Laos: Nutritious Entertainment

"...Ponyo and her neighbors are engrossed in a soap opera about a family just like theirs who live in a typical village just like theirs. In fact, the actors are Lao villagers, just like them..."

This video highlights the potential of educational entertainment (edutainment) to address food security and early childhood development. In Laos, where half of all children are undernourished and stunting levels for children under five years of age are as high as 61% in some provinces, a soap opera hopes to promote healthy eating habits and dietary change. The programme was developed through a partnership between the Laotian Government and the United Nations (UN)'s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to counter malnutrition and stunting in Laotian children.

The video begins by introducing the viewer to a remote village in northern Laos, where the only TV set belongs to the Chief. On this day, the entire village has gathered to watch the edutainment series, which features information about nutrition, especially for mothers and children. (For example, it exposes the problem of children being fed sticky rice before their bodies can digest it and the fact that beans make a good alternative to animal protein. The field-supportive project provides each family with bean seeds and advice on how to grow them.) By encouraging viewers to copy the behaviours seen in the show, the series is both teaching viewers about proper nutrition and fighting early childhood malnutrition.

IFAD says: "Improving women's nutrition is critical to breaking the intergenerational cycle. This can be done in part by providing training and building awareness around nutrition. Communities most prone to undernutrition live in upland areas where household income mostly comes from agriculture and non-timber forest product extraction."