Pillar 1: Providing IYCF and malnutrition services for 74,400 vulnerable beneficiaries residing in Baabda, El Metn, Akkar, Keserwan, Saida, Beirut, Baalbeck and Tripoli, sensitizing the community on optimal nutrition practices and supporting 28 PHCs to provide IYCF and malnutrition services and ensuring access of 3000 school-aged children to nutritious food through provision of healthy snacks in 4 schools in Tripoli and Akkar This project involves life-saving interventions, including infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and malnutrition activities, responding to the needs of the most vulnerable communities residing in Lebanon, with a focus on pregnant, lactating women (PLW) and children under five. The proposed activities align with the nutrition sector’s priorities, building on existing capacities and experiences and complementing ongoing projects implemented by IOCC and others. The project activities will be implemented in close coordination with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Infant and Young Child National Committee, UNICEF, and other nutrition implementing partners. 
To complement these interventions, IOCC, in close coordination with the education sector, will also work  on ensuring access of vulnerable school-aged children to nutritious food items to improve their nutrition intake and increase attendance to schools. 

Through this project, IOCC will provide malnutrition prevention and treatment services to the most vulnerable population in Lebanon, thus decreasing risks of morbidity and mortality. The proposed interventions are to:
- Provide skilled nutrition counselling on optimal maternal nutrition and IYCF, targeting 24,000 PLW and the caretakers of children aged below 23 months at the community, primary health care (PHC), and hospital levels
- Provide awareness raising activities on optimal maternal nutrition and IYCF to 30,000 PLW, caregivers of children under 23 months, and the community at large
- Establish 10 mother support groups to empower the community and encourage positive behavior change in IYCF practices
- Refer the community to available IYCF services and follow up on service provision
- Monitor, follow up on, and address violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and enforce law 47/2008
- Provide capacity building sessions to organizations providing breastmilk substitutes to ensure safe provision of artificial feeding support, in line with national and international recommendations
- Provide 10,000 PLW and children 6-59 months with micronutrient supplements, including multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS), micronutrient powder (MNP), or other nutritional supplements
- Screen for acute malnutrition at the community level and scale up the family Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) approach, strengthening referrals to primary health care centers (PHCCs) for screening and treatment of malnutrition 
- Support PHCCs to provide malnutrition services through on-the-job coaching and guidance, and subsidize malnutrition treatment consultations and transportation for acute malnutrition cases 
- Cover the cost of malnutrition treatment services at the hospital level
- Conduct awareness sessions to disseminate key messages related to protection and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and introduce IOCC’s complaint and feedback mechanism to beneficiaries
-Provision of healthy snacks to vulnerable school-aged children (aged 3-12 years old) attending schools in Tripoli and Akkar