Muhammad Rizal's blog

I believe that helping people to sell nutritious foods for children is the best strategy to ensure sustainability. Since February 2010, Mercy Corps' local nutrition programme — called Kedai Balitaku — has promoted and advertised healthy food and child nutrition to more than 5,000 children under five in 100 kindergartens in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar. We are proud to announce three big successes this month from the programme:

1. Vendors are using their profits to expand their businesses: Four months ago, Mrs. Harlina was unemployed, but now she has earned an average of £30 per week from selling healthy snacks. The foods that she makes and sells are well-liked by both children and parents in Banda Aceh. Mrs. Harlina is currently applying for a loan from a local micro credit institution to buy a small food processing machine. In addition, three other Kedai Balitaku vendor have used their earnings and new business acumen to grow their businesses: Mrs. Syarifah has already bought a mixer to help in her business. Mrs. Fiza has bought a mixer to help her produce more bread and a motorbike on credit to support the distribution of her products. Mrs. Yanti has bought new furniture and a refrigerator from the profits she got during February, March and April 2010.
2. A vendor was invited to participate in the district's Pameran Produk Unggulan (Superior Product Exhibition): Mrs. Rosmaniar was invited by the district of Aceh Besar to participate in a “Superior Product Exhibition from May 3-9, 2010. The project is organised by the local government to promote local products and help small enterprise develop. The opening of the exhibition was attended by almost all government employees and communities in the regency of Aceh Besarh. Mrs. Rosmaniar displayed homemade Banana Cake, Cheese-Banana Bread and Carrot Muffins at the Expo. She also earned £30 from selling various nutritious snacks.
3. Children have voluntarily changed from junk food to fruits: In addition to vendor support, Mercy Corps is working to provide extensive health information to more than 500 children under the age of five in nine kindergartens that are located near each of our vendor’s homes. The aim of the health campaign is to change children's food consumption behaviour during school time. Isva Rahmi — Mercy Corps Nutrition Officer — along with her teacher assistant, Fitri, are teaching children about healthy food through role-playing and story telling.

The teachers and I initially thought it would take a long time for children to learn to replace chocolate and candy with fruits and vegetables. However, we were all very surprised with the quick results of the nutrition campaign. On the second visit, Isva taught the children that snacks containing additives are harmful, then asked the children to replace the snacks brought from home with locally available fruits. The result was that almost all of the children collected their snacks and traded them for fruits!

Two schools have reported that they are happy with the result of nutrition campaign. A teacher whose students participated in the programme last week thanked the nutrition team. She said that they are very happy because student’s appetites have become better. The children didn’t eat much before Mercy Corps promoted about healthy food, because the fatty snacks they used to eat had eliminated their appetite.

Another teacher reported that parents have met them recently and said that they are really glad with the change in their children's behaviour. The parent told the teacher that their children had talked to them about the nutrition education campaign. Their children are now aware about nutrition and can choose between healthy and unhealthy snacks.

On the third visit, some children welcomed the nutrition team shouting “We do not eat unhealthy snacks anymore.”

“I didn’t eat candy today,” said one boy. “Me too, I don’t eat chocolate!” said another one. On the third visit, Isva brought Kedai Balitaku homemade snacks with fruits and vegetables inside. She never expected that children would ask her, “is it healthy food you bring?” Here is more to healthy growth!

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Mrs. Anik joined Kedai Balitaku Aceh — Mercy Corps' Child Nutrition Programme that helps vendors sell healthy foods to children — in December 2009. Since joining, her business has grown so rapidly that she is now selling 30 kg (equal to 900 portions) of healthy meatballs each week!

Mrs. Anik has sold healthy children's meals through Mercy Corps' Kedai Balitaku programme since December. Photo: Muhammad Rizal/Mercy Corps

Mrs. Anik is currently so busy she is looking to hire one staff to help her run the business. She will pay the staff £30 per month. That's more than Mrs. Anik earned from her previous job, selling textiles, which earned her an average of £120 over a five-month period. With the extra money she’s earning now, she also has enough to pay her daughter’s school fees each month.

Mrs. Anik receives orders from preschools around her neighborhood and is ready to compete in a larger market. In April 2010, she will expand her business and sell the food she makes at the biggest supermarket in Banda Aceh.

Mrs. Anik was a successful entrepreneur in the past — she owned a small restaurant and sold textiles. However, three years ago the dust and debris from a road construction project drove customers away and killed the business. When she realized that she was losing money, she moved to a new location but was not able to rebuild her business, so she gave up and went back to just selling textiles.

With a Mercy Corps loan that covered cooking equipment, training, promotion and business counselling to help her business develop, she is now successfully selling healthy foods to children. The business counselling has enriched her knowledge to solve problems when she encounters market changes and solve problems.

When the Kedai Balitaku programme ends here in Aceh in July 2010, we know that Mrs. Anik can continue to be successful. Here's to more healthy growth!

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My name is Muhammad Rizal. I’m working with Mercy Corps as the Marketing Officer for a nutrition programme called Kedai Balitaku in Aceh Province, Indonesia. Kedai Balitaku is an innovative project to promote nutritious food for children under five. At the same time, Kedai Balitaku also offers a new avenue of economic opportunity for low-income families.

Last week was the best week of the programme since we started helping vendors promote and sell nutritious foods at the beginning of February. In the middle of a bookkeeping training for the programme's food vendors, one vendor reported that a baby had gotten better within a week of beginning to eat food from Kedai Balitaku.

In this space, Mrs. Syarifah produces nutritious, home-cooked food ordered by customers using a stove, oven and other equipment donated by Mercy Corps through our Kedai Balitaku programme. We've has also provided her with other materials and sales promotion to help her business get started and begin to succeed. Photo: Muhammad Rizal/Mercy Corps

Doubting the story a little, the next day I went to met the baby’s mum, Mrs. Wita. She said that her baby was very weak and underweight, and wouldn’t eat the deep-fried food she was preparing for the rest of the family. When she heard about the Kedai Balitaku programme during a Mercy Corps nutrition education campaign in her village, she tried it out and found her child would eat a whole bowl of the wholesome porridge. She was really surprised to find her baby gained weight and could walk again after eating this more nutritious food. Now, she orders food regularly from the Kedai Balitaku vendor near by her house, whose name is Mrs. Syarifah.

Mrs. Syarifah is one of 12 vendors recruited by Mercy Corps Aceh to run Kedai Balitaku businesses. She is a tsunami survivor, and now lives in a small house donated by the Asian Development Bank with her husband and two children.

Before joining the programme, Mrs. Syarifah worked for a small restaurant earning US$2 a day and her husband earns £53 monthly working as a security officer in a private hospital. She said that her husband’s salary is far from enough to meet their personal needs, but last month she got so much profit from selling nutritious foods through Kedai Balitaku that she was able to purchase a mobile phone. Mrs. Syarifah is currently receiving orders from neighbors and preschools around her house, while working hard to manage her quickly-growing small business.

Kedai Balitaku vendors know that the nutritious food business is a good prospect here in Aceh, where there are only a few such businesses and many people who need help. Based on a survey published by the Health Agency of Indonesia, 10.7 percent of children in Aceh were severely malnourished and 15.8 percent of them were moderately malnourished.

Just during February — the programme's first month of operation here — Kedai Balitaku vendors have already sold 14,060 portions of healthy food. Here's to more healthy growth!

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