EXPERIENCES IN COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION TO PROMOTE NUTRITIONAL EDUCATION

This paper presents several experiences obtained in the Rural Research Center of the Solis Valley in relation to community participation pro grams. The main objective of these projects was to improve the nutriti onal practices of children in the rural areas of highland Mexico. As f irst experience, small groups were formed with mothers, fathers, marri ed couples and teenagers. Each of these groups started a project orien ted to promote nutritional self-sufficiency. One group of mothers was successful in assuring the provision of government subsidized milk in their community. A second group of mothers started a chicken-raising f arm, but the project failed because all the chicken died in an epidemi c. The group of fathers started a sheep-raising project as the first s tep to get a milk-producing cow. The sheep-raising was successful, but when the sheep were sold each man in the group kept the revenue to hi mself and the group disappeared. The married couples were successful b oth in a home-gardening project and in a chicken-raising farm. The tee nagers were also successful with their home-gardening project and acte d as 'injection groups '' to spread the project in other communities. As a second experience in community participation, community health wo rkers taught mothers how to use locally available food to improve thei r diets, preparing culturally acceptable food recipes. This interventi on was successful in increasing mother's awareness of a balanced diet. A second intervention combined the presentation of a drama (''peasant 's theater'') in order to increase mother's participation in these pro jects. Evaluation of this strategy showed that mothers increased their knowledge and use of the promoted diets as compared to those communit ies in which only the local cook recipes were promoted. In conclusion, community participation projects have proved to be successful in impr oving dietary practices of rural families.