INSIDE THIS ISSUE

News & Events

#PreraksAtWork –

Championing change

#PrerakSpeak – Why I

became a Prerak

Postcards from the

field – Stories of

change

POSHAN Abhiyaan, launched on 8 March

2018, is a watershed moment in India’s fight

against malnutrition. With a targeted approach

to reduce undernutrition among children,

women, and adolescents, the Abhiyaan adopts

a life-cycle approach with greater emphasis on

the first 1000 days (from conception to 2 years

of age of a child) through convergent efforts.

Read more

A joint initiative of the Ministry of Women &

Child Development (WCD) and the Tata

Trusts, the program supplements the

POSHAN Abhiyaan by providing managerial

and administrative support to the district and

state administrations for the effective

implementation of the Abhiyaan.

It also provides young professionals an

opportunity to contribute to nation-building by

catalysing change at the grassroots level.

Presently, there are 352 Preraks supporting the

Abhiyaan across 26 states and 6 UTs. Read

more

SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE

December 2019, Volume 11

NEWS & EVENTS

Ferozepur district of Punjab bagged the SKOCH Silver Awards

It is gratifying when the hard work of the Preraks for supporting the implementation of POSHAN

Abhiyaan gets recognised. The district team of Ferozepur, along with Sunny Kumar, SBP for

Ferozepur, was awarded the SKOCH Silver Award under the Swasth Bharat category, with theme

of ‘Community Engagement’ for effective implementation.

The award was received by Mr Chander Gaind, Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur and Mr

Rattandeep Sandhu, District Project Officer (DPO) on 29 November 2019 at New Delhi during

the India Economic Forum, the 62nd Summit of Skoch Group.

2SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

#PRERAKSATWORK – CHAMPIONING CHANGE

While the primary mandate of a Prerak is to support the implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan,

driven by their passion, they also work hard along with the district teams to improve the core

nutrition services. “For me the cause that required concerted action was the improvement of

facility-based care of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM),” shares Ankit.

While Khagaria has a Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) for facility-based care of SAM

children, it was observed that the bed occupancy rate was only 50%. Ankit, with the guidance of

the District Magistrate (DM) and in collaboration with the ICDS office and the Health

department, helped develop a plan to increase community-based referral of SAM children.

Under this plan, each Lady Supervisor is responsible for identification, referral, and treatment of at

least two SAM children in their sector every month. The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram

(RBSK) team was also leveraged for admission of SAM children at NRCs. “As a result of this

initiative, Khagaria’s NRC now has the distinction of a near 100% bed occupancy rate for the past

six months,” says Ankit.

Ankit Kumar Wats, Khagaria, Bihar

IMPROVING SAM REFERRALS INCREASING NRC BED OCCUPANCY

It was noted that the growth monitoring data from anganwadi centres (AWCs) in tribal areas was

poor. In addition, there was discrepancy in data that was recorded vis-à-vis the actual weight of

children. The cause for this was faulty weighing scales. With the help of block level functionaries,

Rana mapped out all AWCs that had faulty weighing scales and submitted a report to Shri Balaji

(IAS) Program Officer of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), who sanctioned

funds for replacing the weighing scales for 2136 AWCs with digital scales of better quality. 1200

weighing scales have already been replaced; the procurement of the remaining scales is in process.

Additionally, Rana supported the ITDA in launching ‘Tribal Mother Care’ and ‘Tribal Kids

Care”’ initiatives, which have direct patronage of the Chief Minister. Both the schemes are

focused towards incentivising frontline functionaries – the AAAs. The Tribal Mother Care is

aimed at ensuring that mothers are enrolled to receive the health and nutrition services within the

first trimester and the AAAs are given an incentive of Rs 350 upon registration, and first ANC

within the first trimester. Similarly, the Tribal Kids Care initiative incentivizes the AWW with Rs

500 for every underweight or SAM children who has been restored to the healthy growth

trajectory (from the red zone to the green zone).

Rana Reddy, Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

3

STRENGTHENING SERVICES ACROSS TRIBAL BLOCKS

Rana, who has a degree in Computer Science from BITS, chose to be a

Prerak to live his passion of contributing meaningfully to the community.

