Livelihood comes to the Malnourished Children Outreach (MCO) program!

by Helen Turner, ICM COO After successful trials during 2011/12 ICM has been able to develop a training model to incorporate the values, health and livelihood training for the parents of the Malnourished Children Outreach (MCO) participants.  It is an exciting model involving local community members represented by the local Church Pastor and three Church counselors; the local ICM staff and the families of the MCO participants.  The model leverages the relationship with the child by offering rewards during the 16 week training to encourage the parents to attend and participate.  The counselors attend the site once per week and conduct small group training with the families focusing on simple values, health and livelihood messages; then fortnightly the ICM staff member partners with the counselors to bring more complex health and livelihood messages to the families.  The small group based learning and house to house visitation encourages strong relationships and helps the community bond.  Using dynamic teaching strategies, including hands on practical demonstration and games gives exciting opportunities for the families to learn the material. May was the month of training for the MCO Pastors and Counselors with training session scheduled across 6 locations in the Philippines.  The first training took place in Mindanao at General Santos and Koronadal, with Pastors and Counselors reporting how excited they are to return to their communities to help eliminate malnutrition and bring important health and livelihood information to those in need.