KEY INSIGHTS

Formative research into infant and young child feeding practices in

Amhara: SBCC Strategy

21 August 2017
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 Contents
1. Aims
2. Target Audiences
3. Methodology
4. Key Findings
5. Overall Thoughts
6. Next Steps

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 1. Aims
• Overall project aim:
– Improve the diet diversity among pregnant and
lactating women and children aged between 6 and 23
months
• Focusing on fresh food
– Fruits
– Vegetables
– Animal sourced protein (i.e. meat, milk, eggs)

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 2. Target Audiences
• Primary audiences:
– Pregnant women
– Lactating women
– Primary caregiver of child under 2 years old

• Secondary audiences:
– Fathers
– Other family members living in the home (i.e. mothers-in-
law, etc.)
• Key stakeholders: Other development partners
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 3. Methodology
• 16 in-depth qualitative interviews with mothers
of children aged 0-23 months and pregnant
women (plus fathers when available)
• In three locations:
– Kobo
– Dessie Zuria
– Habru

• Recruited with the support of the local Health

Extension Workers
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 4. Key Findings
• On the whole, fasting is not the main issue
– Good understanding that they do not need to fast when
pregnancy and breastfeeding

– If others are fasting in the household, then they do not feel

able to ask others to kill any animals for meat

“I was fasting all the fasting season but when I was pregnant I ate
non-fasting foods, I will keep eating in my lactating period too. It is
not for me, it is for the baby and God will not be angry on this.”

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 4. Key Findings
• Barriers to consuming more fresh food and
protein products:
– Taste – Do not always like the taste (in particular of milk)

– Cost – Mainly for fresh fruit and meat

– Accessibility – Limited access to milk and eggs

– Perishability – Fresh fruit and vegetables go off quickly

– Convenience – Easier to cook the way they have always done

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 4. Key Findings
• High sense of isolation
– Culturally – Do not always feel able to make decisions/feeling
as if they have a lack of choices – day after day feels the same
for them

– Socially – Often do not socialise outside of the house

– Emotionally – Poor relationship with partner and/or difficult

family situation frequently reported

• Enjoy going to coffee ceremonies with

neighbours – reduces the feeling of isolation
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 4. Key Findings
• Fathers are often not involved in decisions
around pregnancy and childrearing but have
potential influence
• Mothers and fathers want their children to have
a different life than their own/achieve more –
and they are prepared to make sacrifices to
make it happen
“As a father, my children are my future. I don’t want them to have a
similar life as me, I wish much more extra.”

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 4. Key Findings
• Mothers feel that they were prevented from
achieving their full potential as they often had
arranged marriages at a young age and did not
complete their education
“I am illiterate… can’t read and write. But this would not happen to
my children….is that not my big boy? [touching her boy’s head…]”

• Education is regarded as key to ensuring that

their child has a better life than they do
– But the mothers do not perceive a link between good
nutrition and academic achievement 10
 4. Key Findings
• Have a good relationship with the Health
Extension Workers and good knowledge around
certain issues because of this relationship
– For example, they talk about drinking and eating more when
breastfeeding (but not always the type of food you should be
eating)

• However, they do not think eating fresh fruit,

vegetables and protein products are for ‘people
like them’ “I’m telling you that we are poor….ask those
questions for the riches.”
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 4. Key Findings
• Fatalistic and do not link nutrition with a healthy
baby
– If they did not eat certain foods whilst pregnant with baby
number 1, then do not think it is needed for other babies

“God decides if baby is unwell or deformed”

• Influenced by working abroad (many had worked

in Saudi or Dubai)
“They served one chicken for welcoming us, otherwise there is
no meat in our meal, I think it is a bit expensive. By the way I
regularly consumed beef and chicken in Saudi.”
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 5. Overall Thoughts
• Knowledge is not the issue – they know they
need to have a balanced diet but also stress that
they cannot (due to financial constraints)
– But…There is a sense that they ‘probably could’

• There is a shared sense of humanity

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 5. Overall Thoughts
• High illiteracy rate (so often enjoy listening to the
radio, which also reduces the feeling of isolation)
• Respond better to messages that are aspirational
and not patronising

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 5. Overall Thoughts
• Good sense of humour
R7: Green pepper (would bring the child talkative),
porridge (the child’s head would cover with cradle
cap), coffee (the child’s skin color would become
dark).
Q: So you avoided all?
R7: No I told you I love coffee and yesterday’s
breakfast was porridge…..[laughing] we will see what
would my baby look like.
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 6. Next steps
• Develop draft SBCC strategy
• Continued stakeholder engagement
• Meeting with commercial marketing company
from Addis
• Pre-test draft messages, images and
communication concepts
• Update and liaise with evaluation team
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