12 Mar. 2020 Bangladesh
Team HFW won the 1st prize the cooking competition in Boda Upzila. Regional government admitted the acts to develop nutrition
Tasting evaluation. Serving food on banana leaf “plate” gained additional point. Most importantly, the taste was very good
Boda Upzila※ celebrated “Nutrition Week” organized by Upzila Health Complex (Primisys) Boda between April 23rd and 29th. The highlight of Nutrition Week was the cooking competition on 25th. Team HFW won the first prize in this competition based on the contribution to the regional human nutrition by sharing knowledge and practical know-hows for the improvement.
Nutrition Week is the annual event in Boda Upzila, as a part of national campaign of the government to improve human nutrition of this country. However, this year was the first time for Boda Upzila to organize cooking competition in this event. HFW has been working on the project to improve nutritional status of local poor population by sharing highly nutritious menu using locally available vegetables in the cooking workshops to 400 women. Nutrition Week was therefore the best opportunity to introduce our activities to the regional government.
Team HFW was composed of 30 members: 28 LPS（Local Service provider）as well as 2 local HFW staffs in the nutrition improvement program. Other participants were from 8 NGO teams and 10 local individual housewives. Our team cooked khichuri (in other words hotchpotch), the traditional food in Bangladesh, using rice and variety of nutritious ingredients including local vegetables, beans, nuts and herbs. The invited guests were the chairman of Upzila Parishad, livestock officer, health officer, Upzila sanitary inspector and the representatives of the journalist club. While cooking, our team explained numbers of activities such as cooking and sanitation workshops, capacity building and family plan, all of which comes to the ultimate goal to achieve “right for food”. Team HFW, outperforming rival teams, won the first prize based on the following criteria: locally available ingredients, cooking at low cost, easy cooking procedure, high sanitation, good in taste, and nutrient balance of the dish.
In the discussion session following the cooking competition, the invited government officials discussed the importance of locally available and highly nutritious food as well as the governmental support of the nutrition improvement. This session was the important opportunity for the local HFW LSP to learn about the state of the art of nutrition improvement so that they can later share with their target villagers of the program.
With our achievement in this event, participants from the regional government acknowledged and appreciated our activity; moreover, they promised support for our future activities. The Upzila officers told their subordinates to make sure that the governmental support reaches the poorest population, which is the target population of HFW program.
※Upazila is an administrative region in Bangladesh.
＊ This activity was inspired by the local product exhibition in Uganda.
Local HFW LSP cooking with low-cost and highly nutritious food. Efficiency and sanitation were two of the important evaluation criteria
Later delivered a gift for the best prize. It was a sauce pan, which is now contributing to our nutrition improvement program
Messages from Bangladesh
Congratulations for winning the competition. I have heard of the inspiring activities of HFW. I believe that your approach to educate women who are not aware of the nutrition and its value of local food, by sharing the nutritious menu as well as the recipes, is very effective to improve human nutrition of this region. Whenever possible, I would like to support your activities. Please keep in touch.
Mr. Shohidul Islam (Lifestock offcer of Boda Upzila government, Boda, Panshagar）
Through this event, I gained valuable information to help improve my communication with the target women of our program. I learned that participation to such program (event) is essential to improve our capacity. I appreciate HFW for offering such opportunity to contribute to our village.
Ms. Rini Begum（LSP, Pramanicpara village, Boda, Panchagar）
