Fairfield Refugee Nutrition Project
Sydney South-West Area Health Service have developed the Nutrition Education Program, a free 6-session group program that provides education on healthy eating to refugee communities. It is a key component of the Fairfield Refugee Nutrition Project. Trained Bilingual Community Educators assist Community Dieticians to run the program. Together they provide a range of activities including:
- Cooking classes focussed on healthy traditional styles of cooking;
- Nutrition classes to develop knowledge on healthy eating, food budgeting, personal hygiene, food storage and physical exercise;
- Supermarket tours to increase food literacy and identification with new foods; and
- A clinical dietetic service tailored to the needs identified in group sessions.
The Fairfield Refugee Nutrition Project: Resource and Bilingual Community Educator Training Manual is the program’s supporting document. It provides suggested lesson plans including key messages, activities and evaluation methods. The package is designed to be simple to use and uses graphics where possible, to assist facilitators working with people with limited literacy. While the program was designed to meet the needs of specific refugee communities living in Fairfield, the content is designed to be flexible enough to meet the needs of most refugee groups. Facilitators can select the sections that are relevant to their group as each of the 10 topics can be delivered as a stand-alone session.
Community groups, organisations and other interested parties are welcome to make use of the manual when running groups, with appropriate acknowledgement. A nutritionist, dietician or other health professional is required to co-facilitate groups.
The Manual can be downloaded in full or by section at
http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/sswahs/refugee/Nutrition_edu.html
For more information about the project or to organise session for your group, please contact their Community Dietician on 8778 0770, or via email to refugeehealth@sswahs.nsw.gov.au