With a view to helping households improve their resilience in the face of food insecurity and malnutrition, women leaders and women from organised groups (RENAFAT, cooperatives and others) have benefited from training in the processing of foodstuffs with high nutritional value, including soya, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (PDCO) and the preparation of moringa sauces and other vegetables. The aim of the training is to promote nutrition education and good food practice, and to popularise basic concepts of nutrition and food hygiene.
The training took place in the country's three northern regions (Savanes, Kara and Central) and consisted firstly of training the trainers, then training the women leaders from 19 districts, divided into 21 sessions, and finally relaying the training to the contact groups.
In the prefecture of Kpendjal, for example, the sixty or so women trained expressed their joy and gratitude to the FSRP, which had enabled them to benefit from this training through the nutrition division of the Ministry of Health. "We really thank the FSRP project, because thanks to it we have learned how to make doughnuts, milk, cheese and many other products not only for our own consumption but also for sale. This enables us to help our husbands with the family expenses and gives us financial independence", they emphasised.
To facilitate the training, the FSRP provided the women with cooking kits consisting of aluminium pots and pans, SMOAC-type stoves, wooden spatulas, aluminium cups and ladles, ordinary stainless steel table spoons, plastic buckets and dishes, and 555-type plates and dishes. This multi-faceted support from the FSRP was greatly appreciated by the beneficiaries, who broke into a dance and expressed their great satisfaction in the following terms: "What the FSRP project has done for us is something we never dreamed of. Projects have been coming to visit us for a long time, but they haven't offered us this equipment, which meant that we had difficulty carrying out the training sessions. We used to lend utensils here and there, but with this equipment from the FSRP, we're really fulfilled.
Through this multifaceted support, the FSRP is helping to reduce poverty among women in rural areas and to lay the foundations for effectively combating food and nutritional insecurity in Togo.
By the end of the training, more than 20,609 women will have been strengthened to date.
