Community-powered environmental pathways to reduce stunting: Food security, social capital, and open innovation in semi-urban Indonesia

Child stunting in Indonesia is tightly linked to environmental determinants within food and WASH systems. To test how household food security and social capital, enabled by open-innovation practices, shape child nutrition, preventive care, and hygiene behaviors in a semi-urban setting. A sequential explanatory design combined a household survey (n=120) with in-depth interviews (n=15) in Bumiaji, East Java. PLS-SEM estimated direct, moderating, and predictive effects; qualitative data explained pathways and contextual mechanisms. Food access and utilization showed the strongest links to toddler feeding and WASH behaviors, while social capital amplified these effects. Community-led open-innovation (peer groups, co-creation with health workers, and local institutions) accelerated behavior change. Environmental pathways that integrate food systems, WASH, and community networks can deliver scalable stunting-prevention gains in semi-urban areas. Policy should institutionalize cross-sector collaboration and community co-design within local environmental governance.