Evaluation of Childhood Nutrition Projects in Western Australian Aboriginal Communities

Good childhood nutrition is the foundation to health and well-being throughout life.

In 2001 and 2002 the Department of Health and Ageing funded Childhood Nutrition Projects targeting disadvantaged communities. Nine Western Australian Aboriginal communities and two state-based programs received funding.

In 2003 Juli Coffin, Peter Shaw and Ann Larson from CUCRH won a competitive tender in partnership with Margaret Miller, Heather D’Antoine and Ray James of the Telethon Institute of Child Health Research.

Forums of project managers and other stakeholders were held in Broome and Geraldton. Participants took the opportunity to tell the stories of their projects and to discuss ways to measure the process and impact of the projects in ways that were meaningful to them. Site visits were conducted for all nine sites with an Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal team member.

Every project had some successes and there were significant improvements in:

• child and community nutrition awareness and attitudes,
• nutritious food access at schools, and
• school attendance and attention in class.

Most projects provided healthy school meals and classroom based nutrition education and all of these were effective. In communities where poor child nutrition is evident but not an established community priority, school-initiated activities are a starting point for engaging the community.

Representatives from the North West Communities and members of the
evaluation team at the Broome Forum
Photo -- Irene Haywood
 

The success of other strategies depended on community context and readiness for nutrition action, the extent the projects incorporated Aboriginal development and leadership, and flexibility to respond to changing needs.

The majority of projects lasted only two or three years and most needed more time to achieve community engagement and sustainability.

Finally, no matter how successful projects in very small communities were, they cannot be sustained without continued funding for staff.

The final report can be downloaded in PDF format here (297KB).