The Nutrition Education Program

Links:
Project description
Resources on Refugee Nutrition

The Nutrition Education Program is 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 our Community Dietician 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.

Referrals can be made directly to our Community Dietician.

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

Nutrition Education Program Manual Contents:
Bad Foods and Better Alternatives
Food Experiences in Australia
Food Literacy and Sampling
Food Storage and Safety
Lunchbox Workshop
Cooking Traditional Foods in Australia
Food Groups
Food Pyramid
Group Cooking
Supermarket Tour

This project is funded by the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) as a part of its Communities for Children Initiative, under the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy, and facilitated by The Smith Family.

For more information about the project or to organise session for your group, please contact our Community Dietician: 8778 0770, refugeehealth@sswahs.nsw.gov.au