The National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) aims to improve the quality of the Toddler and Child Family Development (BKB) Program as an innovation to strengthen the prevention of stunting at the family level.
“Efforts to accelerate stunting reduction aim to help Indonesian children to grow and develop normally with emotional, social and, physical abilities that are ready to learn and able to innovate and compete at a global level,” Deputy for Family Welfare and Family Empowerment (KSPK) at the BKKBN, Nopian Andusti, noted in his statement on Wednesday.
Andusti said that in an effort to reduce stunting, the BKB has created a program in the form of a parenting class model through the refinement of the Guidebook for Counseling on the Elimination of Stunting Child Problems (BKB EMAS). The program targets to increase knowledge through models of family-based parenting in the community.
For the implementation, the BKKBN collaborates with the Tanoto Foundation, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), and the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), Andusti stated.
He affirmed that the presence of the BKB parenting class model aims to educate families regarding nutritional problems that can potentially cause stunting, thereby leading to weak and uncompetitive human resources.
“Therefore, specific nutritional interventions and sensitive nutrition must continue to be conducted, especially in the first one thousand days of life (HPK) of children starting from the beginning of conception or during 270 days of pregnancy and 730 days after birth,” he stated.
Tanoto Foundation’s Senior Technical Adviser of Early Childhood Education and Development, Widodo Suhartoyo, lauded the collaboration with the BKKBN, which has been committed to starting this innovation since early 2022.
Development of the BKB EMAS extension book has undergone revisions and a lengthy process to ensure quality. His side along with the BKKBN have also conducted a readability test on the learning model.
Suhartoyo noted the possibility for revision and try out for the book, develop e-learning, and train cadres to increase stunting reduction by families.
“This activity is a process to improve the quality of counseling guidebooks for cadres as well as material for parents’ learning in increasing knowledge and skills of parenting children during the one thousand HPK period,” he added.
Source: Antara News