Implementation of Local Food-Based Balanced Nutrition Guidelines and the Healthy-Smart Children Program: A Collaborative Community Empowerment Model for Stunting Prevention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58706/ijorce.v4n2.p193-203Keywords:
stunting, balanced nutrition, local food, early childhood education, health cadresAbstract
Stunting remains a complex public health issue in Indonesia, including in Bengkulu Province, where its prevalence increased to 20.2% in 2023. Kampung Melayu District is among the high-risk areas. This community service initiative aimed to strengthen the capacity of health cadres and early childhood education center (ECEC) teachers in implementing local food-based balanced nutrition guidelines and the Healthy-Smart Children Program for community-level stunting prevention. The main methodology used was community empowerment integrated with structured training and mentoring. The activity was implemented through six phases: preparation and stakeholder coordination, partner organization, intensive training, field-based mentoring, cross-sector coordination, and monitoring and evaluation. The results showed clear improvements in partner capacity after the intervention. Knowledge of local food-based balanced nutrition increased by 13.18%, understanding of child nutritional status assessment increased by 50.08%, and knowledge of child development achievement standards increased by 28.22%. ECEC teachers were also able to develop a one-week balanced menu cycle and conduct basic nutrition and development assessments. The program generated active participation from teachers, parents, children, health cadres, and local stakeholders. These findings indicate that local food-based nutrition education, when combined with empowerment and formal multi-sector collaboration, can become a scalable community model and should be considered in regional stunting prevention policies. The results of the activities have implications for the achievement of the SDGs by strengthening community capacity in local food-based balanced nutrition, child nutritional status and development monitoring, early childhood education, and multisectoral collaboration to support sustainable stunting prevention.
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