As a development organization promoting child protection, Gugah Nurani Indonesia supports the government's efforts to address the problem of stunting in Indonesia.

Surabaya Wonokusumo CDP has made efforts to reduce stunting in children under five years of age through strengthening mothers of toddlers, pregnant women, and health cadres in the Semampir District area, Surabaya, from April 2022 to March 2023. The activities started with coordination meetings, training for cadres, outreach to mothers under five and pregnant women, and making information and educational media through television, monitoring, and program replication.

Several challenges were faced by the series of stunting programs, starting from the licensing process and data collection for pre-stunted children at the Health Office. Another challenge comes from the community, which compares the provision of ready-to-eat food from the city government with ingredients from Gugah Nurani Indonesia, which must be cooked by themselves. When weighing toddlers and pregnant women at the Health Center, some mothers are absent because pregnant women feel tired (the average gestational age is in the third trimester), and other activities cannot be left behind. So that a lot of incomplete weighing data.

However, there have been not a few successes in this effort, namely good support, and cooperation from all stakeholders, including the academic team from the Faculty of Public Health, Airlangga University, the sub-district head, the village head, and the director of the health center in the Semampir sub-district. Good cooperation also came from health cadres, vegetable vendors, mothers of toddlers, and pregnant women. Finally, at the end of the project, the program replication process was also carried out, and support for making the MoU by the Surabaya City government and support from the Head of the Surabaya City Family Welfare Movement (PKK) advocacy team.

Replication of the stunting reduction program was carried out in the Kenjeran District, which is a neighboring area of the Semampir District. Gugah Nurani Indonesia coordinated with the Surabaya City Family Welfare Movement team, Development Planning Agency at Sub-National Level, Legal Department, Women Empowerment And Child Protection Office, Regional Secretary, and several related parties. Through the MoU or collaboration between the Surabaya City Government and Gugah Nurani Indonesia, it is hoped that it will become a legal umbrella in a more potent synergy to implement programs related to child protection and community empowerment in the City of Surabaya.

The final results of monitoring pre-stunted toddlers after receiving intervention from Gugah Nurani Indonesia showed that out of 129 children under five, there was 58% weight gain in 75 children under five who were intervened by providing food ingredients, meanwhile, for program interventions for pregnant women in 5 sub-districts of Kec. Semampir, Surabaya, with 68 people from 5 sub-districts (Wonokusumo, Ujung, Pegirian, Sidotopo, and Ampel), showed that 31% of pregnant women had increased nutrition. However, some did not increase because some data was incomplete, so the effectiveness of the intervention could not be measured validly, as well as the possibility that there was an error during measurement due to excessive weight gain.

In this effort to reduce stunting, of course, Gugah Nurani Indonesia places great emphasis on efforts for active participation from the community itself as well as full support from the government and relevant stakeholders so that they understand the background of the problem, move to deal with it and enjoy the results together so that children grow and develop healthily. Both physically and mentally.



Written by Cicik Sri Rejeki, S.Pd 
Surabaya CDP Manager