Engaging Adolescents in Indonesia; Dancing in Brooklyn
From time to time, The Flow will shine a spotlight on one of our Associates and their work with Rain Barrel. In our first profile, we had a conversation with Teresa Stuart Guida (Tess).
By Ellen Weiss
In 2018 and 2019, Tess and her Rain Barrel team worked with UNICEF and the Indonesian Government on Aksi Bergizi (Nutritious Action), a project to encourage better nutrition and daily physical activity among teenagers in junior and senior high school. The strategy is expected to reduce the incidence of anemia, overweight and obesity in adolescents and reduce non-communicable diseases in the country. The Government is delighted with the project and has scaled it up country-wide in 2021.
Tess (middle) with adolescent girls promoting healthy eating and physical activity, 2018
Tess, whose hometown is Los Baños in the Philippines, holds a BS in home technology with a major in nutrition education, and an MS and PhD in development communication.
The Flow: Tess, what did you do before you joined UNICEF in the Philippines?
Tess: I taught at the University of the Philippines, and I also had the chance to work on a terrific government project. To promote the latest technologies in agriculture and the environment, I visited all regions of the country and set up small-format radio stations as communication hubs in isolated communities. We wanted to provide information that the local people needed, understood and appreciated – and we achieved that by training members of the local population – village captains, religious leaders, representatives of farmers’ associations, mothers’ groups, youth groups, teachers and local agriculture and health service providers – to be broadcasters, information sources and researchers.
I found this kind of work exciting and rewarding. It was a turning point in my career. The work with the community radio stations took me out of academia into the real world. When I went back to teaching, I wrote about this experience, discussed it with my colleagues and encouraged my students to carry out research in this area.
Later, while I was serving as Director of Extension at the University, UNICEF recruited me to run its communications program in Manila. It was fate.
This was the beginning of many fulfilling years of work with UNICEF – first in Manila, then Thailand and the South Asia region, covering eight countries – and later at UNICEF Headquarters in New York, where I was assigned to the Communication for Development (C4D) team working on a global guidance strategy for the future.
“....UNICEF recruited me to run its communications program in Manila.
It was fate.”
After my retirement, I started consulting in the area of social and behaviour change communication, promoting the rights and well-being of children. It’s been very fulfilling and, well, a lot of fun!
The Flow: Tess, what was exciting about the Indonesia project?
Tess: Aksi Bergizi was a pioneering project on nutrition, with three interdependent interventions - an evidence-based strategy; a weekly education session on nutrition for adolescents at the junior and senior levels of secondary schools; and finally, a weekly intake of iron tablets by the students to address anemia, which is prevalent in both girls and boys.
Tess and RBC team at the launch of Aksi Bergizi, Klaten District, 2018
The strategy can become a global model for adolescent nutrition programming. There is a growing recognition of the need to pay attention to the second decade of life, when many adolescent girls are preparing for motherhood. And not just for girls. Boys also need to know how to take care of their health to ensure that their future family will be healthy. The project addressed a dilemma faced by adolescents: undernutrition and overnutrition. Many adolescent girls suffer from anemia, but obesity and overweight, which are drivers of cancer, diabetes and heart disease later in life, also occur at a higher rate among this age group.
In 2020, UNICEF carried out an evaluation of the project that showed positive results. So the Government of Indonesia subsequently decided to package the three components and scale up Aksi Bergizi nationwide. This was a landmark achievement for Rain Barrel Communications.
Tess with RBC and UNICEF Team Aksi Bergizi giving a courtesy call on Director-General of Nutrition, Ministry of Health (Indonesia), 2018
The Flow: What would you say was the most interesting part of this project?
Tess: The opportunity to meet and learn from the students themselves. They were vibrant, brimming with ideas and excitement about their lives. Our team interacted with boys and girls in discussion groups of ten. We had the privilege of observing their food routines, where they went for snacks and meals, what foods they chose.
We also watched them exercise and play sports. It was interesting to see these Indonesian boys and girls freely mixing together and exchanging ideas. We asked them what they like to eat at mealtimes; who influenced their food choices; what kinds of physical activities they were doing alone or in groups; what gadgets they used; what were their favorite social media apps; and what information they liked to share. All this input contributed to the formulation of the strategy.
Tess and Rain Barrel colleagues consulting consulted with Indonesian adolescent girls in a junior high school
It was fascinating to find out how tech-savvy the students were in using social media and the Internet, and we built on their active use of the different platforms. Some students said they didn’t like Facebook because it is identified with the older generation; they preferred Line, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube. I learned a thing or two from them, including tips and tricks in maneuvering some apps in my mobile phone!
I suggested that the students be promoters of change in their schools, families and communities by posting images of nutrition and physical activities they were engaged in, whether in or out of school, that could be seen by students at other schools. They went for the idea. Right now, if you Google Aksi Bergizi, or search it on YouTube, you will see hundreds of posts.
The Flow: You must be so proud of this.
Tess: Yes! In fact, it was because of those inspiring social media posts that the Government saw how tremendous the impact of the project had been.
It was the same everywhere; there was such excitement. For example, if they decided to have a cooking or a school gardening contest, they were keen to win. When the ideas came from the students themselves instead of being assigned, there was much more engagement and buy-in.
I learned a lot from these young people. Every country I go to, I take back much more than I give.
“I learned a lot from these young people. Every country I go to, I take back much more than I give. ”
The Flow: What's your vision for how Indonesia might be changed by this project?
Tess: Over time, we hope to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition, which affects a lot of families. Indonesia has one of the highest rates of under-five child stunting and wasting in the region. We envision the children and adolescents who practice and promote Aksi Bergizi to become role models for a new generation of responsible, well-informed and nurturing parents, and to ensure that young women, as future mothers, will have healthy pregnancies, give birth to healthy babies and raise strong, well-nourished, and resilient children who grow up to become productive citizens contributing to the country's social and economic development.
The Flow: That's a pretty grand vision!
Tess: I guess I have a UNICEF mentality. I remind myself to keep an eye on the ball – the results we envision of social and behaviour change. The Aksi Bergizi project was intended to advance such change through nutritional awareness, contributing to a better future for children and their families that will impact the country’s advancement as a whole.
The Flow: While you’ve been doing all this amazing work, you also had a life.
Tess: My first husband, Rollie, passed away in 1998, at a young age, when I was working for UNICEF in Manila. We had four kids, and now have four grandchildren.
Tess and Sal ballroom dancing, Queens, NY, 2018
Everyone has some kind of passion. Mine was ballroom dancing. While I was working at UNICEF Headquarters, I met my second husband, Sal, then a newly widowed Italian-American, at a dance. He didn't know how to dance, but we started talking and he said, “Give me a year and I will learn how to dance ballroom with you.” He bought a set of instructional DVDs. After a year he could dance with me the foxtrot, rhumba, cha-cha, boogie, hustle, waltz and tango.
When I was getting ready to retire to the Philippines, Sal said, “You're not going home, you're staying with me.” He proposed to me on the 12th anniversary of my late husband's death. Silently, I asked my late husband, is this the special someone you promised to send me in a dream?
Tess and Sal live in Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. They are still dancing.