Mohsina Begum lives in a small village name Hatibandha of Taraganj Upazila under Rangpur District with her husband and 3 children. Her husband Md. Mokshadul Islam is a smallholder farmer who struggles to properly feed the family of 5 with his poor income. Being a remote village dweller, the family had very limited access to nutrition information such as nutritious food, proper health services. For this, they used to get sick more often and the overall nutrition status of the family was rather poor.
In late 2019, the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project initiated its operation in this area with a view to improve the nutrition status of target population in Rangpur and Nilphamari districts especially for pregnant and lactating mothers. As a part of the project’s initiative, a number of court yard sessions were organized to develop the capacity of the mothers by providing various types of nutrition information including nutrition-rich foods, low cost supplements and health service access.
Mohsina Begum would regularly attend the sessions and received the information she needed to transform her family’s nutrition status. She learned about variety of nutritious vegetables she could grow in her homestead, low cost food supplements (Monimix micronutrients) for her children, where and when to go for proper health services, how to avoid diseases by taking vaccination, details about breastfeeding and food supplement etc. From JANO project volunteers, she also received information about COVID-19 pandemic and abides by the instruction provided by the JANO project from various means like court yard session, posters, mike announcement, community support group and individual counseling from the volunteers.
Now Mohsina’s family is living a completely different life, they have cultivated homestead vegetables, rearing chickens, buying affordable nutritious foods for the family and taking regular treatment from the community clinic with the support from Community Support Group (CSG). As Mohsina said, “We are not rich and we did not have the money to buy expensive food on a regular basis, we did not know which food has high nutrition value, we did not even know where to go for good treatment facilities but after attending court yard session, everything has become clearer now. Now I am growing nutritious vegetables at my home, rearing livestock, which I know is good to fulfill the nutrition gap of my family. Now the family members are healthier and the diseases are almost gone. I am really thankful to JANO project for showing us the direction we have been looking for a long time”
