Stories
September 8, 2025 • 3 min read
In Degua Temben district, Tigray region, northern Ethiopia, communities continue to face a growing burden of child malnutrition due to the residual effects of conflict, drought, and limited access to basic services. GOAL, in partnership with CRS and funded by the U.S. government, responds to this crisis through a comprehensive emergency nutrition response combining therapeutic and supplementary feeding with ongoing community nutrition mobilization and education. Mothers like Kidan Gebre Hiwot are learning how to identify malnutrition, access services and applying this knowledge to improve their children’s health.
The recent conflict in northern Ethiopia, coupled with consecutive failed harvests caused by insufficient rainfall, has had a devastating impact on the Tigray region. These overlapping crises have severely undermined food security and restricted access to essential social services, leaving communities increasingly vulnerable to further hardship. In rural districts like Degua Temben, children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are particularly vulnerable, with rising rates of acute malnutrition. Alongside food shortages, limited awareness of nutrition and feeding practices exacerbates the crisis. Many caregivers are unable to identify early signs of malnutrition or use locally available food effectively. To address these challenges, GOAL has adopted a dual approach, providing emergency nutritional support while building long-term community capacity through education and training.
Understanding the Challenge
In Degua Temben, food insecurity alone does not explain the high rates of child malnutrition. Many mothers and caregivers lack practical knowledge about how to diversify diets and prepare nutritious meals using locally available ingredients.
“We regularly educate lactating mothers and community members about the root causes of malnutrition,” says Birtukan Abreha, GOAL’s Health and Nutrition Officer in Degua Temben. “Some malnutrition cases indeed originate from the absence of adequate food packed with essential nutrients, but this is not the entire story. I would say a significant number of cases also come from lack of nutritional knowledge by mothers and caretakers. That is why we are focusing on educating the community as much as the nutrition food distribution and follow-up work.”
GOAL’s Integrated Nutrition Response
Through the Joint Emergency Operation Programme (JEOP), GOAL addresses acute malnutrition holistically. In addition to distributing therapeutic and supplementary food, the project team conducts regular refresher training for health professionals and offers community-based education to improve awareness of nutrition. These sessions help caregivers understand how to feed children according to their age and nutritional needs and encourage healthy feeding behaviours that can prevent malnutrition before it starts. By strengthening both the health system and community knowledge, GOAL helps reduce dependency and supports lasting change.
Stories of Change and Sustainable Progress
For Kidan Gebre Hiwot, a 28-year-old mother from Debre Mizan, knowledge was the turning point. Her one-year-old son, Abreha, showed signs of illness that she didn’t recognize as malnutrition. “I didn’t know this could happen. I thought it was a disease. I regularly came here, attended the nutrition education, and provided the therapeutic food as recommended by the GOAL and health centre staff, and in a few weeks, he showed progress,” Kidan shares. As her son recovered, Kidan continued attending health education sessions and remains committed to improving her family’s wellbeing.
At the local level, health professionals recognise the long-term benefits of integrating treatment with health and nutrition education. Hileselase Gebremedhin, Director of Alasa Health Centre, explains: “We are grateful to GOAL’s support through JEOP. We are collaboratively saving lives. In addition to the therapeutic and supplementary food distribution, GOAL provided us with various forms of support, including materials, technical assistance, and refresher training for healthcare providers. We highly appreciated the long-term solutions because we know educating the community about nutrition and empowering the health professionals with the tools will bring a sustainable impact. We hope we will see the impact in years to come, where our community becomes free of malnutrition cases.”
