutrition officials in the region.
He said the engagement, which brought together regional and district nutrition and health promotion officers, School Health Education Programme (SHEP) coordinators and representatives of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), was intended to secure stakeholder support for the intervention.
“Basically, what this project entails is that we are going to promote social behavioural change and communication in schools and communities in selected districts in the Upper East Region,” he said.
Mr Adu said the new intervention would build on the existing school feeding programme, which he described as a strong foundation for promoting improved nutrition among schoolchildren.
“There is an existing strong school feeding programme in the region, so together with WFP, we are adding the social and behaviour change communication to the ongoing project, which is already a success,” he said.
He explained that the project would use communication and behavioural change approaches to reinforce nutrition messages both within schools and in surrounding communities.
According to him, the involvement of health and education officials at the regional and district levels would be critical to ensuring that the intervention was effectively implemented and sustained.
Mr Adu expressed confidence in the capacity of stakeholders to support the programme, saying the engagement had generated strong commitment from officials.
“With the commitments from the district and regional officers, I expect nothing but the best,” he said.
He added that Savanna Signatures had extensive experience working with stakeholders across Northern Ghana and was therefore familiar with the capacities and operational environment of the institutions involved.
Mr Adu also said Savanna Signatures, a Tamale-based ICT-for-development organisation, had operated for more than 16 years, implementing programmes under four strategic pillars: human capital development; social inclusion and cohesion; technology, innovation and training; and sustainable environmental management and resilience.
Mr Rexford King James Adjei, Upper East Regional Health Promotion Officer, who represented Dr Braimah Baba Abubakari, Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), urged participants to brief their respective directors on the intervention to facilitate its smooth implementation.
He said effective communication and coordination among the relevant institutions would be essential to achieving the objectives of the programme.
Madam Gloria Yvonne Kobati, Regional Nutrition Officer, said the regional leadership of the GHS had over the years supported initiatives aimed at improving health and nutrition outcomes.
The stakeholder engagement is expected to strengthen collaboration among Savanna Signatures, WFP and health and education authorities as the school and community nutrition activities are implemented in the four selected districts.
