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Functionality of Community – led Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions in disaster‑affected contexts in Malawi

This mixed-methods study of Community Led Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions in three disaster-prone districts of Malawi reveals that while knowledge transfer enabled over 60% of households to sustain practices post-project, long-term continuity ultimately depends on addressing resource constraints, labor intensity, and the strength of community committees through localized resilience strategies.

Original authors: William Kholongo

Published 2026-06-26

📖 4 min read☕ Coffee break read

CC BY 4.0

Original authors: William Kholongo

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

Imagine a community in Malawi trying to teach parents how to cook the best, most nutritious meals for their babies using only what they can find in their own gardens and local markets. This is the heart of the Community-Led Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions (CCFLS). Think of these sessions as a "cooking and care club" where neighbors gather to learn, share, and support each other in keeping their children healthy, especially when storms, floods, or droughts hit.

This research paper is like a report card on what happened after the outside helpers (the project team) packed up their bags and left. Did the parents keep cooking those special meals, or did they stop?

Here is the story the paper tells, broken down simply:

The Big Picture: Who Kept the Flame Alive?

The researchers looked at 674 families in three different districts: Chiradzulu, Phalombe, and Thyolo. They wanted to see who kept the "cooking club" going on their own.

The Overall Score: About 6 out of 10 families (60.4%) kept doing the healthy feeding practices.
The Drop-off: About 4 out of 10 families (39.6%) stopped.

But just like weather varies from town to town, the results were very different depending on where you looked:

Chiradzulu (The Champions): This district was the most successful. 72% of families kept going. It was like a garden that had deep roots and strong fences.
Phalombe (The Strugglers): About 58% kept going. They faced some tough storms.
Thyolo (The Most Vulnerable): Only 50% kept going. Half the families stopped, which is like a boat that lost half its crew.

Why Did Some Succeed While Others Stopped?

The paper uses a "recipe" analogy to explain why some families kept cooking and others didn't.

1. The Secret Ingredient: Knowledge

Almost 9 out of 10 families who kept going said, "We learned how to do it, and we remembered."

The Metaphor: Imagine someone teaching you how to bake bread. If you truly understand the recipe, you can bake it even if the teacher leaves. This was the most common reason for success everywhere.

2. The Support System: The Village Team

Success wasn't just about knowing the recipe; it was about having a team.

Household Support: In Chiradzulu, families had strong support from their own homes (like a husband helping chop vegetables). In Thyolo, this support was weaker.
Community Committees: Think of these as the "club captains" who keep everyone motivated. Chiradzulu had strong captains; Thyolo's captains were less active.
The "Extension" Lifeline: This is like having a phone number to call an expert if you get stuck. In Phalombe, families relied heavily on these experts. When the experts weren't there, it was harder to keep going.

3. The Roadblocks: Why Families Quit

For the families who stopped, the paper found four main reasons, like four different potholes on the road:

Running Out of Supplies (The biggest pothole): 52% of those who quit said they just didn't have the ingredients or money. This was a huge problem in Phalombe. It's like trying to bake bread when you have no flour.
No Expert Help: 42% said they felt lost without technical advice. This was a major issue in Thyolo.
Too Tired (Labor Intensity): 29% said they were just too busy or exhausted to do the extra work. This was especially true in Thyolo.
"Is it worth it?": 20% simply didn't see the benefit. They thought, "Why bother?" This happened everywhere, but it wasn't the main reason for stopping.

The Takeaway: One Size Does Not Fit All

The paper concludes that you can't use the same strategy for every district. It's like trying to fix three different broken cars with the same tool; it won't work.

For Chiradzulu: The engine is running well. The goal is to keep the strong community teams and family support systems healthy.
For Phalombe: The car is out of gas. They need help getting resources (food, money, seeds) so they aren't stuck.
For Thyolo: The car has a broken steering wheel. They need better expert support (extension services) and ways to make the work less tiring.

The Bottom Line:
Teaching people how to feed their children is great, but it's not enough on its own. To make sure these healthy habits last after a project ends, you also need to make sure families have the ingredients (resources), the tools (technical support), and the energy (less labor burden) to keep going. Without these, even the best recipe will be forgotten.

