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Community driven solutions through ‘positive deviance approach’.

Positive deviance (PD) is a unique approach to global health that we are utilizing in our Guatemala Casas Maternas program, which is generously funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities.

A positive deviance analysis focuses on those in a community who have found solutions to a specific problem using the same resources as their peers. The positive deviance method was first used by Save the Children in Vietnam in the 1970s, and has since been successfully implemented by organizations around the world to address problems such as primary school retention rates and neo-natal mortality and morbidity.

The ‘positive deviance’ identification process

Curamericas Global has successfully used positive deviance to reduce malnutrition rates in our project communities in Guatemala. To use the positive deviance method, we first identify the mothers of well-nourished children. These mothers are  positive deviants because they deviate from the norm of undernourished children in a positive manner. We then interview these mothers to discover what they are doing to ensure their children’s nutrition. After that we compare them with other families in the community that are not. Typically, these mothers have found some way to incorporate eggs, carrots, greens, and vegetable oil into their children’s daily meals.

Implementation and success

We use this information to create menus of healthy, balanced meals with locally available and affordable foods. Our Community Facilitators and Care Group provide cooking lessons and information about the menus during regular visits to the communities. Community members typically embrace the menus because they are local, familiar and affordable. Using this method, Curamericas Global has reduced the rate of underweight children from 25% to 13% in our project communities.

Our PD intervention in Guatemala is enhanced by technical support from Food for the Hungry volunteers, who teach families how to create their own family gardens and optimize egg production from chickens. key to the success of this approach is the incorporation of easily accessible, familiar, and affordable foods in an effective manner.

Positive deviance successfully reduced childhood malnutrition in 41 countries. Positive deviance is the best course for communities where more than 30% of children under 5 years old are underweight. For instance, where there is relative food security, and where homes are close to each other.

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Written by Britnae Purdy, Curamericas Global Intern

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