The Intervention Co-creation to Improve Community-based Food Production and Household Nutrition in Small Island Developing States (ICoFAN) is a project that builds on previous development work done in two Small Island Developing States (SIDS), namely Fiji and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), in collaboration with The Universities of the South Pacific (USP) and the University of the West Indies (UWI).
The project’s primary objective was to collaboratively create community-based interventions to enhance local food production and consumption. This was achieved through partnerships with two well-established non-governmental organizations (NGOs): FRIEND in Fiji and Richmond Vale Academy in SVG. The impacts of these interventions on household nutrition and expenditures were evaluated using a mixed-method approach, which included quantitative household surveys, qualitative in-depth group interviews, and photo voice methodology.
As part of the project’s commitment to capacity building, Mr. Filipe and Mr. Jioje were invited to attend data analysis training at the University of the West Indies (UWI) George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre. This training included both quantitative and qualitative data from Fiji.
Mr. Veisa, a member of the USP research team, was enthusiastic about the opportunity, saying, “This is an opportunity to engage and learn from experts at UWI, apply analytical skills using our project data, and gain insights related to food security, climate change, and disaster resilience.” When we return, we plan to hold a two-day workshop to disseminate the knowledge gained from this training to our USP research students.”
He also stressed that the training would benefit the team and their research students, who are currently analyzing their own datasets. Furthermore, the team will return to the project sites to report on the research findings, which is an important step in the information dissemination process.
The USP team was also invited to attend meetings with project stakeholders and academic dissemination activities related to the project at the Caribbean Public Health Agency’s 67th Annual Health Research Conference, which was held in the Bahamas from April 27th to 29th, 2023.
The project began in February 2020 and is expected to be completed in May 2023.
