A Healthy Diet is the First Step to Proper Health

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A Healthy Diet is the First Step to Proper Health

• MercyShips Canada

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• The Mercy Ships Nutritional Agriculture Program
  (Food for Life) aims to increase the capacity of
  local agriculturists through sustainable farming
  and agro pastoral practices. A healthy diet is
  the first step to proper health.
• We recognize that people need more than just
  access to healthcare, but also access to
  nutritious food to obtain such health. Since
  1997, Mercy Ships has encouraged people to
  discover significantly improved methods of food
  production working with them to rebuild,
  restore, and renew their lives, land, communities
  and nations through holistic, organic agriculture
  development. Farming practices in much of West
  Africa do more harm than good.
• Mercy Ships seek to help its agriculture
  participants understand how greenhouse gases work
  in the atmosphere, how these greenhouse gasses
  are increased by slash and burn practices, and
  how this affects their crops, health, and
  nutrition. Slash and burn, pesticides,
  herbicides, and others lead to the production of
  poor harvests and deplete the soils nutrient
  levels, leaving behind infertile ground.

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Food for Life

• The Nutritional Agriculture Program (Food for
  Life) works in conjunction with the Africa
  Mercys 10-month deployment schedule to provide
  training and resources in countries served by
  Mercy Ships. In this project, Mercy Ships will
  train trainers who serve with local NGOs in
  Benin. These experts will then possess the
  knowledge and skills to train others in organic
  farming techniques that can improve nutrition,
  provide a business, and offer a sustainable
  response to environmental deterioration. Needs
  Over half of Benins population relies on
  agriculture to maintain their livelihoods.

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Agriculture in Benin

• Agriculture makes up a large part of Benins
  economy with cotton alone making up 40 of the
  countrys GDP and over 80 of their export
  revenue. To facilitate the production of cotton,
  dangerous pesticides were used which caused
  damage to human health and environmental
  degradation. Today, there is a push to use more
  organic methods to protect both human health and
  the environment.
• Not only is the environment being harmed by these
  practices, a 2013 study by the World Food
  Programme (WFP) estimates that 11 of the
  Beninese population is moderate and severely food
  insecure and 34 have limited or poor food
  consumption. Adding to this, 32 of children six
  to 59 months suffer from chronic malnutrition.

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Goal of the Food for Life Project

• To improve food security in Benin by increasing
  the farming capacity of partner NGOs and provide
  training for Food for Life participants and
  agriculture workers at a local orphanage.
• 25 35 participants will be mentored and trained
  from local NGOs serving in Benin during a 22-week
  course. Participants intern with poor families to
  apply their knowledge on climate-oriented
  agriculture. This includes the implementation of
  an Agro forestry system fruit trees in
  association with vegetables

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• The assisted families are able to improve the
  quality of their farming methods to produce
  organically sustainable fruits and vegetables and
  help reduce their vulnerability to climate
  change.
• Families are able to adapt positively to changes
  in their climate by initiating new ideas to
  increase their Agro forestry system. Assist
  partners in setting up demonstration gardens for
  agriculture training programs.
• The course addresses climate change, how such
  change affects the agricultural sector, and
  methods to adapt to and mitigate such effects.
  Facilitators further identify and discourage
  destructive practices such as slash-and-burn
  tactics and the use of harsh, expensive chemical
  fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

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• After receiving an understanding of the impact of
  climate change on the farming activities, the
  facilitators show different actions that could
  help reduce poverty and at the same time protect
  the soil from degradation through REDD (Reducing
  Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
  Degradation).
• Many farmers each year destroy forests because
  they are looking for new land to cultivate, while
  they forget to replenish depleted soil nutrients.
  Such practices lead to forest reduction. Business
  Practices Alongside organic agriculture
  techniques, facilitators provide instruction in
  proper business practices and communication for
  development
• Facilitators engage in Participatory Action
  Research (PAR) approach to communicate
  development principles. The training thus
  emphasizes how participants can help their
  communities identify the challenges they face in
  their traditional agricultural activities and
  techniques, and together identify (and therefore
  own) innovative means to improve ecological
  sustainability and yield increase. In particular,
  the team emphasizes how micro-credit can help
  build businesses

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• Towards the end of the course, participants also
  create a business plan indicating how they intend
  to apply the course material in their respective
  NGOs.
• Mercy Ships uses the Participatory Action
  Research theory to empower and lead people to
  increased control over their lives. It seeks to
  understand and improve the world by sharing the
  power with persons being researched therefore,
  the researched become the researchers and cease
  to be objects and become partners.
• PAR seeks to understand the local practices,
  situations, contexts, and challenges while
  actively involving locals into the research
  process. In cooperation with Foundation Escape
  Africa, facilitators identify five very poor
  farming families in a community not far from the
  site. In an internship-style format, participants
  meet with these local farming families and
  discuss different aspects concerning their
  agricultural activities as per the training they
  received during the Food for Life (FFL) program.

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What happens when the Africa Mercy leaves Benin?

• The Agriculture Program Manager with local
  partners and agriculturalists on a monthly basis
  and conducts follow-up visits 6-12 months after
  the ships departure. The Program Manager will
  also examine what the participants learned to
  bring change into their lives and the lives of
  others (i.e. new farming methods, creating a
  business plan).
• Long-term indicators of success Evaluation occurs
  one to two years after the ships departure.
  Participants continue to implement the knowledge
  and skills learned. NGOs are able to report on
  the numbers of people trained and the amount of
  food grown by the new training participants.

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Mercy Ships Canada

• Address Unit 5-3318 Oak St. Victoria, BC Canada
  V8X 1R1
• Phone Number 1-866-900-7447, 250-381-2160 (Bus)
• Fax [phone]
• Email Id msca_at_mercyships.ca
• Website Charities For African Children

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