INVOLVING RURAL KENYAN WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUTRITIONALLY IMPROVED WEANING FOODS - NUTRIBUSINESS STRATEGY

This paper describes a participatory process employed by three collabo rating universities to engage rural Kenyan women, who are members of o rganized women's groups, in the development of recipes for culturally appropriate, nutritionally desirable weaning foods. These foods will b e processed on a small commercial scale in two rural locations, Bomet and Murang'a, using ingredients grown by the women on their ''shambas' ' (garden plots). The weaning foods will be marketed as dry mixes in u rbanized communities where women do not engage in agriculture. The pro cessing and marketing will be accomplished through the mechanism of a nutribusiness cooperative run by the women in each of the districts. T he phases in the weaning food development process include (1) a commun ity assessment, (2) the collection and analysis of traditional weaning recipes, (3) the provision of feedback to the communities, (4) distri ct-level product development workshops, (5) nutritional analysis and c omputer optimization of the products (Mixed Porridge and BASCOT), and (6) community workshops to prepare and evaluate the optimized products . Through their involvement with this project, women acquire nutrition knowledge and skills and have the opportunity to generate income for themselves and their households.