Working in Vishakhapatnam, the district that has the highest proportion of

tribal population in Andhra Pradesh (55%), Rana identified the urgent

need for focused support and intervention in the tribal blocks.

Ankit has been a Swasth Bharat Prerak in Khagaria district of Bihar for almost

year and a half. Surrounded by seven rivers, Khagaria is prone to periodic

flooding. This significantly affects access and reach of key government

schemes around health and nutrition such as the ICDS.

SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

#PRERAKSPEAK – WHY I BECAME A PRERAK

With an educational background in social work and

experience of other fellowship programs in health and

education sector, Har Gobinda joined the Swasth Bharat

Prerak program as a State Lead for Assam with an

aspiration to make a difference at the systems’ level. He

is also the regional coordinator for all states of North-

East India.

Har Gobinda is an integral part of the State Resource

Group (SRG). As a training facilitator for SRG, he

supports the state in planning and implementing training

at the block, district and state levels. Components like

the ILA were going slow in Assam. Har Gobinda

stepped in to fill the gap of shortage of human

resources. He travelled to geographically overburdened

districts like Dima Hasao to conduct ILA training.

Working closely with the local authorities, he has also

pushed for filling up vacant positions. In addition, he

coordinated the orientation of 540 officials who joined

health and ICDS departments.

A major contribution of Har Gobinda has been

formulating the IEC guidelines and campaign for the

state. Given his knowledge and familiarity with the

terrain and rich culture of the state, he has also been

entrusted with designing the state-level Jan Andolan

calendar. He worked closely with the NHM team and

State Mission Director in designing these plans. The

state has also been able to leverage Har Gobinda’ s

strengths and entrusted him with leading the

documentation of best initiatives in the SBCC

implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan in Assam.

“This experience of

being a part of Swasth

Bharat Prerak

Program has helped

me improve my

leadership quality.

Additionally, leading

and working with a

team of young

professionals has

given me a rich

experience and

transformed my

problem solving and

decision-making

skills,” says Har

Gobinda.

HAR GOBINDA BORO

4

State Lead Assam and Regional Coordinator, North-East India

SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

POSTCARDS FROM THE FIELD – STORIES OF CHANGE

Sustant Singh, Arwal Bihar

STRENGTHENING CONVERGENCE AT PANCHAYAT LEVEL

Under the direct

supervision of the

District Magistrate,

Sushant has sensitized

191 households in

Panchaya village to

construct toilets.

So far, 12 households

have finished

constructing toilets.

Pahleja panchayat located in Arwal district of Bihar

has appointed SBP Sushant Singh as the Nodal

Officer, entrusting him with the responsibility of

making the panchayat and open defecation free

(ODF). Currently, he is also the focal person for

convergence for panchayat to strengthen the faith of

people in the district administration.

With his meticulous planning skill and dedication

during the ‘Jal Jeevan Hariyali’ initiative, Sushant won

the hearts of the entire district team. His efforts were

soon recognized by the DM, who gave him additional

responsibilities and made him the Nodal Officer to

oversee Vikas Mela and other hygiene, sanitation

related programs. Vikas Mela is held at panchayat’s

across Bihar to sensitize people about government’s

programs.

5SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

Sushant effectively leveraged the platform of Vikas Mela to create awareness about POSHAN

Abhiyaan. He discussed this idea with the DM and the DPO, and with their approval he mobilised

the anganwadi workers and lady supervisors to sensitize people. Sushant has also enhanced his

interpersonal communication tremendously. In sensitising the people in the capacity of Nodal

Officer, he has gained their confidence. “I have kept myself abreast of the different government

schemes on health and nutrition and other converging sectors to create awareness among people

on the services they are entitled to. I also continue to be a facilitator between the community and

the administration for resolving people’s problems to their satisfaction,” shares Sushant.

Manoj Sonkar, Ballia, Uttar Pradesh

JASHN – E - SUPOSHAN

“My daughter is one

year old and through

this nukkad-natak I

have learnt specific

information on

childcare and more

importantly, why

nutritional well-being

matters” – a visitor at

the mela.

