Sundeep Talwar, CMO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation talked to Rusen Kumar, editor, India CSR on The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s recent work. He feels that interventions, such as menu redesigning for higher nutritional value and additional nutrient-dense supplementation, will have to be planned accordingly taking into account the pandemic as well as post-pandemic scenarios. Excerpts of an interview:
The organisation has been continuously working towards feeding people. Even during the pandemic, the effort didn’t stop. Tell us about the motivation behind this?
At Akshaya Patra, we understand the crucial role of food assistance in humanitarian relief efforts during emergencies. We have always strived to use our infrastructure and resources for relief efforts during crises—be it relief feeding in flood-affected regions of the country or beyond the borders in Nepal during the earthquake of 2014.
We believe in collective efforts to provide relief to people in need, and therefore, have always endeavoured to work with the Government and donors to extend food assistance to vulnerable populations, such as daily wagers, slum dwellers, migrant workers, rough sleepers, etc. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have served over 175 million meals to people across the country in the form of cooked food and grocery kits.
Talking about the kits that the Foundation is distributing, tell us about the different kinds of kits that the foundation is distributing?
We have been using our kitchen network to provide cooked meals to vulnerable populations during the pandemic. Further to these efforts, we have opted for grocery kits distribution as a need-based solution in these times of adversity. We have designed and introduced different types of grocery kits to serve those in need—each designed keeping in mind the needs of a specific group. On the one hand, for instance, we have the essential grocery kits with a dry ration for 42/28 meal servings. On the other, we have Happiness Kits for Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Programme beneficiaries.
They contain packets of glucose biscuits, a dry ration for 20 meal servings, basic hygiene products, a sanitary pack for girls, and educational supplies, including an activity book in regional language. Then we have Family Happiness Kits, which combine the Essential Grocery Kit and Happiness Kit to create a single kit for a family of four, with essential groceries for 120 meal servings. Besides these, we have Shakti Kits designed to meet the nutritional needs of women during pregnancy and Raksha Kits to address vaccine hesitancy among the marginalised by incentivising the whole process.
Can you explain the research behind inventing ‘Shakti Kits’?
Anaemia during pregnancy is often associated with a number of health complications. The World Health Organization (WHO) data put the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in India at 50.1 percent in 2019. There is a huge possibility that the situation has worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the Shakti Kits distribution initiative, we seek to support women during pregnancy by providing them a curated kit to improve their nutritional status. The contents of these kits, i.e., malt-based protein mix, protein porridge mix pack, Dhatri Loha (Ayurvedic immunity booster), pulses, peanuts, green moong, turmeric powder, and Double Fortified Salt (DFS), serve to boost the health of pregnant women. In addition, the kit also has a set of 10 masks.
Organising ‘Raksha Kits’ to overcome vaccine hesitancy is an excellent idea. How is government support for this and have you partnered with state governments on the execution?
The Government of India and State Governments have always been supportive of all our endeavours, be it the feeding programs or non-feeding programs, such as the ongoing incentivised vaccination drives. We started the initiative in association with our donors to address the issue of vaccine hesitancy among marginalised populations. Everyone who takes the vaccine is provided refreshments (juice, water, and a banana/khichdi) as well as a unique customised kit called Raksha Kit with essential groceries for 21 meal servings. We have partnered with various hospitals to execute the initiative.
The organisation is known for providing nutritional meals. What steps the foundation is taking for maintaining nutrition.
With the responsibility of feeding over 1.8 million children every day (as of March 2020), we have always strived to take the steps necessary to ensure that our mid-day meals are not just safe and hygienic, but nutritious as well. We provide children a diversified and nutrient-rich staple through a scientifically designed menu. We design recipes taking into consideration the nutritional needs of children, Government-prescribed norms, local palatability, and the importance of a diversified menu to avoid menu fatigue. Our standardised recipes strive to provide 30% of the RDA for macronutrients. In addition to macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats), our recipes also focus on micronutrients containing antioxidants and trace minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and zinc, which are essential for the overall development of children.
How has the government/corporate contribution been for the same?
At Akshaya Patra, we have successfully harnessed the might of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model by bringing the Government, corporates, philanthropic organisations, and individuals on the same platform to address a social cause on a massive scale. We primarily serve as the implementing partner of the Government’s MDM Scheme. While the Government provides subsidies in the form of material and conversion costs, we bear the expenditure of setting up kitchens, investment in manpower, distribution, food safety and hygiene, automation, etc. Each meal costs us a specific sum of which the Government contributes a part while the remaining is raised by us through fundraising from individual and corporate donors. The availability of these funds helps us provide children with a multi-item menu cooked in safe and hygienic state-of-the-art kitchen facilities.
Your thoughts on the importance of the nutrition week and how things can further improve.
The observance of National Nutrition Week is of great significance considering that its objective is to raise awareness on the importance of nutrition for health, and its impact on development, productivity, economic growth and ultimately, national development. The nutrition gap has widened due to the pandemic and there is an urgent need to focus on nutrition and related aspects. Akshaya Patra has always strived to ensure that children have sustained access to food and nutrition through initiatives such as the MDM Scheme and ICDS Anganwadi feeding program.
In the post-COVID world, these nutrition welfare initiatives will play a crucial role in addressing the nutrition gap. Interventions, such as menu redesigning for higher nutritional value and additional nutrient-dense supplementation, will have to be planned accordingly taking into account the pandemic as well as post-pandemic scenarios. The current situation also makes a strong case for fast-tracking the breakfast program mentioned in the National Education Policy 2020. Our focus will have to be on delivering adequate nutrition through a safe environment.
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