Menu ENN Search

Back to school: The role of Husband Schools    in maternal and child health and nutrition       in Niger

Ali Idrissa is a field officer for the AGRANDIS1 project in Niger for Helen Keller International (HKI). He supervises 11 intervention villages of the project, located in the municipalities of Koré Mairoua and Tibiri.

Idrissa Oumarou Kandagou is a project assistant for the AGRANDIS project. He has worked for HKI since 2015 and supervises three field supervisors from the northern, central and southern areas of Dogondoutchi and Tibiri departments.

Aichatou Laminou Mamane is the coordinator of the AGRANDIS Nut project, supervising the project team for the implementation of activities. She has been with HKI since 2014.

Halimatou Niandou is the Head of Nutrition Programmes and Communication Officer of HKI Niger. She has been with HKI since 2009. She provides technical support to nutrition projects, including AGRANDIS Nut.

Introduction

In Niger’s social context, the husband is the key decision- maker in terms of maternal and child health and nutrition (MCHN), so there is potential for him also to be a partner in improving the food and nutrition security of both the family and the community. In response to a 2007 survey2, threats to MCHN were identified which included men not allowing women to access health services and failing to provide support to women on recommended practices such as exclusive breastfeeding. As a result, the ‘Husband Schools’ (HS) initiative was launched, which seeks to involve men in the promotion of MCHN and reproductive health and to encourage their behaviour change.Husbands' School nutrition education session in the village of Toudoun Baouchi, Niger

Inspired by this strategy, Helen Keller International (HKI) set up its own HS in 2011 in Dogondoutchi and Tibiri departments. Then in 2015, AGRANDIS Nut, the capacity- building project for health and community facilities for the prevention and treatment of undernutrition in Niger in 100 villages, set up HS in 50 villages (one per village).

What makes a ‘model husband’?

Part of the project’s key strategy is a focus on ‘communication for change in social behaviour’. This is achieved through community structures composed of community groups, traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and traditional practitioners (doctors) in villages, as well as exclusive breastfeeding support groups, complementary feeding support services and HS that have been put in place.

Particular emphasis has been placed on the members of the HS as part of the ‘peer educators’ approach. Husbands are chosen from the community using the following criteria: they must be married, have good morals, be at least 25 years old and be able to read and write. Members must have a wife who uses the health services and must agree to their wife taking part in other groups. They should be available for the school and other community members and support their own family and be involved in bringing up the children.

How do Husband Schools work?

Each HS has ten members and is supervised by the project field officer and the head of the village health centre. All members are trained on essential actions in nutrition and in hygiene (French acronyms are NEA/AEH) and given education cards and resources for data collection. Everyone is equal in the group; there is no designated leader and any member who has the group’s support can lead a meeting on a topic he knows well. If necessary, the school calls upon a human resource such as a religious leader, health officer or teacher to teach members and the community at large and to strengthen ties within the group.

“Thanks to the various cooking demonstrations organised by the field officer, the women have acquired a lot of knowledge about the type of food to give to their children.”

Chekaraou Kouabo, village chief of Nassarawa

On the basis of their monthly planning, model husbands organise group discussions with their peers on topics such as the importance of best practices in infant and young child feeding (IYCF), nutrition of pregnant women, breastfeeding, family planning, hygiene and health issues identified in the community. HS members encourage men to share their experiences, doubts and fears about applying these practices. This sharing allows model husbands to observe and identify men who are only partially convinced and who need a home visit to encourage them to adopt best practices. Home visits are also made to the homes of all members to encourage them to maintain their efforts. Couples who agree to practice family planning at the end of the visit are referred to a health centre, with a referral coupon to receive the necessary support. This makes it possible to assess the efforts made by these model husbands in increasing attendance at health centres and use of family planning.

