Eight months after giving birth to her son, Félicitée Dusabeyezu was an unhappy mother. She was troubled by a sickly child, who could not eat more than a spoon of beans.

"Instead of gaining weight like other kids, he lost it every day,” she says, "and when I looked at him, I burst into tears, not knowing the cause of his ill health.”

Dusabeyezu, 40, is a resident of Nyamagabe District, where nearly 52 per cent of children were reported to be stunted in 2015. At the time, the national rate stood at 38 per cent, before reducing to 33 per cent in 2020.

Fortunately, though, her son was born in June 2021 at a time the district had embarked on a rigorous campaign to eradicate stunting.

Faced with one of the highest rates in Rwanda, Nyamagabe District officials came up with a model they call parrainage (French for sponsorship), where most of the local authorities and private sector players became guardians of families with malnourished children.

"Even the district mayor had a child to take care of,” says Jeanne Uwizeye, the head of Ngara Health Centre in Mbazi Sector, where Dusabeyezu lives.

"Parrainage has been the most impactful intervention so far and is a model that makes the parents of undernourished children better sensitized on the issue of stunting.”

The guardians volunteered to help teach the vulnerable households how to prepare a balanced diet. In some cases, they also supported the households to afford protein-rich foods and health insurance.

They raised over Rwf500,000 to buy eggs and milk for the children.

Jose Kampirwa, a hygiene and sanitation officer at the health centre, became the guardian of Dusabeyezu’s son when he was hospitalised.

Kampirwa says Dusabeyuze and her husband could afford some protein-rich foods like eggs and milk but were not as good at preparing a balanced diet.

She made sure the child got a balanced diet for the one month he was hospitalised and she continues to follow up on his health.

"Now, he’s a healthy child; he plays with other kids and has more appetite than ever,” says a smiling Dusabeyezu.

She says when Dusabeyezu’s son turns three, he will be enrolled in a local Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre.

At the start of the sponsorship model, Ngara Health Centre treated over 30 malnourished children every month. Thanks to the initiative, the health centre now receives less than five children per month, says Uwizeye, who also became a guardian.

By 2020, Nyamagabe District had reduced the stunting rate by over 18 percentage points, to 33 per cent.

Through a World Bank-funded project, Dusabeyezu every month receives Shisha Kibondo, a highly nutritious porridge flour offered to pregnant mothers and young children from vulnerable families.

Launched in 2017, the project supports the government’s efforts to reduce the stunting rate to 19 per cent in 2024.

"We have put in place different measures to address stunting, such as increasing vegetable gardens in each household, and making sure that every child takes the Shisha Kibondo porridge,” says Agnes Uwamariya, the district vice mayor for social affairs.

She adds she’s confident Nyamagabe will reach the targeted 19 per cent in 2024.