As part of her research for Humidtropics, Jessica Raneri, Nutrition Programme Specialist, Bioversity International, explains some of the challenges in gathering baseline data in the Mai Son district in Son La Province, Vietnam, to assess local food biodiversity and identify opportunities for improving diet quality and diversity. The focus is on women of child-bearing age and children between 12-23 months – an age group part of the critical 1000 day window for child development and the stage where they are able to consume a more diverse diet. As such, it is from this age group that … [Read more...]
Capacity to Innovate: the Essence of Sustainability and Resilience
Integrated systems are complex wholes in which a range of social and biophysical processes interact across various levels and scales. Reorienting the dynamics of systems in favor of realizing desirable outcomes—for example, intermediate development outcomes—is essentially about changing the way people interact with each other and respond to their changing environment. This requires capabilities at the level of individuals, communities, organizations and networks, and those that have a mandate to catalyse and support innovation processes in society; e.g. international nongovernmental … [Read more...]
Improving Nutrition and Dietary Diversity in Vietnam
Assessing the nutrition potential of diverse local foods I am currently working on a nutrition initiative through the CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics) to assess the potential of diverse local foods in Vietnam. We are looking at the potential of using diverse local foods to improve diet quality and diversity, especially for women of reproductive age and for children between 12-23 months. Malnutrition rates are high in Vietnam with a lack of dietary diversity thought to be a crucial factor. In the developing world diets often consist of … [Read more...]