Dyke Elizabeth, Pénicaud Sophie, Hatchard Jennifer, Dawson Anne-Marie, Munishi Oresto, Jalal Chowdhury
Universalia Management Group, Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Nutrition International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Curr Dev Nutr. 2021 Jun 17;5(7):nzab083. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzab083. eCollection 2021 Jul.
To improve nutritional knowledge and attitudes of girls and young women, Nutrition International (NI) partnered with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) to pilot the Girl-Powered Nutrition (GPN) program from 2018 to 2020 in 4 countries (Madagascar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania).
The aim was to share adolescent girls' and programmers' experiences with co-designing and implementing the GPN program in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
A formative evaluation of the GPN program was commissioned by NI and undertaken by Universalia Management Group (Universalia). The evaluation was largely qualitative (employing focus groups, interviews, and document analysis). Based on the results of the formative evaluation, themes related to working with adolescent girls were identified.
The involvement of adolescents in the design, implementation, and evaluation of nutrition programming that targets them is essential for meaningful uptake. Sufficient time and respect must be given to the co-design process, including clearly defining adolescents' roles, ensuring transparency and clear communication, and managing adolescents' expectations. Ensuring adequate exposure and suitable timing for adolescent nutrition programming from adequately trained staff were identified as good practices from the evaluation. Program curriculum and activities must be appropriately tailored to adolescent age and stage, target adolescents and their gatekeepers and duty-bearers, and address the underlying issues of poverty, gender inequality, and structural norms that negatively impact adolescents' agency and nutrition.
This research supports and elaborates on several documented and accepted good practices for working with adolescents to improve nutrition knowledge and attitudes. Similar programs with key features such as co-design, suitable timing, curriculum, and exposure of programs by age group, addressing underlying structural issues, the involvement of gatekeepers and duty-bearers, and confidence-building can increase adolescent girls' nutrition knowledge and attitudes.
为提高女童和年轻女性的营养知识与态度，国际营养组织（NI）与世界女童子军协会（WAGGGS）合作，于2018年至2020年在4个国家（马达加斯加、菲律宾、斯里兰卡和坦桑尼亚）试点“女童驱动营养”（GPN）项目。
旨在分享青少年女孩和项目人员在低收入和中等收入国家（LMICs）共同设计和实施GPN项目的经验。
NI委托尤尼韦思里亚管理集团（Universalia）对GPN项目进行形成性评估。该评估主要采用定性方法（运用焦点小组、访谈和文件分析）。根据形成性评估结果，确定了与青少年女孩合作相关的主题。
青少年参与针对她们的营养项目的设计、实施和评估对于有意义的接受至关重要。必须给予共同设计过程足够的时间和尊重，包括明确界定青少年的角色、确保透明度和清晰沟通以及管理青少年的期望。评估确定，确保由训练有素的工作人员进行适当的青少年营养项目宣传并把握合适时机是良好做法。项目课程和活动必须根据青少年的年龄和阶段进行适当调整，针对青少年及其把关人和责任承担者，并解决贫困、性别不平等和结构性规范等对青少年的能动性和营养产生负面影响的潜在问题。
本研究支持并阐述了一些已记录和被认可的与青少年合作以改善营养知识和态度的良好做法。具有共同设计、合适时机、课程、按年龄组进行项目宣传、解决潜在结构性问题、把关人和责任承担者的参与以及建立信心等关键特征的类似项目，可以提高青少年女孩的营养知识和态度。
