Adult learning for nutrition security: Challenging dominant values through participatory action research in Eastern India

Abstract

National statistics point to the severe problem of hunger and undernutrition within indigenous communities in India. Several state interventions exist, in terms of both supplementary feeding and nutritional literacy, yet not much progress is visible. This paper explores the experiences of a participatory, educational, action research programme on nutrition for indigenous women and men in Eastern India. Spanning a period of three years, it examines the adult learning approaches involved in the process and their implications for gender relations as well as improved nutritional outcomes. It became clear, that to bring change, the facilitators needed to listen to women's voices and question their own assumptions about ethnicity/caste, class and gender, as well as nutrition. Based mainly on their field reports, this paper seeks to highlight the emergent insights in terms of indigenous women's priorities, their focus on the 'collective', and emphasis on recognition and reciprocity, vis-a-vis institutions of both state and society, articulated during the process of dialogue, reflection, action and learning.

Pathways to Agricultural Skill Development in the Indian Himalayas

“…For example, programmes could develop an explicit agenda to use agricultural skills as a way of creating spaces for autonomy for women by encouraging agricultural entrepreneurship efforts independent of family members. To this end, it may also be beneficial to use more participatory programme designs that facilitate critical reflection on the social and institutional barriers to making use of skills and how to develop individual and collective strategies to overcome them (see Narayanan & Rao, 2019). Moreover, as Trauger et al (2008) suggest, agricultural training programmes should focus on developing skills that one does not get the chance to develop at home (which could be due to gender-, caste-, class- or age-based exclusions), rather than only focus on the skills that local power structures encourage trainees to seek out.…”

“…Many employers in India who take on recent TVET graduates as ‘apprentices’ only do so because this allows them to pay apprentice-level wages (often below minimum wage) and have no intention of putting them in positions in which they may utilize their skills or develop them further on the job (Ruthven, 2018). Unless training programmes provide trainees with competencies to challenge these limiting features of the social environment, they are unlikely to genuinely enhance capabilities in the absence of broader social and economic reform (Narayanan & Rao, 2019).…”

Nutrient Intake of Rural Households That Participated in a Farming System for Nutrition Study in India

“…The awareness was done with the help of "Community Hunger Fighters (CHF)" approach; villagers were selected and trained on nutrition security in general and educated them about the FSN pathway to improve nutrition. Further, awareness in schools was done by commemorating nutrition and health related days [18] [19].…”

“…The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for different nutrients given by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) was used for comparison of nutrient intake. The total nutrient consumed per day by the household was divided by the total household consumption unit to arrive at per CU/day (CU-values given for different age groups doing different types of physical activity and physiological status [19]). CU for a reference man is 1 and this varies for women (who requires lesser than the reference man) and different age group.…”

Farming System for Nutrition-a pathway to dietary diversity: Evidence from India

“…The CHF approach to promote nutrition awareness created a learning space for the community and built a community resource network for integrating learnercentred nutrition literacy in the agriculture-dependent community. Evidence of this has been demonstrated in Narayanan and Rao [54]. Considering the sociocultural sensitivity of the study population, this study was conducted as a feasibility study without any control group.…”