A SIMULATED PROPOSAL FOR:

A Community-Based Mothers and Infants Center

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A community-based mothers and infants center called "Healthy Moms for Healthy Kids" (Pusat Ibu dan Anak Sihat or PIAS) will be established in Kota Emessu, the city surrounding the Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian (UNPEMPER). PIAS will focus on providing nutritional education and counseling for mothers, especially those from the extremely low income areas. It is expected that through the providing of information to the mothers that it will be possible to have a direct and positive effect on the well being of the young children of the community.

PIAS will utilize volunteers who are students at UNPEMPER. Each student will be expected to successfully participate in a 4 week training program at the beginning of their work with PIAS. This training program will provide basic nutritional information for mothers and information on adult teaching methods. Student volunteers who demonstrate proficiency during the initial training program will be invited to participate in an advanced training program to learn effective nutritional counseling techniques. Each student volunteer will be expected to contribute 3-5 hours each week and to continue with PIAS for a period of not less than 6 months.

PIAS will operate with 6 full and part time staff members. In addition, a Governing Board made up of community leaders and university staff will operate to provide overall sanctioning of the Center's operation. Periodic evaluations will be conducted to assess the value of PIAS on a) helping the student volunteers to become effective educators, b) the development of new understandings on the part of local mothers and c) the improvement of the well being of children in Kota Emessu.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION/STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Major obstacles to child survival in the developing world include infections, parasitic diseases, malnutrition and the risks associated with low birth weight and high fertility. (UN Informational Letter #37-435) A serious problem exists in the rural villages of Malnesia of children dying from common illness and infections that are attributable to poor nutrition. Though high nutrition foods are available in the villages, it is apparent that mothers do not have an understanding of exactly what foods contain the most value for their children. (Ministry of Health, 1994) The most significant person in the life of the young child is the child's mother. Research has shown that the children of mothers who have an understanding of how to provide good nutrition to their children stand a significantly greater chance of survival during the first three years of life (87% survival rate) as compared with children of mothers who do not know how to provide good nutrition (43% survival rate) (Position Paper, Opening Plenary Session, Malnesian Health Conference/MALHEALTHCON - 96).

The use of volunteers to provide community service is a new concept in Malnesia and can be capitalized upon as a viable way to provide trained manpower for the offering of educational services. The first student service scheme, Service Mahasiswa/SERMAH, was created in the early 1990s. Initially operated at only two universities, SERMAH is now a mandated national program that operates at all public and private universities (Directorate for Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Statistics for 1996). The emphasis of SERMAH has been exclusively on the providing of information to local farmers on improved farming practices. The Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian has been funded by the Ministry of Agriculture to operate the SERMAH Educational Development Center (Introducing SERMAH, Ministry of Agriculture, 1996) as a central agency for the providing of farming practices instructional materials to all universities in Malnesia. The selection and training of student volunteers is conducted autonomously at each university with the support of the instructional materials disseminated by the SERMAH Educational Development Center.

PROJECT DETAIL

Goals and Objectives

There are two major goals for the "Healthy Moms for Healthy Kids" Project and specific objectives within each of the goals.

Goal #1 - To reduce the degree of malnutrition among young children.

Objective #1.1 - To provide mothers in Kota Emessu with relevant information regarding health and nutrition

Objective #1.2 - To assist mothers in Kota Emessu in learning how to effectively apply health and nutrition information in helping their young children to be more healthy.

Objective #1.3 - To teach mothers in Kota Emessu how to evaluate changes in the health of their young children.

Goal #2 - To effectively use volunteers as a major factor in helping people to learn.

Objective #2.1 - To recruit a group of undergraduate students (15-20 students each semester) at Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian to become volunteers in the "Pusat Ibu dan Anak Sihat" (PIAS) Project.

Objective #2.2 - To provide a 4 week training program for the volunteers that covers a) basic nutritional information for mothers and b) information on adult teaching methods.

Objective #2.3 - To place the students in the PIAS Center to offer tutoring services to local mothers.

Objective #2.4 - To compare the type and degree of volunteer learning that takes place in the PIAS Project as compared to volunteer involvement with SERMAH.

Clientele

There are two different clientele groups for this project.

The first, and primary, clientele are the mothers of young children who live in Kota Emessu. This clientele group is represented in the project objectives for Goal #1.

The second clientele group are the students at Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian who will participate in the Project as volunteers. This clientele group is represented in the project objectives for Goal #2.

Both clientele groups are important and essential components of this project. It is expected that significant learning will take place for both clientele groups.

