UGANDA: Feeding and Nutrition Specialists (SPOON FOUNDATION) interface with CCCU
The Team from Spoon foundation in-group photo with ARU, CCCU and partners
By Caroline Nansukusa – ARU-CCCU
In fulfillment of planned project activities for the ongoing Strengthening Nutrition and Feeding for Children in Institutional Care project, the Association of Religious in Uganda (ARU) and Catholic Care for Children (CCCU) has hosted guests from the SPOON Foundation from Portland-Oregon, USA.
The visiting team consisted of two people, Ms. Lauren Hughey the Program Officer and Ms. Kate Miller the Feeding and Disability Specialist.
The six -day visit, of July 10-16, 2022 July involved meeting with the administrators of ARU and CCCU administration, majorly sharing about the project, updates, progress and other upcoming activities. A workshop with CCCU administration together with the Master Trainers was part of the event. This workshop helped to update members on project and planning activities.
The SPOON – led Workshop for the CCCU and Master Trainers, for discussing different project activities, areas of concern, updates and progress reports from the field, planning next steps, brainstorming together with Case Management Officer – Caroline on how Nutrition can be added to Case Management and resettlement among others. This activity prompted a Zoom meeting with Advocacy Officer Spoon Foundation, Carolyne Moore. It culminated into development of a Concept Note on the same.
The third day of the visit was reserved for the Master Trainer Training and Mentorship workshop. On this day, Master Trainers were trained on pre-selected topics on disability and nutrition such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Early Identification of Disability, the Nurturing Framework and discussions on the FEED-Safe Manual among others.
The most anticipated, fourth day, hosted the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting. The TAG is a group of Individuals and or representatives of Organizations that are technical in different aspects of the project that come together to discuss and share project Issues. TAG Comprises of individuals from the Academia (Makerere University, Kyambogo University), Line Ministries (Health and Gender), Related Partner Organizations (Mwana Mugimu, UNICEF, World Vision, CRS and Child’s i) and Support groups like Spina Bifida. Later, on this afternoon, there was a smaller meeting with World Vision leadership.
The week’s activities were capped with a team building session at Griffins Nature Park in Lugazi for the whole CCCU/Master trainer team. The team building activity was later crowned with an evening of chitchat and laughter at a sendoff dinner hosted at the Onomo Hotel Poolside.
