What makes the children so happy?
A tale of Anganwadis in Andhra, redefined.
A passing acquaintance with the social welfare ecosystem in India would be expected to reveal a rather dreary picture — from Anganwadis with no toilets to crumbling buildings that house public schools with a single teacher and primary health centers with no doctors. But, this dire state of affairs was completely unfounded in Krishna district which was dotted with delightfully colorful AWCs that lent brightness to an otherwise barren landscape.
These colorful AWCs were the result of a project of refurbishment undertaken by Tata Trusts as a part of a multi-sectoral approach aimed at promoting maternal care, nutrition, water and sanitation (WASH), and integrated efforts at poverty alleviation. The plan for the refurbishment of stand-alone, Government-owned AWCs was carried out in three districts of Andhra Pradesh — Krishna, Guntur and Nellore — by the Vijayavahini Charitable Foundation, upon the recommendation of The India Nutrition Initiative. It included undertaking minor civil works, construction of child-friendly toilets, playgrounds with play equipment such as swings and slides and the development of a nutrigarden.
The project was carried out in three phases in Krishna district, covering 250 AWCs and impacting a whopping 8,000 beneficiaries in the process. Additionally, efforts were taken to paint concept-specific drawings on the walls — from pictorial depictions of diet and care during pregnancy to early education tools on alphabets, numericals, fruits, vegetables, etc. This was supplemented with the installation of water filters to make available safe drinking water, in a country where more than 802,000 children below the age of five annually fall prey to wholly preventable water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria [1].
Further, the refurbishment in itself was initiated with a view to provide requisite infrastructure in the centres, along with motivated and well-trained functionaries who would be instrumental in attracting and expanding the base of beneficiaries. The creation of an enabling environment that not only caters to the nutritional requirements of a community, but also act as a centre for children’s pre-school education and counselling for pregnant women and lactating mothers was the main focus of the project. It was assumed that a combination of the aforementioned interventions would improve retention rates at AWCs and promote awareness about infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices.
As a hub for all nutrition-related interventions at the village level, AWCs play a significant role in the promotion of the health and well-being of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The absence of child-friendly infrastructure, as well as their sheer inability to monitor growth and development of the targeted beneficiaries, put the implementation of ICDS at risk. This precarious situation called for a rehaul of the AWCs, with a view to restore its centrality as the primary public health and educational avenue in a village/ward.
Now, the situation has improved remarkably, with well equipped AWCs that have a designated store for food supplies and a toilet located outside the main study area have proved to be a boon for the community. The process of refurbishment made Anganwadis credible alternatives to private play schools in the area, so much that enrollment and learning outcomes of children attending AWCs have improved since their transformation. In fact, the enhancement in learning outcomes could be attributed to the pictorial and other informational depictions that now adorn the walls of refurbished centres. This, in turn, served to further motivate ICDS workers, members of the PRI and the local community to better maintain the centres and keep them open for longer, often up until 5 PM.
In fact, a local MPP from rural Vijayawada has pledged to contribute to the construction of compounds for the centers, with a view to increasing their safety and security. It is imperative to note that this programme of refurbishment is a small part of a larger thrust to better the nutritional outcomes of beneficiaries attending local AWCs.
To this end, Tata Trusts has been instrumental in imparting knowledge on 1000 days of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices as well as breastfeeding and childrearing orientations to pregnant and lactating women. Moreover, the Anganwadi workers have been supplied with growth monitoring devices such as weighing scales, infantometer and stadiometer, with appropriate training on height, weight and body mass measurement — crucial indicators of malnutrition. Efforts have been made to inculcate healthy dietary habits among workers who now provide a wholesome meal containing fortified milk, fortified rice, vegetables and eggs.
The manifest benefits were confirmed during an interaction with an Anganwadi teacher in Kanchikacherla village. Mrs. Neeraja offered, “The refurbishment has definitely made the AWC more hygienic. It gives parents great confidence to send their children here, knowing that they will be fed well and receive good education. The paintings on the walls have made teaching so much easier for us — the pregnant and lactating women can follow the easy instructions depicted on the walls. It makes me happy to see the Anganwadi come to life again, as a place for nurturing, learning and bonding.”
Despite its several achievements, the project is far from complete. Capacity building of Anganwadi workers with focus to train them about Infant and Young Child Feeding(IYCF) practices and growth monitoring of children is currently being undertaken. This could exponentially increase their resourcefulness as nutritional guides for women in the village. Awareness campaigns centered around early childhood care and education have also been rolled out, in an effort to improve metrics of well-being of children attending AWCs.
A seemingly simple intervention like overhauling the optics of AWCs has had a considerable effect on attendance, health and learning of beneficiaries living in the VPC. It highlights the indispensability of the ICDS in delivering on its obligations to ensuring nutritional rights of children and women — an essential escape from the cycle of deprivation that so often renders them as being malnourished. The refurbishment of Anganwadis is a step in the right direction to break this vicious cycle and ensure the well-being of children below the age of six and pregnant and lactating women alike.
[1]https://www.livemint.com/Politics/JPG2HLOMGrJW2oxTYfog0K/802000-infants-died-in-India-last-year-says-UN-report.html
