Annual Report 2012-2013

“Reaching people at the grass root level to anchor a strong

foundation for sustainable development of the underprivileged”

M a n a v F o u n d a t i o n S a r v a n g i n E v a m P a r y a v a r a n V i k a s S a m i t i , 1 1 3 , A n a n d

N a g a r n e a r Z i l l a P a n c h a y a t , S h e o p u r . P i n - 4 7 6 3 3 7 , P h . n o - 9 8 9 3 3 9 1 9 6 9 ,

e m a i l - m a n a v f o u n d a t i o n s h e o p u r @ g m a i l . c o m

A ‘Saheria’ women with her child

History and Philosophy of Manav Foundation

Manav Foundation is an organisation based in Delhi. The states in which

it has ongoing activities are Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Haryana

and Assam. The regional headquarter of Madhya Pradesh is based in Sheopur.

The organisation has been active in the state of MP since 2007. The area of

work involves the fields of Childhood malnutrition and its determinants,

advocacy work related to child health and nutrition.

Since its inception, the focus of activity in the organisation has been the

wellbeing of disadvantaged children.

The determinants of the child

development and wellbeing are being

supported and advocated by the

organisation from time to time. The

activity has special importance in this

area of Sheopur which is home to the

primitive tribe of ‘Saheriyas’. IEC

activities regarding child development

and nutrition are extremely relevant

to these communities who have been

deprived of developmental activities. The

organisation has recruited local staff for its field activities and has good

acceptance and presence in the community. Though, the activities are targeted

more towards the mother and child unit, the larger scenario of community

involvement, support and participation are also addressed by the

organisation.

VISION

To contribute to the process of capacity building of the community in

order to emancipate them and create opportunities for better living and

health status so that there is scope for all round sustainable development of

the community through community participation.

PHILOSOPHY OF MANAV FOUNDATION

Manav Foundation aims to link social development with child development in the

community. Enhancement in the health status of children, especially the Saheriya,

through innovative intervention based on knowledge, community participation

and finding context relevant solutions has been the hallmark of Manav

Foundation activities. The approach of Manav Foundation is imparting

knowledge, awareness and hands on training to the mothers for child

development and nutrition. Community involvement forms the essence of all the

activities in Manav Foundation. The holistic approach of linking all aspects of

development in the community with Child health and development would enable

the community groups to understand the root causes of the child health

problems, thereby finding lasting solutions.

MISSION STATEMENT

To make the village community aware and capable to deal with issues

like malnutrition, diarrhoeal diseases, lack of social empowerment and to

improve the basic determinants of health by dynamic community

organisation.

OBJECTIVES

1. To create awareness about childhood malnutrition and its effects.

2. To organize the community to deal with the various determinants of

health.

3. To create community participation for better accountability of service

providers in all sectors.

4. To combat malnutrition in young children through nutrition

rehabilitation programme.

ACTIVITIES RUN BY MANAV FOUNDATION(2012-13)

1. Successfully running the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) at

Karahal, Sheopur.

Since the establishment of NRC in Karahal block, Manav Foundation has

been involved in its operationalization, functioning and successful running.

Since 1st May, 2007, 352 children

in SAM category have been cured

and 849 children have been

followed up, till now. The quest

for containing deaths due to SAM

is being realized to a

considerable extent with the

support to children and mother

at NRC. Inputs, suggestions and

guidelines from National and

state guidelines

(reports/manual), Government officials, doctors and other experts from

UNICEF, TISS and other sources are regularly incorporated and the staffs are

trained to maintain quality and efficiency of their work.

The NRC has a good coverage showing admission of children with SAM or

MAM from distant parts of Karahal Block, which indicates that there is a

good social acceptance by the majorly tribal community in this block, which

is one of the important factors for a programme to be successful.

2. Day Care Centre

In its effort to further realize and contribute to betterment in health status of

the community especially

children, Manav Foundation

has took the responsibility to

run the DCCs at two places

namely, Bankuri village and

Nimaniya village in Karahal

Block of Sheopur district. In

these two DCCs 68 SAM

children are provided food

and medicines at the village

level.

