Innovative TPK: The Key to Stunting Prevention at the Grassroots
That morning, a middle-aged woman came with a smiling face to one of the Posyandu in West Amarasi Subdistrict, Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara Province. She looked very enthusiastic and eager to welcome the monthly weighing schedule. After greeting the people present one by one, Delcy, as she is usually called, was busy preparing for the activity.
Delcy is a member of the Family Assistance Team (TPK) in West Amarasi Subdistrict, Kupang District. She has been at the forefront of stunting prevention in the neighborhood for a year and a half by monitoring families at risk of stunting. "In the past, my first grandchild was stunted. That experience moved me to become a TPK," Delcy said on the sidelines of her activities preparing for Posyandu activities.
Delcy prepared campaign materials.
The Posyandu activity that day was special. Unusually, it was an opportunity for the TPK in the village to run the “One Egg Every Day” campaign. That week, Delcy and the other TPK members in her village would carry out the campaign in several Posyandu. "I am always enthusiastic every time I introduce the campaign song that we made for this campaign," Delcy said when asked what made her look excited that day.
“The One Egg Every Day” campaign is an initiative of TPKs in three subdistricts assisted by the PASTI (Partnership to Accelerate Stunting Reduction in Indonesia) program in Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara. PASTI is a partnership program between BKKBN, USAID, Tanoto Foundation, PT. Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (AMMAN), Bakti Barito Foundation, and PT. Bank Central Asia Tbk, and supported by Wahana Visi Indonesia as the main implementer and Yayasan Cipta as a sub-implementer. PASTI aims to contribute to the acceleration of stunting reduction and improvement of nutritional status in the government's priority provinces by 2026 in 4 provinces in Indonesia, namely Banten, East Java, West Kalimantan, and East Nusa Tenggara.
The campaign is a concrete follow-up after PASTI facilitated the TPK members in the targeted subdistricts to conduct problem mapping through a series of meetings and trainings. Through a series of activities and facilitation from PASTI, the TPK members were moved to do something to change the parenting behavior of parents to children. "Sometimes children can be given pocket money of up to 10,000 rupiah a day, but the fulfillment of nutrition is not clear. It's better to buy eggs already," Delcy explained the background of the “One Egg Every Day” campaign.
Delcy said that initially there were various ideas and suggestions for campaign media from TPK members. "But we finally chose to use songs. So that when they hear the song, parents can easily remember when doing activities," Delcy said. In addition, the song also uses two languages: Indonesian and Dawan, one of the languages spoken by the people of West Amarasi. "Because in the villages, the Dawan language is often more familiar," Delcy added.
The process of creating the song was short. At a meeting initiated by PASTI, TPK in each village of West Amarasi subdistrict were asked to compose a song campaigning for the key message of egg consumption. Afterwards, the song was presented and assessed to be agreed upon as the campaign song to be used by all TPK in Amarasi Barat sub-district.
Not just stopping at the song, with the support of PASTI, TPK in Amarasi Barat Subdistrict also made a video clip of the song. Representatives of each TPK in Amarasi Barat Subdistrict were involved as props in the video clip.
Delcy menjadi pemandu lagu kampanye.
For Delcy, the assistance from PASTI means a lot to her. Through this program, she finally feels empowered to carry out her duties as a stunting prevention catalyst in the village. Delcy admits that PASTI activities motivate her as a TPK member to do her job in innovative ways, such as the “One Egg Every Day” campaign. "So far, we have only used ordinary methods such as socialization. Even then, people would forget our message after returning home," Delcy said.
Yoseklis, a family planning counselor in Amarasi Barat Subdistrict, gave a similar statement. She likens the PASTI program to a supplement. "Maybe TPK has received various trainings from the government so far, but the PASTI activities make TPK stronger and more innovative in carrying out their duties," said Yos.
Yos as a campaigner.
This was proven when the One Egg Every Day campaign song from Amarasi Barat Subdistrict received appreciation from Regional Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Kupang District. "Our song is used as an example of innovative work to prevent and reduce stunting," Yos explained proudly.
Delcy and Yos practicing the campaign song.
Both Delcy and Yos are very enthusiastic about the PASTI program going forward. Delcy, for example, hopes that with PASTI they can continue to increase their capacity. "So that there is no more stunting like today," she hopes. Similar enthusiasm was also conveyed by Yos. "Thank you PASTI. We are very enthusiastic in seeing what else we can do in the future together in this PASTI program," he said.
Writer: A. Adintyo (Communication Officer PASTI)
