How does the project work?

A Volunteer’s Roles and Responsibilities:

The Nutrition project allows a lot of independence and flexibility in regards to allowing the volunteer to choose which particular areas they have interests or requirements in, and enables them to shape the project in a direction that best suits them. The majority of the Nutrition volunteers reside in a local village where the project has a big presence, so volunteers must be willing to adapt to life within the village and be aware of the culture e.g. dressing appropriately.

Although we do not require volunteer to have any previous experience we do encourage volunteers to be independent and to show initiative on the project. For those volunteers who are less confident they may have the option to work alongside other Nutrition volunteers currently in country, but those who are comfortable within the project have the opportunity to work independently if they wish.

Although the project started in May 2014, the response and success has been immense and we encourage volunteers to not only continue previous volunteers work but to devise and implement their own mini projects e.g. “eating real challenge or corporate health programmes”. As some of the mini projects are brand new or yet to be established, volunteers must be willing to spend time preparing for these, with the support of local staff and will spend time in the Projects Abroad office creating presentations, workshops and lesson plans.

Local Communities – Health Screenings

The most effective way to tackle NCD’s is to work in unison with the local communities, through health and wellness outreach programmes, sustainable healthy food production programmes and creating income generating projects. Your role as a volunteer will include conducting vital screenings, covering a variety of health checks such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels and waist and hip measurements to determine the individuals risk of developing NCD’s. As a volunteer these screenings will allow you to collect current and accurate data within the community, and allow you to establish an individual programme based on the needs of that particular community.

These screenings are designed to target the four key modifiable behavioural risks factors (tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol) responsible for the metabolic and physiological changes that increase the risk of NCD’s.

In addition to these health checks, volunteers will set up a “wellness club” which consists of residents of that community being given the responsibility of ensuring the village sticks to the guidelines and tasks set by the volunteers once the volunteer has departed. This empowers the community to continue with the progress as well as offering constant support to those involved with the program.

Projects Abroad Volunteer preparing to measure blood glucose levels.

Projects Abroad Volunteer measuring blood glucose levels