Farmer nutrition school

Reports

A woman crouching with a hajol.

The study looked at spillover effects in 16 focus group discussions (FGDs) in 15 villages across 4 districts. The findings from the FGDs show that at least 8–10 households around each...

A Bangladeshi woman sits on a blanket with her two young children. There is a plate of food on the blanket and she is holding out her hand with food in it to feed the younger child.

To measure changes plausibly brought about by the FNS program when implemented at scale, this study surveyed a cohort of women who participated in the FNS curriculum beginning in November...

A mother holds her baby up in the air. Both look happy. The mother smiles at the baby. The baby smiles at the camera.

SPRING implemented an innovative, scalable, and sustainable community-based, multi-channel, integrated nutrition program between April 2012 and June 2017 in Bangladesh.

A woman sits in her garden

The goal of the research was to measure empowerment among FNS beneficiaries and to compare the average WEAI score among different cohorts of the FNS program and, using the BIHS data, to...

Briefs

Figure 2: Dietary Diversity Score of Women

To better understand which behaviors were changing and which behavior changes were sustained following the end of the direct FNS intervention, SPRING undertook a mixed-methods cohort study...

Location: Bangladesh
Photo of women holding clear jugs over a table of vegetables.

In early 2012, the U.S. Agency for International Development asked the SPRING project to develop an approach for improving nutrition and food security that could be quickly scaled up across...

Location: Bangladesh

Videos

A woman and boy kneel over a tarp spread with groundnuts and pick the bad nuts from the good.

SPRING/Ghana is working to reduce aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts. As part of those efforts, we produced a video drama on aflatoxin for dissemination in SPRING project communities....

A group of about 10 men and women are arranged in a semi-circle around some leafy greens while one man instructs them.

Following erratic rains, the village chief of Droum, in the commune of Miriah, talks to a group of men and women to find solutions to harvest shortages. The group calls on an agriculture...

Four women making a hajol for chicken rearing.

This short video is a brief overview of the work that SPRING has been doing in Bangladesh since the project began in 2012.

Woman leading a Farmer Nutrition School in Bangladesh

SPRING pioneered the community-based farmer nutrition schools (FNS) approach to promote the production of nutrient-dense vegetables, fruits, and animal source foods at the household level...

Job Aids and Tools

A farmer's hand holding a bunch of just-pulled groundnuts.

SPRING is working to reduce aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts. As part of those efforts, we produced a video drama on aflatoxin for dissemination in SPRING project communities.

Four women pose holding bunches of groundnut plants.

In an effort to support reductions in aflatoxin, Spring/Ghana has developed a training curriculum (Farmer Field School curriculum) for Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs). This photo aid...

Keywords: Aflatoxin, Farmer nutrition school
Location: Ghana
Sitting in a circle at a FNS

This guide provides practical information on the evidence and foundations of the FNS approach and SPRING/Bangladesh’s experience implementing it. It also explains how to adapt the approach...

FNS Flash Card

These flash cards were developed by SPRING/Bangladesh to accompany the Session Guide and depict concepts that are difficult or dangerous to otherwise show during a training session.

Keywords: Farmer nutrition school
Location: Bangladesh

Success Stories

A groundnut farmer receives an award from a FFS instructor.

Then Ganabi joined a farmer field school (FFS) managed by SPRING, USAID’s multi-sectoral nutrition project. The FFS trainings teach farmers good agronomic practices, which make it easier to...

Sefali Begum prepares the vermicomposting bed for her successful homestead garden in Barisal, Bangladesh.

Sefali Begum learned about vermicomposting through FNS and was able to grow vegetables in her home garden.

Officer Faridul Islam washes his hands with a tippy tap.

Officer Faridual Islam learned about the FNS practice of using tippy taps while on patrol near a FNS.

Union Facilitator Oloka Biswas speaks to a farmer nutrition school graduate and her family members.

Not many people can say they have a “Nutrition Sister” and a “Nutrition Brother.” In Bangladesh, participants in the farmer nutrition schools (FNS) implemented by SPRING, came to look...

Farmer nutrition school member Nilufa tends to her orange-fleshed sweet potato crop.

In 2016, SPRING distributed OFSP vines to nearly 12,000 FNS members across Barisal and Khulna Divisions, making OFSP accessible to many poor women farmers for the first time.

Nasima’s family helps her prepare and use the compost that allows them to grow more nutritious vegetables. Photo credit: SPRING/Bangladesh

The creation and use of compost is just one of the many agricultural techniques taught to the local farmer nutrition school students in Bangladesh's Barisal and Khulna Divisions.

During her pregnancy, Denise’s sister-in-law benefitted from healthy produce grown in the household garden.

Denise Dougnon, 38, lives in Ama Iré village in the Mopti Region of Mali with her husband, two children, two sisters-in-law, and a brother-in-law. A graduate of the local (FNS) administered...

Galleries

Groundnut shellers in the country office ready to be delivered to the districts.

SPRING is distributing a limited number of nut shellers to communities in Northern Ghana as a demonstration of their ability to save labor for female groundnut and shea nut farmers.

NHSDP team and SPRING staff travel to Dhalchor

SPRING and NHSDP Bring Healthcare to Most Vulnerable Doorsteps

News

The delegation views a community garden

SPRING/Bangladesh was honored to receive two high officials of the Government of Bangladesh on February 27, 2017.

Keywords: Farmer nutrition school
Location: Bangladesh
Groundnut shellers

SPRING is distributing nut shellers to communities in Northern Ghana as a demonstration of their ability to save labor for female groundnut and shea nut farmers.

U.S. Ambassador and USAID Mission Director Visit a SPRING/Bangladesh Farmer Nutrition School

A senior U.S. government and USAID delegation visited a SPRING/Bangladesh Farmer Nutrition School (FNS) in December.

Keywords: Farmer nutrition school
Location: Bangladesh
Sheema Khatun speaking at the rountable

Sheema Khatun, a CNC from Bangladesh, spoke at a roundtable on the importance of breastfeeding, challenges she faced, and the vital role of CNCs.

A panel at the Policies against Hunger XII Conference

SPRING/Bangladesh shares its experience on Farmer Nutrition Schools in the Policies against Hunger XII Conference in Berlin, Germany

Training Materials

Women holds a net with a fish

Farmer Nutrition School (FNS) is a community-based learning approach that promotes the Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) and the Essential Hygiene Actions (EHA) by teaching the production...

Pages

Resource Review Summaries

This article features one community’s story of an innovative, community-focused approach to tackling malnutrition in rural Bangladesh through its Farmer Nutrition School pioneered by SPRING...

Nutrition training of health and agriculture workers is critical to reduce child undernutrition. This manual, available in English and Amharic, equips health and agriculture workers at the...

The FAO has published detailed process reviews of two agriculture-nutrition education projects that aimed to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices using local foods,...