Methods

The primary methods for achieving the goals and objectives of the Project will be:

• the creation of a Center in the city that will become a focal point for providing information on food and nutrition for young children through workshops and one-on-one counseling of mothers, and
  
   
• the development of a recruitment/training program and supervised practicum for student volunteers that is modeled after the SERMAH program.

In addition, a Documentation/Dissemination Plan will be developed by staff to guarantee the systematic collection of information about the operation of the Project and provide the basis for sharing information with other similar projects.

Staff/Administration

The Project will employ three full-time and three part time staff.

• Project Director (full time)- Responsible for hiring project staff, overseeing project development and operation, establishing and maintaining links with local government agencies, and budget. The Project Director will be Harjono Soemadji (author of this proposal)
• Center Coordinator (full time)- Responsible for establishing the community Center, developing working relationships with formal and informal community leaders, establishing links to community women's organizations, and scheduling of Center programs.
• Volunteer Coordinator (full time) - Responsible for recruiting university student volunteers, establishing and maintaining a working linkage with the UNPEMPER Department of Food and Nutrition, developing and offering training programs for volunteers, scheduling volunteers for service at the Center. The Volunteer Coordinator will have a background in food and nutrition and will be housed in the Department of Food and Nutrition.
• Project Evaluator (part time) - Responsible for collecting entry level data regarding mother's health and nutrition information and conducting periodic assessment of changes in their level of knowledge, comprehension, and application of that information. Also responsible for developing and implementing a system for periodic formative evaluation of the work of the student volunteers.
• Center Assistant (part time) - Responsible for maintaining the structure and appearance of the Center, routine correspondence, and other forms of communication with mothers in the community.
• Graphic Artist (part time) - Responsible for creating illustrated posters to teach about food and nutrition information, layout/design of project publications, and development of volunteer recruitment and training materials.
• Governing Board - Made up of both community leaders and university staff. Responsible for sanctioning the operation of the Center and providing feedback to the Project Director on Center policies and operation.

AVAILABLE RESOURCES

• Building - small building for the Center will be provided by the community head.
• Volunteer Meeting/Training Room and Office - will be provided by the Department of Food and Nutrition (UNPEMPER) and used for housing the Volunteer Coordinator and the training of volunteers.
• Volunteer Coordinator (50%) - this person is currently on the staff of the Department of Food and Nutrition as a part time staff member.

NEEDED RESOURCES

• Personnel - Two full time staff at 100% salary, one full time staff at 50% salary, three part time persons at 50% salary.
• Facilities - None (provided by the community head and the Department of Food and Nutrition - UNPEMPER)
• Equipment -

  Duplicating machine (for preparation of informational educational materials)
  Chairs and desks for three offices
  Chairs and tables for a large classroom/community meeting room
  Chalk board
  Typewriter
  Drafting table

• Supplies - Paper, pencils, chalk, duplicating supplies, and materials preparation.
• Budget -

  Year 1 - Development of Center Operation and Recruitment/Training of First Group of Student Volunteers

  • Personnel M$387,000

    Project Director	Full time - 12 months	M$127,000
    Center Coordinator	Full time - 12 months	M$85,000
    Volunteer Coordinator*	Full time - 12 months	M$42,000
    Project Evaluator	Part time - 12 months	M$49,000
    Center Assistant	Part time - 12 months	M$42,000
    Graphic Artist	Part time - 12 months	M$42,000

  *Note: Volunteer Coordinator is currently a 50% staff member of the Department of Food and Nutrition. The Project will pay the other 50% of this person's salary to bring her up to 100%.

•    Development/Production of Educational Materials M$39,000

  	Advertising/Promotion M$17,500
  	Evaluation M$8,500 YEAR ONE TOTAL M$452,000

  Year 2 - Operation/Maintenance of Center and Recruitment/Training of Two Student Volunteer Groups

  • Personnel (assumes 3% yearly increment) M$398,610
  • Production of Educational Materials M$6,000
  • Advertising/Promotion M$4,000
  • Evaluation M$3,000

    YEAR TWO TOTAL M$412,000

  Year 3 and beyond (assume 3% yearly increment on Year 2 budget)

  YEAR THREE TOTAL M$424,000

EVALUATION PLAN

Project evaluation will be the responsibility of the Project Evaluator and consist of two different evaluative strategies - formative and summative.