Technical Summary: Functionality of Community-led Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions in Disaster-Affected Contexts in Malawi

Problem Statement
Malawi faces an escalating frequency and severity of natural disasters, including floods, droughts, and cyclones (e.g., Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Freddy), which disproportionately impact child survival and development. These shocks undermine household food security, exacerbate chronic malnutrition (affecting 40.9% of children under five), and disrupt essential services. While Community-Led Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions (CCFLS) have proven effective in improving infant and young child feeding practices and dietary diversity during project cycles, their sustainability after external support ends remains uncertain. The core problem addressed is the lack of evidence regarding the household-level determinants that drive the continuity or discontinuity of CCFLS practices in disaster-prone districts, specifically within the context of Malawi's National Resilience Strategy.

Methodology
The study employed a mixed-methods design across three southern Malawi districts: Chiradzulu, Phalombe, and Thyolo. The research was anchored in OECD-DAC evaluation criteria to assess relevance, effectiveness, sustainability, and impact.

Quantitative Component: A household survey was conducted with 674 caregivers (primarily women of reproductive age with children under five) who had previously received DREAMS interventions (cash, agriculture, nutrition, or protection). The sample was drawn from 12 Group Village Headmen (GVHs) across six Traditional Authorities. Data were collected via KOBO Toolbox on tablets.
Qualitative Component: The study included 43 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with CARE staff, government officials, and community leaders, alongside 29 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) disaggregated by gender and age.
Analysis: Quantitative data were analyzed using district-level cross-tabulations and Chi-Square tests to determine statistical significance of differences. Qualitative data were thematically coded and triangulated with survey findings to provide contextual depth.

Key Results
The study found that 60.4% of households sustained CCFLS practices after project support ended, while 39.6% discontinued them. Significant geographic disparities were observed:

Continuity Rates: Chiradzulu demonstrated the highest continuity (72.0%), followed by Phalombe (58.2%), and Thyolo (50.3%). These differences were statistically significant ( $\chi^2 \approx 19.4, p < 0.001$ ).
Enabling Factors: Knowledge and skills gained were the most consistent enabler, cited by 89.7% of sustaining households across all districts. However, structural factors varied significantly:
- Chiradzulu: Benefited from strong household support (72.7%) and active community committees (61.2%).
- Phalombe: Households relied more heavily on extension services (47.8%) but faced the highest resource scarcity (58.8%).
- Thyolo: Reported the weakest household support (56.4%) and committee presence (45.7%), alongside the highest reports of weak technical support (48.4%) and labor intensity (34.4%).
Barriers to Continuity: Among discontinuing households, the primary barriers were lack of resources (52.5%), weak technical support (42.2%), labor intensity (29.5%), and low perceived benefit (20.1%). District-specific vulnerabilities were evident: Phalombe was most affected by resource scarcity, while Thyolo was most hindered by institutional gaps and labor constraints.

Key Contributions
The paper contributes empirical evidence that knowledge transfer alone is insufficient for the long-term sustainability of nutrition interventions in disaster-affected settings. It identifies that continuity is heavily dependent on localized social and institutional structures. Specifically, the study validates that:

Contextual Variance: Sustainability is not uniform; it is shaped by district-specific vulnerabilities (e.g., resource scarcity vs. institutional weakness).
Structural Enablers: Strong community committees and household support structures are critical predictors of continuity, often outweighing the impact of extension services in certain contexts.
Disaster Resilience: The study highlights how disaster shocks erode the continuity of community-based interventions, necessitating resilience-oriented programming that integrates nutrition with livelihood and disaster risk reduction strategies.

Significance and Claims
The authors claim that the findings underscore the necessity of moving beyond a "one size fits all" approach in resilience programming. The study asserts that for CCFLS practices to be sustained beyond project cycles, interventions must be tailored to local contexts:

In districts with strong community structures (like Chiradzulu), programming should prioritize sustaining these existing social assets.
In resource-constrained districts (like Phalombe), interventions must address livelihood support and access to affordable inputs.
In districts with institutional gaps (like Thyolo), programming must focus on reinforcing technical support systems and reducing household labor burdens.

The paper concludes that aligning nutrition interventions with Malawi's National Resilience Strategy (2018–2030) requires integrating knowledge transfer with targeted institutional and community reinforcement to ensure that households can maintain healthy feeding practices despite recurrent disaster shocks.