In addition the HS writes and presents sketches or plays on the themes that it promotes in public places, during ceremonies or any other opportunities in the community to raise awareness. The model husbands also promote hygiene and regularly organise public health days in villages, install ‘tippy-tap’ handwashing stations and build indoor toilets in houses. Other construction activities include the manufacture of traditional incinerators, handwashing facilities in public places, and fences, sheds and waiting rooms in health centres.

Monitoring and evaluating the project

Each HS holds a fortnightly meeting to evaluate monthly programming and report back on activities such as visits to village members. Indicators are recorded for each input, such as education on IYCF practices (e.g. number of husbands who buy meat, fruit or eggs at least once a week for women and children in the family). Increases in child visits to healthcare centres have been recorded and the project has documented a number of achievements in community action, such as hygiene/sanitation activities in villages.

One main challenge in the operation of the HS is the exodus of members during the ‘hungry’ or lean season. In response to this, income-generating activities are planned in the next phase of the project to strengthen resilience during this period and to keep communities in the same place. Following requests from HS members who say they are limited in carrying out the village sanitation sessions due to lack of tools, the project also plans to support them with hygiene and sanitation kits (e.g. shovel, rake, wheelbarrow, etc).

A final impact evaluation is planned for February 2018. Operational research so far shows that there has been an increase in communication within couples, and more men are relieving women of domestic tasks (such as carrying water and wood, particularly when their wives are pregnant) and becoming involved in monitoring the health status and nutrition of their families. Annual costs of HS per village, including capacity building, fuel costs for monitoring/ supervision of project staff etc, are estimated at just over US$1,280.

“The activities of the school opened my eyes and improved our life as a couple, since I have made the commitment to help my wife with her daily tasks and make decisions about our family together, such as family planning and accompanying her to the health centre. Sometimes I even cook dinner when she is busy. I planted moringa for the consumption of my household to improve their nutritional status (it is rich in iron and vitamin A) and so that my wife can sell it.”

Tanimoune Amadou, farmer, husband and father of five children, Badifa village

Sustainability of Husband Schools

The next phase of the project is to scale up the HS initiative to the other 50 villages in the project area, building on lessons learned in the first phase. The HS strategy is part of the national policy for family planning/reproductive health in Niger and the final HKI evaluation may strengthen advocacy for its inclusion in the revision of Niger’s national nutrition policy.

Read more...

 

1AGRANDIS is a French acronym for ‘Saving Lives through the Prevention and Treatment of Acute Malnutrition’.

2United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)/Laboratoire d’Analyses Sociales pour le Développement local (LASDEL) – Etude sur les obstacles à la promotion de la santé de la reproduction dans la région de Zinder (Niger). (2007)

More like this

NEX: Retour à l'école : Le rôle des Ecoles des maris dans l'amélioration de la santé et de la nutrition maternelle et infantile au Niger

Ali Idrissa est un agent de terrain pour le projet AGRANDIS Nut1 au Niger pour l'ONG Helen Keller International (HKI). Il supervise 11 villages d'intervention du projet qui...

FEX: Training Care Groups on sexual and gender-based violence in rural Niger

By Bruce W Larkin and Julie Tanaka View this article as a pdf Bruce W Larkin is a doctoral candidate (MD) at the Medical School for International Health at Ben-Gurion...

FEX: Documenting the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan (2001)

By Pieternella Pieterse Pieternella Pieterse is a free-lance photojournalist. Based in Ethiopia, she travels extensively throughout eastern and central Africa. Earlier this...

NEX: A partnership between female community health and nutrition workers in Rajasthan, India

Piyush Mehra is Chief Executive of the Antara Foundation. He has led maternal and child health and nutrition programmes in India for over three years, with a further ten years'...

FEX: Women’s empowerment through food security interventions: a secondary data analysis

By Elizabeth Hohenberger View this article as a pdf Elizabeth Hohenberger is a Master's student in International Agricultural Development at the University of California,...

FEX: Implementation challenges and successes of an AG4Nut project in the eastern region of Burkina Faso

By Marcellin Ouedraogo, Régina Khassanova and Fanny Yago-Wienne Lisez cet article en français ici Marcellin Ouedraogo has been in charge of food security...

