Tool and Guide for Reviewing the Nutrition Content of Pre-Service Training Curricula

Quality pre-service training forms the foundation of all nutrition services, equipping health professionals with the competencies required to deliver quality services from day one on the job. However, nutrition content is often outdated and can be difficult to integrate into pre-service training.

In an effort to improve the quality of nutrition services, USAID Advancing Nutrition developed the Tool and Guide for Reviewing the Nutrition Content of Pre-Service Training Curricula and tested it in Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Malawi. The tool can be used by academic institutions, relevant government entities, non-governmental organizations, and donors to help review and improve the nutrition content in existing pre-service training curricula for specific cadres of health workers who provide frontline nutrition services.

Last modified: January 1, 2024

Language: English, Russian

Source: USAID Advancing Nutrition

Year of Publication: 2023

Déterminants sociaux, culturels et individuels des comportements à risque, de prévention et de riposte liés aux six groupes de zoonoses prioritaires en République Démocratique du Congo

L’exploration des déterminants sociaux, culturels et individuels des comportements à risque, de prévention et de riposte liés aux zoonoses prioritaires en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) est une étude qualitative menée par l’Université John Hopkins- Centre des Programmes de Communication (CCP) à travers leprojet Breakthrough ACTION dans trois provinces du Haut-Lomami, Kongo Central et Sud-Ubangi en RDC. L’étude fait partie des interventions prioritaires du projet et vise l’utilisation des conclusions pour pouvoir développer les supports et les messages de communication adaptés en vue d’un changement social et comportemental.

Elle a eu pour cibles, les personnes en interactions régulières avec les animaux et aussi la population générale pour laquelle l’interaction avec les animaux est plus réduite. Cette étude qualitative a utilisé la combinaison de plusieurs approches : les entretiens individuels (EI), les groupes de discussions (GD), et les observations dans les lieux de ventes des animaux ou des produits animaux, et les lieux d’abattage des animaux.


Exploring the social, cultural and individual determinants of risk, prevention and response behaviors and response behaviors related to priority zoonoses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a qualitative study conducted by the John Hopkins University-Center for Communication Programs (CCP) through the Breakthrough ACTION Breakthrough ACTION project in the three provinces of Haut-Lomami, Kongo Central and Sud-Ubangi in the DRC. The study is one of the project’s priority interventions, and aims to use the findings to develop appropriate communication materials and messages for social and behavioral change.

The targets of the study were people who interact regularly with animals, as well as the general population for whom interaction with animals is more limited. This qualitative study used a combination of of several approaches: individual interviews (EI), focus groups (GD), and observations where animals or animal products are sold, and where animals are slaughtered.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: December 29, 2023

Growing Up GREAT! Implementation Guide

Growing Up Great! is a scalable, multi-level intervention designed to improve sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender equity among very young adolescents (VYA) and the important adults in their lives. It supports VYAs and their communities to question and break down social barriers that prevent access to health information and services. It was piloted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2017-2018 under the Passages Project, which aims to address a broad range of social norms, at scale, to achieve sustained improvements in family planning and reproductive health. Growing Up GREAT! was evaluated by the Global Early Adolescent Study and shown to be effective at shifting several key SRH attitudes and norms.

The Growing Up GREAT! Implementation Guide is a step-by-step resource for organizations who wish to adopt the intervention. It provides users with guidance, tested tools, and materials for planning, implementing, supervising, and monitoring this successful norms-shifting intervention.

Annex A provides detailed guidance on adapting the Growing Up GREAT! intervention and materials to different contexts: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/growing-great-adaptation-guide/

Annex B includes resources in the VYA Toolkit, a package of interactive, age-appropriate materials used during activities with VYAs: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/collection/annex-b-vya-toolkit/

Other supporting materials for parents, teachers, and health providers are included throughout the guide.

French Implementation Guide: https://www.irh.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/GREAT-ImplementationGuide-French_FINAL.pdf

Source: Save the Children

Date of Publication: January 24, 2023

Curriculum for Change Agent Development Program

This document provides a brief introduction to the background, purpose and targeted participants of the Change Agent Development Programme (CADP). It provides details of the curriculum content and learning objectives particpants can expect to achieve through their involvement.

The purpose of the Change Agent Development Programme is to strengthen individual capacity and fill existing skills and knowledge gaps of select national, regional and district-level staff of the Health Promotion Department to effectively coordinate and deliver SBCC and Health Promotion Campaigns.

Expected outcomes of the CADP are that by the end participants will have:

  • A deeper understanding of, and acquire new skills and knowledge in evidence based SBCC theory and practice
  • Learned strategies and tactics for applying the new knowledge and skills in their work setting
  • Developed insights, new ideas and techniques on how to tackle and influence social norms that negatively impact health
  • A greater awareness of current SBCC campaigns and practical ways to utilise and co-ordinate them effectively at regional, district and community level
  • Increased their understanding of the Health Promotion (HP) role and improvement of individual personal effectiveness
  • Become equipped to transfer SBCC knowledge and skills to peers through an organised system of mentorshipA
  • Acquired the skills required to implementing innovative SBCC interventions at a local level supported through the Change Challenge Fund

Source: Communicate for Health Ghana

Date of Publication: July 19, 2021

Nurturing Connections

The Nurturing Connections curriculum for gender and nutrition, initially developed by Helen Keller International (HKI) in Bangladesh, was inspired by the peer-based “Stepping Stones” program addressing HIV/AIDS and sexual health in Africa.

