To overcome the crisis of malnutrition in Nuh block of Mewat district of Haryana, Amway India with the support of Amway Global has launched the Power of 5 program with SRF Foundation. This program is a community-based nutrition education intervention to improve the nutritional status of children (0-8 years) of the marginalized community in the block.
The pandemic has further worsened the situation where India’s poor and hungry are most affected. Closing of the schools has led to the stopping of the mid-day meals. Further, Supplementary Nutrition for ICDS projects in rural areas through Anganwadi Centres has also been disrupted to a great extent.
With the focus on the prevention of malnutrition and early identification of malnourished children and improved access to care in case of need, Power of 5 Program employed grass root level workers or ‘Poshan Mitras’ from the villages who are trained to conduct various activities for promoting health and nutrition in the community. They are engaged in spreading nutrition awareness by visiting and mentoring mothers and caregivers of children under the age of 8 years and making follow-up visits with the identified malnourished children.
The first step in changing habits is awareness, campaigns enable the members of community to begin the shift and encourage them to lead a healthier lifestyle. To promote the habit of eating right and ensure food diversity and food sustainability several activities were carried out such as Nutrition and WASH campaigns, Breast Feeding rallies, Poshan Bagichha or Kitchen Gardens and Recipe Sharing.
As the programme was implemented in November 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic all precautions were taken to ensure safety of all. While visiting houses of mothers all COVID-19 protocols were maintained. The campaigns were organized in small groups with social distancing and wearing of masks.
An important role in the success of this program lied in the effective training of Poshan Mitras. Thus, Poshan Mitras were trained on basics of nutrition, WASH, nutrition in pregnant and lactating mothers, infant and young child feeding practices and immunization with the support of educational modules. These modules among others, best target the first 1,000 days of the child, this is ideal window for intervention, implementation and tracking of child’s growth and development.
Each Poshan Mitra has a handbook which she carries with her to interact with the mothers. The handbook empowers the Poshan Mitra to cover topics in an interactive manner while helping the mother build an understanding of the topic. The Poshan Mitras further go door to door or conduct small meetings in villages to educate the mothers on how to ensure proper nutrition in their children.
Short feature films on nutrition sourced from Poshan Abhiyan on YouTube and Poshan Gyan website provide an alternate method of content delivery to mothers. These videos have captivating themes which hold the attention and enables a more open discussion with the mothers.
The program also encourage mothers to grow their own vegetables in the small kitchen garden in their house or in the Anganwadi land or an empty space in the village. These vegetable gardens are called ‘Poshan Bagichha’ and makes nutrition sustainable and encourages food diversity. Growing vegetables or fruits in the garden can also help in generating income for the household. This further helps in promoting holistic wellbeing.
With the effective training of Poshan Mitras, the program is employing different strategies to promote sound nutritional practices and implementing them at the ground level to help build a productive nation. The program is enhancing the nutritional status of 25,000 children across 42 villages of Nuh Block in Mewat district of Haryana. Immediate nutritional intervention and timely referrals of the identified 6,000 malnourished children has started by closely monitoring their health through regular home visits.
Through various campaigns the community is becoming aware of the many benefits of nutrition and WASH practices and changing their outlook towards nutrition, hygiene and health. The collaborative model of the program is ensuring strengthened linkages between community, Anganwadi and Government department to fight malnutrition in children. As the nation faces the pandemic, SRF Foundation along with Amway India, hope to achieve sustainable nutritional goals for our children.
