Elevating Snacking Habits: The Sarr Kyi Healthy Choice Campaign
In the bustling streets of Shwe Pyi Thar, a campaign is steering the snacking choices of young working women. The Sarr Kyi Campaign, which translates as "Try it", is a response to the increasing demand for readily available snacks that boost work productivity and overall well-being.
Collaborating with Save The Children, this campaign seeks to educate and empower young working women to make healthier snack choices. The first step was to conduct a comprehensive food map of snack shops in Shwe Pyi Thar Wards 14, 15, 19, and 20. Working with a registered dietitian nutritionist, five distinct categories were designed to help workers identify the health advantages of their snack choices:
Arr Shi foods: Rich in nutrients. Promote healthy bodies and muscle strength for physical work.
Lan Ei foods: Contain nutrients to improve brain function, and enhance mental alertness at work.
Kwat-ti foods: Diverse in nutrients crucial to overall health and well-being.
Hti Mi foods: Abundant in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory components. Great for gut health and preventing disease.
Hla Ei foods: Packed with nutrients for the entire body. Especially good for healthy hair, nails, and skin.
The campaign engages local vendors, 45 of whom were selected from the initial food mapping exercise. On joining the campaign, vendors receive campaign T-shirts, posters, and pamphlets to advertise healthy choice availability and to educate customers. Food stickers are given out with each purchase, and loyalty cards incentivize healthy choices. Vendors are also incentivized and refunded costs for every completed loyalty card. They also receive training on how and why to include healthy snacks on their menus.
The working women of Shwe Pyi Tarr are among the most vulnerable in Myanmar’s capital. Many are migrants often living alone, away from home and the support of their family. By empowering them to make informed decisions about what food to eat to stay healthy, Sarr Kyi increases the resilience of this very vulnerable group.