Both approaches recognize that behavior change is a process that requires internalizing new concepts, that gender norms are driven by community norms and group dynamics, and that adults learn best through action and experience. The curriculum can be adapted to other contexts in Asia. A French language edition, Cultivons les Relations, was developed and tested in West Africa by HKI and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

Nurturing Connections draws on HKI’s decades of experience implementing Enhanced Homestead Food Production (EHFP), an intervention that has been used to empower women in their capacity to produce and contribute to household income while improving the quality and diversity of nutrition for their children and themselves. Nurturing Connections supports not just young women, but also their husbands, fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law, as all family members as well as the surrounding community must work together to confront and overturn gender-based discrimination. The process involves a series of facilitated discussions of two to three hours in length are conducted in each community among peer groups: a group of women (beneficiaries), a group of their husbands, and a group of influential elders.

The curriculum consists of four “Blocks”, or topics, each of which is delivered in weekly discussions over a four week period: 1. Let’s Communicate; 2. Understanding Perceptions and Gender; 3. Negotiating Power; and 4. Acting for Change.

The curriculum is also available in French.

Source: Helen Keller International

Date of Publication: January 21, 2021

Empowering Boys and Girls to Change Gender Norms: CHOICES: A Curriculum for 10 to 14 Year Olds in Nepal

The CHOICES curriculum is designed to help change well-established gender-related attitudes and behavior.

The intervention aims to improve the lives of young girls and women and to help girls feel more respected and empowered to achieve their dreams. The curriculum revolves around eight participatory age- and developmentally-appropriate activities to promote dialogue around respect, communication, fairness and dreams for the future between boys and girls. It explores the themes of gender inequity and power, identifying small actions that can promote gender equity and respect and empower girls.

The results of the CHOICES evaluation clearly show that CHOICES was effective in creating a shift toward more gender-equitable norms in terms of household and school roles and responsibilities among young girls and boys. Included here are the CHOICES curriculum and a brief describing the curriculum and the results of its evaluation.

Source: Save the Children

Date of Publication: November 30, 2020

Tools Together Now! 100 Participatory Tools to Mobilise Communities for HIV/AIDS

This is part two of a two-part community mobilization toolkit for HIV/AIDS that helps communities to become actively and influentially involved in addressing the causes and effects of HIV and AIDS.

The resources are:

All Together Now! Community mobilization for HIV/AIDS guides you through the process of mobilizing communities to address HIV prevention, care, support, impact mitigation and treatment for those affected by HIV and AIDS.

• Tools Together Now! 100 participatory tools to mobilize communities for HIV/AIDS is a set of participatory exercises designed to help put All Together Now! into practice. In this resource, there is a selection of 100 participatory learning and action (PLA) tools which you can use for HIV/AIDS programs. PLA tools are interactive activities which enable communities and organizations to learn together about HIV/AIDS in their community, develop a plan, act on it and evaluate and reflect on how it went. The philosophy of this set of publications is that organizations and communities have to work as closely together as possible if they are to address HIV/AIDS successfully.

This toolkit was specifically designed for communities and organizations to use alongside All Together Now! Community Mobilization for HIV/AIDS to: Uul>

  • Start together to address HIV/AIDS
  • Assess the HIV/AIDS situation together
  • Make a plan together
  • Implement the plan together
  • Evaluate that plan together
  • Decide what they want to do next together
  • Scale up action on HIV/AIDS together.

Source: International HIV/AIDS Alliance

Date of Publication: November 29, 2020

Modern Aspects of Family Planning Training Curriculum

This manual is from the Healthy Women of Ukraine (HWUP) program. The goal of HWUP, which runs from 2011-2016, is to protect the reproductive health of Ukrainian women and couples by increasing the appropriate and effective use of modern methods of contraception as an alternative to unintended pregnancy and associated abortion. HWUP was a follow-on project to an earlier program, Together for Health, which ran from from 2006-2011.

Evaluation of the project thus far shows the following;

  • 7.8 million Ukrainians have been reached with the program’s messages
  • More than 25,000 people, mainly youth, have participated in FP/RH education sessions
  • 87% of education session participants plan to use modern family planning methods in the future
  • The number of access points for family planning and reproductive services has increased more than 300% in HWUP partner oblasts
  • More than 2,600 health care providers have been trained in modern family planning approaches and counseling

– See more at: /project-examples/clinical-manual-modern-aspects-family-planning#sthash.pCFikL2O.dpuf

This curriculum is from the Healthy Women of Ukraine (HWUP) program. The goal of HWUP, which runs from 2011-2016, is to protect the reproductive health of Ukrainian women and couples by increasing the appropriate and effective use of modern methods of contraception as an alternative to unintended pregnancy and associated abortion. HWUP was a follow-on project to an earlier program, Together for Health, which ran from from 2006-2011.

Evaluation of the project thus far shows the following;

  • 7.8 million Ukrainians have been reached with the program’s messages
  • More than 25,000 people, mainly youth, have participated in FP/RH education sessions
  • 87% of education session participants plan to use modern family planning methods in the future
  • The number of access points for family planning and reproductive services has increased more than 300% in HWUP partner oblasts
  • More than 2,600 health care providers have been trained in modern family planning approaches and counseling

This curriculum is for a 5-day training on “Modern Aspects of Family Planning” aimed at improving the professional level of health care providers in both theoretical and practical contexts. The curriculum includes description of material covered on each day.

Source: Healthy Women of Ukraine Program (HWUP)

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019