Dadri Mela is an annual, unique, month long

festival. Organised in Ballia town of Uttar Pradesh

one of a major cattle fair in the country. The mela

begins with much fanfare on the full-moon night of

kartik poornima. Large crowds gather near the

banks of river Ganges for the ceremonial dip in

the holy river. Devotees pay their respects to

Dadar Muni, who was a disciple of Maharishi

Bhrigu. Local religious festivals provide an

opportune platform to sensitise a large number of

people on health and nutrition issues.

Manoj Sonkar, our district lead in Ballia, drafted a

SBCC plan ‘Jashan-e-Suposhan’. With the support

of Shri Hari Prasad Shahi, District Magistrate;

Badi Nath Singh, Chief Development Officer and

Annapurna Garg, DPO, he was able to mobilise

other district leads in Uttar Pradesh along with the

anganwadi workers to perform 41 nukkad-nataks

in 15 hours during the Dadri Mela.

6SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

The other district leads were: Vinay Kumar, Kaushambhi; Jitendra Gupta, Gazipur; Imran

Qureshi, Mainpuri; Naveen Pandey, Amethi; Vibhuti Kumar, Deoria; Vaishali Pandey, Jaunpur;

Shivanand Shukla, Sultanpur; and Aniket, Balrampur. The purpose was not only to entertain the

masses but also to sensitise them.

The Preraks interacted and actively engaged with the audience of over 5000 plus on nutrition

related issues. More such local festivals will be identified in the coming months where the

medium of nukkad-nataks will be used to reach the audience with messages on health and

nutrition.

Saurav Aman, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh

LEVERAGING CSR FUNDS TO COMBAT ANAEMIA AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Saurav Aman, Swasth Bharat Prerak at

Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh, understands

the need for an effective strategy to combat

anaemia. He proposed an initiative with the

support of district officials to implement the

Vodafone-Idea Limited CSR initiative. This

initiative includes the anaemia screening of

75,000 – 80,000 students from class 6-11.

This initiative provides the technology (devices),

consumables for haemoglobin testing and

volunteers to run the devices. Saurav supported

the officials with execution plan, stakeholder

meetings and block-wise school data for the

district. He also shared the details of the CSR

initiative proposal with the officials of Women &

Child, Health and Education Departments.

The adolescents who were severely anaemic were

provided point-of-care treatment after a referral

from RSBK teams. Those with mild and

moderate anaemia were given adequate

supplements by schoolteachers.

7SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

Between 6

December 2019 and

15 January 2020,

over 22,000

adolescent boys and

girls were tested and

counselled to

increase intake of

iron-rich food

through diet

diversity, quantity

and frequency with

focus on using locally

available resources.

Kshitij Malani, Nandurbar, Maharashtra

DATA VALIDATION METHODOLOGY FOR IDENTIFICATION OF UNDERNUTRITION

Prerak Kshitij Malani working in Nandurbar

district identified gaps in the number of SAM

children reported in the district ICDS CAS and

the ICDS district monthly progress report

(MPR). He decided to conduct a study with the

support of government officials at Sector

Rakaswada 2, Block Nandurbar to understand

this gap. He shortlisted 20 AWCs for the study

and used ICDS CAS as well as MPR data for the

sector to understand the reasons.

It was identified that AWWs needed greater

support in using the newer growth monitoring

devices such as the stadiometer and

infantometer.

Kshitij presented the study report to government

officials of Nandurbar, which was much

appreciated. CEO Zila Parishad urged all

supervisors to replicate this study in their sectors

and conduct child-wise validation of SAM

children.

The study was instrumental for further training

and handholding for AWWs in the use of new

growth monitoring devices to ensure data validity

in identification of undernutrition.

8SWASTH BHARAT PRERAK PROGRAM UPDATE | DECEMBER 2019 | VOLUME 11

The number of

anganwadi visits

conducted by Lady

Supervisors increased

substantially in the

month of November and

December 2019. As a

corrective measure, all

Lady Supervisors were

asked to revisit ILA

Module 8 with practical

demonstrations.

Anganwadi workers were

instructed to complete

growth monitoring of all

children before 10th of

every month.