Sustainble Nutrition Manual

February 2013…still working!

Very shortly we should be able to update this page completely.  For now, have a look at the new posters – comments have already been compiled and are being integrated into the posters.  The final final ones will be up shortly.  If you have any burning issue you can raise it, but I think the new posters are pretty darn good :) .  There are three options for accessing the posters and the compiled comments:

In July 2012…

a group of us who have been using the manual during the past 6 years sat together to discuss feedback from the surveys, to share our experiences and to deliberate the best ways to improve the manual.   There was a nice mix of people in our group:

  • 10 men and 9 women;
  • 7 government, 7 non-government organizations, 3 international government partners, 1 faith based organization and 1 nutrition student;
  • 3 National policy & programme, 2 University, 3 District and 11 directly supporting communities.

Now I’m working to implement those changes by:

  • Improving the flow and presentation of the information, besides the surveys, I’ve gotten a lot of hints from Robin Williams’ Non-Designers Design Manual, http://www.peachpit.com/title/0321534042
  • Providing more details on implementation with more visual aids (working with Artist Sarah Beare), with more sharing about success and overcoming challenges, and more practical steps
  • Changing the title to reflect the manual better – it is more than low input, it is is about getting MORE out of less.  As I revise and rethink I hope the name will pop into my head, right now the group suggested, the Sustainable Food & Nutrition Manual:  Growing & Eating More Using Less
  • And, bits and pieces of other useful ideas that people shared from their use of the manual – the feedback has been really incredible, thank you!

History of the Manual

keep going down, down down to get to the downloads.

In 2005…

Stacia worked with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Malawi to help assist relief and donor agencies to look beyond food aid and start focusing on sustainable food programmes.  As food insecurity and malnutrition have become chronic problems in Malawi, so too have shipments of food aid (usually in the form of maize).  In many instances of extreme shortages or disasters, this type of aid can mean the difference between life and death, but even in these situations it remains only a temporary solution.  The true solutions to Malawi’s food and nutrition problems lie with the people themselves and the agricultural systems that they are using to feed themselves.  In response to these problems, and the call by many for a more sustainable future for Malawi, Stacia worked with a team of people to compile the Low Input Food and Nutrition Manual…Growing and Eating More Using Less.  This manual is a culmination of the work that she and her husband, Kristof, have done over their years in Malawi on the issues of nutrition and sustainable living (notably, Permaculture).

Users

The manual is being used by partners in Malawi, the region and the world that work in health, agriculture, education and general community development in sites such as Clinics, Nutritional Rehabilitation Units, Early Childhood Centres, Schools, Colleges and various Food Security, Nutrition and HIV support programmes.    Many development workers wrote to us about using the manual in their own lives to eat better and grow more food more easily.

Share freely!

About 10,000 copies of the manual have been printed in Malawi. We encourage organizations and individuals to print and use their own copies as needed, there is no copyright as long as you are sharing freely / at cost.   It is one of the main principles of Permaculture, “Observe, Learn, and SHARE!”.  We would like to get this information out to as many people and groups as we can who are interested in applying Permaculture principles to their lives and in their work.

Downloads:

…the 2005 manual from dropbox

(there are other useful files there as well!)

…the 2005 manual by Chapter:

The manual that has been broken into downloadable PDF sections for you to use and reprint as desired for non-profit use.  These sections are still large, but we have tried to keep them all under 2 mb in size.  We hope that you find this information useful.   Click on the links below to download the sections: