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In rural Tanzanian villages parents are implementing behavioral and technology changes that significantly decrease stunting in their children Severe stunting decreased from 24 at baseline to 12 at 6 months and 9 at 12 months after families enrolled in Global Volunteers Reaching Children s Potential RCP program RCP is a child focused parent driven family centered and community led comprehensive approach conducted in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania dramatically improving child and maternal health It is both replicable and scalable STUNTING Stunting robs nearly 40 of Tanzania s rural children of their future Stunted children struggle to learn due to significantly impaired cognitive ability and experience serious physical ailments throughout life Stunting is prevented by ensuring sufficient food nutrition and protection from disease during the first 1000 days of life 2

Parents the world over want what is best for their children When they know what to do to keep their children healthy have access to relevant technology and can apply the knowledge and embrace the technology their children are not stunted When educated those children will realize their full potential and the entire world will benefit 3

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 HISTORY OF REACHING CHILDREN S POTENTIAL The RCP Demonstration Program is rooted in Global Volunteers Essential Services Prospectus published in 2011 based on the United Nations Essential Package and a pilot project initiated in the impoverished fishing village of Anse La Raye St Lucia in 2012 Global Volunteers built upon a government effort the Roving Caregivers Program which provided single mothers support to enhance early child development through home visits Understanding the relationship between cognitive development nutrition and health Global Volunteers engaged short term volunteers to expand the program by providing household container gardens to mothers conducting parent workshops to improve parenting skills and facilitating a mothers club In 2014 the government passed the management of the Roving Caregivers Program to Global Volunteers Renamed Reaching Children s Potential RCP Global Volunteers accepted a request to replicate the program in Tanzania Based on a 30 year partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania and at the invitation of Tanzania president Jakaya Kikwete Global Volunteers agreed to help address Tanzania s significant stunting problem by applying the lessons learned from the St Lucia pilot The Tanzania RCP program started in July 2017 4

The first 1 000 days of life conception through the second birthday are the foundation of children s health growth and neuro development This brief time determines every child s future 5

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 OVERVIEW AND SCOPE One volunteer sitting with 50 women one volunteer sitting with a community and a local person around one volunteer for 10 days that brings a lot of change You throw the stone at the middle of the well and it replicates around the society OWDENBURG MDEGELLA ELCT IRINGA DIOCESE BISHOP EMERITUS RCP offers interventions to eradicate hunger improve health and enhance cognition The program invests in children s nutrition health and education focusing on the first 1 000 days Parents work hand in hand with local staff and external volunteers through parent education workshops regular home visits relevant technologies and support including household hand washing stations packaged nutritious meals household container gardens and chicken coops Access to quality healthcare through a modern in community general clinic is also provided 6

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 This combination of services addresses the whole child through the 18th birthday by providing parents the necessary knowledge and tools The objective of this demonstration program is to provide proof of concept for the whole child method of addressing the multi generational cycle of poverty poverty seriously limits food nutrition and protection from disease all of which cause stunting Stunting results in reduced intellectual capacity and ill health reduced intellectual capacity significantly lowers economic productivity lower economic activity increases poverty When stunting is eliminated poverty will be eliminated 7

Eliminating stunting can break the cycle of poverty forever When stunting is eliminated and children receive continued educational support each can reach their potential and become contributing members to society Everyone benefits 8

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 NOTABLE FIRST YEAR ACHIEVEMENTS After the first year of the RCP program July 2017 through August 2018 children showed statistically significant reductions in stunting Researchers from Saint John Fisher College in Rochester NY Dudla Kuder Bell and Lull 2020 reported notable preliminary findings Height for Age deviation from the mean improved significantly by 17 at 3 months 18 at 6 months 37 at 12 months Rates of severe stunting were significantly reduced from 24 of children at baseline to 11 at 3 months 12 at 6 months 9 at 12 months MORE FINDINGS Significant improvements in height for age SD were observed in RCP children aged 13 21 months at enrollment that age group where stunting rates were highest Significant improvements were observed in RCP children that were stunted at baseline RCP is changing lives for children in rural Tanzania Data in preparation for peer reviewed publication 9

Stunting is preventable Local people make it happen 10

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS Maternal Child Health Clinic Operations The Ipalamwa General Health Clinic serves six communities and 9 500 people in the Ukwega and Kising a Wards Focus of care includes children s and women s health and wellness and general and preventative medicine Nutrition Program Two prepackaged nutritious meals are provided daily to pregnant women mothers and their babies and preschool and primary school students To promote food self sufficiency ongoing nutrition education household container gardens chicken coops and appropriate training are provided to all RCP families Parents Educational Workshops Volunteer professionals transfer health hygiene nutrition and child rearing knowledge to parents through interactive workshops focusing on the how to help families navigate and maximize the first 1 000 days The goal is to help families understand both what behaviors to modify or change and why those behavior modifications are important for their young children Home Visits RCP staff and volunteer professionals conduct regular home visits to ensure application of knowledge acquired through workshops help with new household food and hygiene technologies and offer parents psychosocial support Health Promoting Technologies Household handwashing stations fuel efficient stoves bed nets container gardens and rainwater harvesting systems improve quality of life and help control infectious disease All RCP families currently have access to handwashing stations and container gardens Short term plans include adding all other technologies as funding permits Women s Co ops Village cooperatives produce and market a variety of handmade products promoting self sufficiency through commerce Global Volunteers supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 11

