Project Background

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) report “Food and Nutrition for People Living with HIV/AIDS” (May 2006) notes that many parts of the world most severely affected by HIV have long been plagued by systemic and chronic food insecurity, and that there is a complex interrelationship between AIDS and food insecurity. Within this context, children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS are more likely to experience compromised nutrition with resulting negative impact on health. The Family Nutritional Support Program (FNSP) is a component of the Maximizing Agricultural Revenues for Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites (MARKETS) project. FNSP was started in 2008 to provide nutritional supplements to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and to provide income-generating activity support to OVC caregivers that will help improve the socio-economic status of HIV/AIDs-affected households in Nigeria.

Project Objectives

The first objective addresses immediate nutritional needs of OVC. Through partnerships with local food processing firms, FNSP is developing, purchasing, and distributing food supplements to OVC. Support includes community-based and clinic-based feeding programs. Ready-to-prepare packaged products are distributed to 22,500 OVC annually through PEPFAR international partners. The second objective focuses on strengthening household nutrition and income. Using a specially designed curriculum that focuses on building capacity of beneficiaries to improve their incomes, FNSP is training OVC caregivers on homestead gardening techniques and important business skills, such as value addition, business planning, market information, record keeping and financial planning. A total of 7,500 OVC caregivers are trained annually under this component. FNSP uses a participatory approach to capacity building to train non- and semi-literate caregivers. Caregivers participate in simulation exercises that demonstrate and re-enforce business practices that can be applied to a range of enterprises.

Partners

The project is implemented by a consortium of international partners led by Chemonics International Inc. The Project collaborates with other partners including IHVN, AIDS Relief, CSN, Christian Aid, Hope World Wide, Winrock-AIM and CEDPA. Family Nutritional Support Program (FNSP) started in September 2008 and will end in December 2010. FNSP also partners with Grand Cereals and Oil Mills Limited (based in Jos, Plateau State) and Dala Foods (based in Kano, Kano State) for the production and procurement of food supplements.