Background: Food security is a key determinant for achieving health equity. Food insecurity contributes to growth faltering and anaemia, which are prevalent in many remote Indigenous communities. Addressing food insecurity is complex and often focuses narrowly on food supply, rather than access. Access is dependent on several factors associated with social health determinants. This project was undertaken in a remote NT community that aimed to build community capacity to tackle food insecurity through improving children’s access to healthy foods.

Methods: This project utlised a multifaceted approach to address food insecurity for children aged 6-24 months. An ecological model was used to influence individual knowledge and behaviour, as well as social, physical and policy environments. Activities implemented across the health promotion continuum included:
• A community-based infant feeding program that aimed to build the skills of influential women on infant feeding practices;
• Community developed social marketing resources were used to promote healthy food options and appropriate infant feeding practices;
• Improved access to iron-rich age-appropriate infant foods through the ‘Strong Baby Tucker’ project;
• Strengthened relationships with stakeholders through regular child health interagency meetings.

Results/Discussions: A multifaceted, ecological approach was beneficial in several ways:
• Interagency meetings provided a forum to discuss complex issues and address these through policy advocacy;
• Interventions were complementary to other organisation’s existing projects, supporting the promotion and dissemination of key messages;
• Facilitating engagement with influential community members and key stakeholders to improve infant feeding practices, despite limited time and resources;
• Constantly changing community dynamics (e.g. conflict) presented many challenges to program sustainability. Involving numerous actors throughout concurrent interventions provided greater flexibility to manage barriers.

Conclusions/implications: This project helped establish a core community group committed to improving child development. Addressing broader social determinants that contribute to food insecurity needs to be tackled more comprehensively at the policy level. This project may be suitable for replication in other communities.