GUWAHATI
Sampoorna, an initiate of western Assam’s Bongaigaon district to combat malnutrition among children has been chosen for the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2021.
The district was selected in the ‘Innovation’ category.
M.S. Lakshmi Priya, the district’s deputy commissioner said the project employs a decentralised, technology-based model using community participation and women empowerment as the positive deviance factor for achieving result.
The project has helped bring 95.6% of the district’s malnourished children to normal state within a year of its introduction and empowering the mothers of the children involved helped sustain it.
Project Sampoorna assessed and identified 2,416 malnourished children and mothers. Google live sheets and WhatsApp were used to update and monitor the data captured. A colour-coded growth chart (weight/height) for boys and girls was put up in each Anganwadi Centre, which assessed and identified severe acute malnourished (SAM) and moderate acute malnourished (MAM) children for necessary attention.
“Each malnourished child was tagged with the mother of a healthy child and each healthy mother was marked a buddy mother,” Ms. Lakshmi Priya said.
Buddy pairs were given questionnaires before the project started to assess their knowledge. The mothers were then given training on best practices including best indigenous food practices. The same questionnaire was given after six months to assess their present knowledge.
To ensure the children don’t relapse into malnutrition again, a convergence between Integrated Child Development Services and National Rural Livelihood Mission was done by involving all mothers in self-help groups. They ensured regular income through livelihood activities for empowerment of the mothers and sustenance of the efforts to avoid and manage malnutrition.
After three months of active intervention using protein supplements, 88% of SAM children and 96% of MAM children became healthy. Only 1,178 children were newly identified to be malnourished in September 2021 as compared to 2,416 in September 2020, district officials said.
Ms. Lakshmi Priya is scheduled to receive the award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Civil Services Day on April 21 in New Delhi.
