Improving Nutrition and Work Skills in Liberia
In the busy neighborhoods of West Point and New Kru Town, Liberia, women are learning to support young mothers through a project led by Catholic Relief Services. Among them is Princess Brooks, whose daughter is thriving after Princess learned about child nutrition through the Healthy Living Through Integrated Nutrition Activities, or HELINA project.
Princess Brooks joined the CRS HELINA program and learned skills that enabled her to open her own pastry business.
Photo by Boakai B Koilor/CRS
With funding from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the HELINA project helps improve the nutrition and overall health of young mothers and their children. Launched in 2022, the HELINA project is a collaborative effort among CRS, the government of Liberia and the National Catholic Health Council. On the ground and in the community, CRS works with the Ministry of Health and local partners to train community health promoters, or CHPs. These CHPs—many of whom are also young women—offer in-home counseling to families on child nutrition and health.
“The CHPs use songs and games to educate us on how to nourish our children,” says Princess. “I found the learning process to be very effective.”
Blessing Robertson participated in the CRS HELINA program and received training in business skills. Through this program, she learned to develop and manage a business effectively.
Photo by Boakai B Koilor/CRS
Providing individualized support to families is key to the success of the HELINA project. CHPs conduct weekly home visits to offer counseling to young mothers and their children, each session tailored to a family’s specific issues related to nutrition and health.
“When we first started, many mothers were afraid and shy to tell us how they were taking care of their babies," says CHP Nathaline G. Savice. “But we made them feel comfortable by relating to them.’
Encouraging mothers to proactively seek health care is a key focus of the project, as CHPs regularly advise and support mothers to make weekly visits to health care facilities where they can receive sufficient antenatal and postnatal care. CHPs also encourage young mothers to participate in mother support groups so that they can openly share their struggles, concerns and experiences with one another. These support groups are led and facilitated by mothers who have been trained to act as nutrition champions.
Partnership and capacity strengthening are at the heart of all that CRS does, and so we collaborated with the Ministry of Healthy to train 10 staff members from the St. Joseph Catholic Health Center in New Kru Town and the Star of the Sea Health Center in West Point. The proficiency of health care workers as nutrition champions for maternal and child health is critical to the project’s sustainability. CRS prioritizes empowering local providers to ensure that mothers and their children continue to receive support in the long term.
Nathaline G. Savice, a community health promoter in New Kru Town, shows a mother how to prepare nutritious food.
Photo by Boakai B Koilor/CRS
Along with ensuring that families provide safe and nurturing care for their children, CRS and our partners recognize the need for livelihood support—which can be a major challenge for mothers in Liberia, especially as they strive to ensure better nutrition and health care for their young children. Through the HELINA project, CRS and our partners provided business and vocational training to 460 participants. Training included pastry making, cosmetology, catering and soap making. Some participants also received vocational and education training, while others enrolled in a five-week business course that focused on small business management. Princess, who we met earlier, learned skills that helped her open her own pastry business.
West Point and New Kru Town are just two examples of how CRS works every day to be a trusted, compassionate and reliable partner. Through the strong, collaborative relationships we’ve built—with the government, health care providers, and community members—these young women in Liberia are now equipped and able to work toward creating healthy and sustainable futures for themselves and for their children.