FEX: Community video in the Sahel: from pilot to scale

By Alix Harou, Marjolein Moreaux and Leanne Dougherty View this article as a pdf Alix Harou has a background in national and international public health and currently works...

FEX: Food-based recommendations to improve vitamin A and iron intake in Niger

Jen Burns Senior Technical Advisor, Nutrition in Humanitarian Contexts, USAID Advancing Nutrition Lisa Sherburne Technical Director, Social and Behaviour Change, USAID...

FEX: WASHplus in Mali: integrating WASH and nutrition for healthy communities

By Renuka Bery, Sahada Traore and Lonna Shafritz Lisez cet article en français ici Renuka Bery is the Integration Manager of the WASHplus project managed by FHI 360....

FEX: Infant Feeding Alternatives for HIV Positive Mothers in Kenya

By Tom Oguta, Abiud Omwega and Jaswant Sehmi Tom Oguta is currently a PhD student of Nutrition at the University of Nairobi. He has worked as a Research Officer at KIRDI...

FEX: en-net summary: Spring 2022

View this article as a pdf en-net is a free and open resource to help field practitioners to gain access to prompt technical advice for operational challenges for which...

FEX: Adolescent inclusion in the Care Group approach: the Nigeria experience

By Shiromi Michelle Perera Shiromi Michelle Perera is a Technical Officer with the Nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods Unit at International Medical Corps, Washington...

FEX: Meeting Point : Local CBO in Uganda

By Fiona Mitchell, GOAL, and Mary Corbett, ENN A Meeting Point staff member with a young child Fiona Mitchell is the Development Programme Coordinator, GOAL Uganda The...

FEX: Targeting Vulnerable Households Within the Context of HIV/AIDS in Malawi

Summary of evaluation1 By Maja Munk and Dr. Neil Fisher Maja Munk has been working in the food security sector for ACF/AAH in Africa and Asia since 2002. Her photographs have...

FEX: Childhood Malnutrition and the Dinka of Southern Sudan

By Vikki Groves Vikki Groves has a MA in Medical Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She has worked on projects in India, Kenya, Tanzania...

Resource: Essential community involvement and participation in Angola: IYCF GIFA and ENN Project

Case study from: INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD FEEDING IN EMERGENCIES GIFA/ENN PROJECT (2003) Researchers: Mary Corbett (Evaluation of Module 1) and Marie McGrath (Collation of case...

FEX: Optimising ‘family MUAC’: Findings from a pilot study in Mali

Britt Titus Behavioural Insights Lead at International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Airbel Impact Lab Carla Pramila Lopez Associate Director of Health Innovation and Design...

FEX: Multi-sector nutrition programming: ‘Nutrition Smart Villages’ in Bangladesh and India

View this article as a pdf By Sweta Banerjee Sweta Banerjee is the Nutrition Specialist for Welthungerhilfe's India country programme. She provides support to the food and...

FEX: Is Targeting of Food Aid Directly to Women Based on Gender Roles an Appropriate Response?

Lessons from Southern Sudan This article was edited from an article by Cassandra Chapman. Women carry sacks of maize on their heads after a food distribution in the southern...

FEX: Father-to-father support groups in northern Nigeria: An emergency response initiative

View this article as a pdf Lisez cet article en français ici Solomon Atuman is a Nutrition Coordinator at FHI 360 Onesmus Langat is a Monitoring and Evaluation...

Close

Reference this page

Ali Idrissa, Idrissa Oumarou Kandagou and Aichatou Laminou Mamane (). Back to school: The role of Husband Schools in maternal and child health and nutrition in Niger. Nutrition Exchange 9, January 2018. p12. www.ennonline.net/nex/9/husbandschoolshealthnutniger

(ENN_5839)

Close

Download to a citation manager

The below files can be imported into your preferred reference management tool, most tools will allow you to manually import the RIS file. Endnote may required a specific filter file to be used.