In a country like India, malnutrition is a big challenge and a leading cause of death among children below the age of five years. According to UNICEF, more than one-third of the world’s stunted children live in India. A staggering 61 million children are stunted in India due to chronic malnutrition, and 43% children under the age of 5 years are underweight. These numbers indicate that the horrors of undernutrition and malnutrition in India are huge. The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 revealed that only 1 in 10 children between the ages of 6 and 23 months were receiving adequate diet.

ChildFund India (CFI) has been providing health and nutrition support to both child and mother through its 1,000-days intervention program to tackle this elephantine issue. Its vision is to eradicate malnutrition among children in rural and tribal areas of the country. The CFI has received support from the Knowledge Services arm of Moody’s Analytics in India, which has been funding its work in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh since 2015. The basic aim of Moody’s Analytics and the CFI is to improve the malnutrition situation among tribal children and bring SAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition) and MAM (Moderate Acute Malnutrition) children of the district into the healthy and nourished category.

According to its statement, “the project encourages health-seeking behavior among the beneficiaries, especially the mothers and lactating women. They focus on strengthening the health delivery system at the village level by engaging volunteers and frontline workers to reach out to the maximum number of SAM and MAM children. The Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre in the area is monitored and the families’ ration is supplemented by ChildFund India. The project also works towards tracking families who migrate in search of employment, especially with expecting or young mothers.”

Moody’s Analytics and the CFI together improved the health conditions of 2,150 malnourished children and 750 pregnant and lactating women by the end of 2017. The organization has been working in 33 villages of the Jhabua district since November 2015. To carry out the work, a SNEH team of 18 volunteers was chosen from the community and were provided training in appropriate skills. These volunteers undertook the work of visiting households, meeting families, screening children, etc. Volunteers received guidance from a field supervisor, who reported to a Program Manager. At the top was the Grant Implementation Manager, who was to ensure everyone worked in tandem for the smooth functioning of the project.

The system in place also ensures proper monitoring and evaluation of the work. In addition, the organization has a Management Information System (MIS) to generate periodic reports to keep track of the project’s growth. The monitoring and evaluation system is supported by the Knowledge Management Unit (KMU) of the CFI. The SNEH project’s overall impact in the Jhabua district has been impressive, and the CFI and Moody’s impact indicators list out the changes that the project brought in the people:

(*Data as of in 2017; the latest trends are expected to be better)

SNEH began its operations in just 10 villages during the first year and quickly added 23 more villages in the second year. The CFI and Moody’s look forward to share the learnings and impact of its project in the Jhabua district so similar initiatives can be made in other parts of the country that are in need of a program to eradicate malnutrition. The fight against malnutrition in India is a long one, but the CFI’s and Moody’s efforts are in the right direction,which will continue to motivate everyone and keep the hopes of a malnutrition-free India alive.

Impact-Story is a series on development and CSR interventions leading to some impacts on the ground. If you have a project, innovation or intervention that has changed the lives of a few people or a community, please share a brief note at csr@ngobox.org. Our Team will get back to you after validating the information for a detailed coverage.