Formative Evaluation - Primarily qualitative in nature, the formative evaluation will be conducted through interviews and open-ended questionnaires. Mothers and student volunteers will be asked about the day-to-day operation of the Center, the topics covered in the volunteer training program, the attractiveness of the training materials, and other questions to provide feedback for the ongoing improvement of the operation of the Project. The Project Evaluator will meet regularly with project staff to share findings from the formative evaluation effort. Periodic reports will be prepared that identify the major findings of the formative evaluation and how they have been used to improve Project operation.

Summative Evaluation - Primarily quantitative in nature, the summative evaluation will begin with the establishment of baseline data at the beginning of the Project (using a random sample of mothers of young children to assess their food and nutrition knowledge) and then be conducted at 6 month intervals (just prior to each group of volunteers completing their Project service). Data for the summative evaluation will focus on the two primary goals of the project and the objectives of each.

 

Goal #1
 

- Pre/post tests of knowledge gain on the part of the mothers in health and nutrition information (Objective 1.1).
- Selected interviews of mothers to assess their ability to effectively apply health and nutrition information (Objective 1.2).
- Selected interviews of mothers to evaluate changes in the health of their child (Objective 1.3).

Goal #2
 

- Records of number of students involved in the project (Objective 2.1).
- Documentation of agendas/attendance rosters from all training programs (Objective 2.1).
- Documentation of number of mothers served and number of volunteer hours recorded at the PIAS Center (Objective 2.3).
- Comparative analysis of Goal #2 data with similar data from SERMAH (Objective 2.4)

A yearly report will be issued that presents the formative and summative findings.

APPENDIX A - TIME LINE (First Year)

Month One

• Advertising of Project staff positions
• Meetings with community leaders
• Meeting with university administrators

Month Two

• Interviewing of candidates for Project staff positions
• Finalizing location of Center

Month Three

• Selection/hiring of Project staff members
• Preparation for Center operation

Month Four - Six

• Preliminary advertising of Center operation
• Hosting community meetings at Center
• Collection of baseline data on mothers of young children
• Recruitment/selection/training of student volunteers

Month Seven - Twelve

• Conducting of regular formative evaluation
• Final summative evaluation at end of twelfth month

APPENDIX B - Resume of Harjono Soemadji (Project Director)

PROJECT DIRECTOR
Harjono Soemadji

Title:

Faculty Member/Lecturer
Department of Food and Nutrition
Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian
Kota Emessu, Malnesia

Experience:

Education:

B.S. Universitas Pendidikan National (Secondary Teacher Education) 1987
M.S. Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian (Food and Nutrition) 1989

Teaching:

Instructor/Teacher - Emessu Scientific High School 1989-1994

Department Chair - Emessu Scientific High School 1992-94

Junior Lecturer - Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian, Department of Food and Nutrition 1994-1996

Lecturer - Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian, Department of Food and Nutrition 1996-Present
 

Publications/Presentations:

Soemadji, Harjono, Mother's Influence on the Nutrition of their Young Children, Master's Thesis, Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian, 1989.

Soemadji, Harjono, A Study of Mother's Nutritional Needs in the Kota Emessu Region, Publications Center, Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian, 1995.

Soemadji, Harjono, The Problem of Malnutrition Amongst Children in the Kota Emessu Region, Paper presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Health Conference (SEAHEC), 1996.

Soemadji, Harjono and Soemardi Hadisubroto, Understanding the Effectiveness of the Student Service Scheme, SERMAH Educational Development Center, Universitas Pembangunan Pertanian, 1997

APPENDIX C - PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

For the past 10 years I have had a strong concern for the health of young children in the Kota Emessu area. This is the area in which I was born and raised. Through my studies at the University and my practice as a teacher and lecturer I have come to learn that it is possible to alleviate the problems of malnutrition through well designed and meaningfully focused educational programs.

The challenge to the creation and operation of these programs, however, is twofold. First, there does not exist the teaching materials to assist mothers of young children in understanding how to improve nutritional intake and the effect that nutritional intake has on the health and welfare of their own children. And second, there does not exist a group of trained facilitators to assist in delivering this information in a timely and meaningful manner.

Research suggests that the most powerful way to affect the health and welfare of a young child is through the improved understanding of the child's mother. This project will focus on the development of teaching materials and a system for helping mothers of young children learn appropriate food and nutrition information to help in the development of their children. And, it will occur in a local community location, close to where these mothers of young children are living.

Further, the Project will build upon the very successful SERMAH program as a way to involve university student volunteers in the offering of services to mothers of young children. In addition to using these volunteers as a viable form of manpower for the offering of service, the Project will work to help these volunteers learn meaningful food/nutrition information and also techniques for effectively teaching this information to adults - a knowledge base that is certain to help them in their future endeavors.

Harjono Soemadji