Mamans Lumières give children a fair chance

Despite the very fertile soil, Burundi has the highest proportion of chronically malnourished children in the world. With the Maman Lumière programme, UNICEF enlists role model mothers to combat malnutrition. From 2021, Van den Bosch is supporting this promising project in Burundi, giving more and more children the opportunity to grow up in good health.

In Burundi, 1.2 million children under the age of five are chronically malnourished. The majority of Burundian people live in the self-sufficient rural region, yet the daily meal of Burundian families often consists only of beans. Many mothers have never learned about the importance of vitamins and minerals for their own health and that of their children.

Combating malnutrition
With the Maman Lumière programme, UNICEF enlists role model mothers to combat malnutrition. It does so by raising their awareness of nutrition, providing them with seeds to plant nutrient-rich vegetable gardens, and teaching them skills that can be shared with local mothers. The ‘Light Mothers’ – Mamans Lumières – also learn  to teach other mothers how to prepare delicious and healthy meals with local produce by organising a cookery workshop. In addition, UNICEF trains role model mothers to recognise malnutrition in children and when they need to refer a child to a health centre.

Supporting Mamans Lumierès
We started supporting this important development project in 2021, as an addition to our support for Plastic Bricks in Ivory Coast. CEO Rico Daandels explains: "As a logistics service provider, we operate the transport of raw materials in Europe, but also in Africa, where food transport forms a large part of our activities. Issues such as malnutrition and children's rights are important to us. We want to fulfil our social responsibility by making a meaningful contribution to tackling malnutrition and supporting the Mamans Lumières."

Objectives
Through the Maman Lumière project UNICEF aims to make a difference for children in Burundi. Examples of the objectives:

• 200 Mamans Lumières receive information on healthy nutrition and training on transferring this knowledge to other mothers.
• The Mamans Lumières organise over 1,300 cookery workshops on nutritious meals and over 1,300 sessions in which children are screened for malnutrition.
• The Mamans Lumières receive seeds for a vegetable garden, enabling them to grow healthy crops.
• Thanks to Maman Lumière, UNICEF can ensure that over 46,000 children up to 5 years old receive healthy food.

“I got the opportunity to go to school a little longer than most women in my area. Now I give other mothers advice on how to ensure that their children grow up healthy." Marie Chantal, 34 (Maman Lumière) 

Read more
Read more about Maman Lumière on the UNICEF website. In addition, we have been supporting the innovative Plastic Bricks project in Ivory Coast since 2019.