COMMUNITY TESTIMONIALS Rebecca s story When 28 year old Rebecca became pregnant with her third child in 2017 she hoped that joining the Reaching Children s Potential Demonstration RCP program would improve the health of all her children Rebecca believes that what she learned as a part of RCP and the support from her caregiver Debora the staff and the volunteers contributed to her son s growth and good health When comparing the growth trajectories of her children Rebecca says that she can see a clear difference between Freddy and her older two children She says the nutritious porridge and RCP workshops on controlling infectious diseases have benefited her family the most Further the hand washing station installed by the RCP program has been lifechanging as is the practice of boiling the family s drinking and cooking water Rebecca said she s grateful for Debora s home visits because the two women have built a relationship that allows Rebecca to feel free to ask questions and reinforce the program lessons 12

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 We used to have a lot of illness like diarrhea and stomach fever regular running nose and coughing It was happening that all of my children were getting sick even twice or three times a week but since we have the handwashing station we have not experienced these types of illness for a long time now LENIDA NYENZA AND DAVID MGATA COMMUNITY MEMBERS Every day I see happy children now Rise Against Hunger meals help my community to have healthy people with energy ABINADA KIKOTI COMMUNITY MEMBER Being a member of Mshikamano group helped me learn how to produce liquid soap I take this as a big advantage and I have confidence that in the future I can make a living for my family even if my husband is absent or able to make money as it is now No one knows tomorrow but knowledge never dies ANJELINA MTENGA RCP CO OP MEMBER 13

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 VOLUNTEER REFLECTIONS The eagerness of the families their thirst for information their desire to give their children the best life possible filled my heart and reminded me why I serve GILA COHEN SHAW VOLUNTEER 14

I saw strength and resilience in the mothers walking miles to get food for themselves and their children I saw single mothers pushing their way through hardships with a willingness to use the tools and resources given to educate themselves on how to live healthier lives I saw a family togetherness I saw the Global Volunteers staff laughing together standing together with one another working together I saw women s empowerment and leadership in the Global Volunteers staff helping their communities succeed and flourish I saw a community helping each other JASMINE HOOPER VOLUNTEER 15

Global Volunteers partners and collaborates with institutions that want to enrich the lives of their students members and employees by making a difference in the lives of poor children and their families in developing communities 16

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 POWER IN PARTNERSHIPS Begins with an invitation Focuses on impactful collaboration Culminates in positive outcomes The Power in Partnership extends far beyond the community served Though it all begins with the community s invitation that is just the start of the conversation The RCP program is successful because of each of its contributing parts Our partners prove the power of working together to achieve significant change in behavior that leads to positive impacts and measurable outcomes Our Power in Partnership Team consists of Community Partners who invite us identify their needs work hand in hand with us embrace new knowledge and behaviors and adopt habits for change Partners that provide resources funding materials support and promotion Organizations Institutions and Associations who offer technologies and opportunity for their members employees or students to join the effort to eliminate stunting Individual Volunteers who serve in the field invite others to join them and contribute to this important effort Each step of the way no matter what I walked away with the belief of just how necessary the work Rise Against Hunger and Global Volunteers is not just for Tanzania but the world And the way the project is set up you can t help but want to support it SEAN SUTHERLAND GLOBAL VOLUNTEER 17

Service program contributions individual donors donor advised funds and foundations support Global Volunteers RCP demonstration program They help cover fortified porridge for pregnant women micronutrients for toddlers medicines for the clinic textbooks for students Earthboxes local and international staff and so much more 18

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 FINANCIAL LANDSCAPE Global Volunteers proudly built RCP s financial structure on its 36 year commitment to fiscal responsibility and transparency Guide Star awarded Global Volunteers Platinum Status signifying the organization s commitment to a superior level of transparency In its first years RCP was funded by a generous family foundation many individual donors donor advised funds hundreds of volunteers and service program contributions Revenue Expenses Rise Against Hunger a US based nonprofit supplies prepackaged meals to Global Volunteers for RCP families and school children 19

Children want to reach their full potential You can make the difference Global Volunteers will expand its reach to other parts of Tanzania throughout Africa and across the globe wherever we are invited 20

RCP IMPACT REPORT MAY 2020 WHY TANZANIA In 2009 stunting rates in Tanzania were 42 and in 2016 they improved to 34 Based on current trends Tanzania will fail to come close to WHO s goal to reduce stunting to 14 7 by 2025 WHY RCP RCP is a child focused parent driven family centered and communityled comprehensive approach dramatically improving child and maternal health It is both replicable and scalable All components are implemented and directed by local people with the assistance and support of a small team of local staff and external volunteers WHY NOW For more than three and a half decades Global Volunteers has been providing the missing elements in under resourced communities globally hearts hands and knowledge through more than 36 000 short term volunteers in partnership with local leaders 21

The Tanzania RCP Demonstration Program is led by local people Further we follow the guidelines required of rigorous experimentation including collecting appropriate baseline data protecting individuals privacy comparing villages that are part of the demonstration with similar villages that are not offered the interventions and producing statistically significant results 22

A NOTE OF THANKS To parents of Ukwega Ward thank you for directing the RCP program adding to the conversations and enthusiastically adopting new knowledge and technologies for building and modeling healthy habits to help your children and families reach their full potential for warmly welcoming volunteers and RCP staff into your villages homes and schools and being open with them about the changes you wish to see To Global Volunteers partners and volunteers thank you for sharing your collaborative spirit and dedication to the RCP Program through service support and funding for offering your knowledge and expertise to parents who want to improve the lives of their children It is only through our collective commitment that we are able to see such promising results within the first years of the program Together we will continue to do so much more To community leaders host partners and local RCP staff thank you for inviting us and working shoulder to With deep gratitude and hope for the shoulder to initiate and build an RCP future Demonstration Program that delivers on all the dreams and aspirations of your community for engaging short term volunteers in Burnham Philbrook meaningful community work that Co Founder and CEO of supports your community goals Global Volunteers for understanding the importance of your leadership role in this ambitious endeavor 23