3. Anaemia Control Programme

With the help of District Health Society, Sheopur we organized Anaemia

Control Programme at 12 sub

health center focusing on

Adolescent Girls and mothers

to increase their knowledge

regarding the causes of

Anaemia, its symptoms and

how to maintain a healthy

lifestyle, good diet and

treatment using Iron

supplement. Adolescent girls

are the future mothers and

home-makers, so imparting

them this knowledge is very important. This is an important effort to

address the problem of Anaemia at its root level in an earlier stage.

4. Sas Bahu Sammelan

‘Success begins at home’, is a well-known fact. Several homes constitute a

community and communities form a society. Keeping in mind this fact,

Manav Foundation took interest and put its efforts in organizing Sas Bahu

Sammelan taking into account the social dimension of Indian homes to

educate, inspire and inculcate good habits among the women focusing on

Pregnancy and Lactation during pregnancy, importance of breast feeding

and Immunization of newborn (children) which are very important for

reducing IMR and MMR. Sas Bahu Sammelan were conducted at 12 places

with the help of District Health Society, Sheopur.

5. Annual Status of Education Survey

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) facilitated by Pratham studies the

learning outcome in children in the

age group of 6 to 14 years. As a part

of this effort, we participated with

Pratham and conducted the survey

including 30 Schools of Sheopur

district. Training sessions were

organized for the volunteers who

participated in the survey with the

help of duly trained Master Trainers

(one from Pratham and one from Manav Foundation).

6. PRA and Survey of Nal-jal Yojana

Manav Foundation aims to incorporate the knowledge and opinions of rural

people in the planning and management of development projects and

programmes through PRAs. We were also involved in survey of the Nal-jal

Yojana, its implementation and functioning in the ground level.

7. Sabla Training

As an effort to empower women, 4 Pariyojana were organized in Sheopur

and Karahal Block under ICDS scheme. It included training for skill

development such as training to run Beauty Parlors, Sewing and handlooms,

training for working in a Bank, Police and Post Office.

8. Street Play

Street play is an important means of spreading awareness and imparting

knowledge or information. Keeping this in view various street plays are

often organized by us on different social issues and health related issues

with the help of local artists by forming ‘Jatthas’.

9. National School Drama

We successfully conducted National School Drama (Bal Natya Prashikshan

Karyakram) involving students from the schools and community. It would

inculcate in children sensitivity towards the various social issues and

problems. Besides a good way of recreation it also leads to recognition of

students with god acting skills, which is important as an aspect in overall

development of such children.

A glimpse from the ‘National School Drama’ activities

10. Work on water availability (Gram Sabha Prastav for “Hand-pump

Rakshak”)

Recognizing the importance of safe drinking water as one of the important

factors in determining the health of the community especially in terms of

prevention of diarrhoeal diseases, which is highly prevalent in Karahal Block

among the ‘Saheria’ community, we have put our efforts to address this issue

by creating a model of operation and maintenance (O & M) system for Hand-

pumps and Tube-wells in our 10 project villages in Karahal block, to ensure

availability of safe water at the village level with support of Tata Institute of

Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Through a workable O & M system, regular

availability of safe drinking water can be ensured at the village level through

properly functional Hand-pumps and Tube-wells. In the 2 model villages,

namely, Bhotupura and Semara, a position of “Hand-pump Rakshak” has been

created through proper channel of Gram Panchayat. The HP Rakshak fills the

‘field O & M sheet’ for each Hand-pump and Tube-well in the village, do

regular maintenance for each Hand-pump such as oiling, resolve minor

technical issues, maintain cleanliness around the hand-pump and regular

chlorination of hand-pump. Following are a copy of the Panchayat

proceedings-

For this, training programmes were conducted for capacity building of the

“Hand-pump Rakshak” with the help of PHED. Training sessions were also

conducted to improve the knowledge of the health workers at village level

such as CHWs, ASHAs etc. regarding importance of safe water, diseases caused

by unsafe water, household methods of drinking water treatment, correct

method of chlorination, boiling etc. Campaigns in the villages were also done

by the person involved and our community mobilisers to raise awareness

among the villagers.

A survey conducted in the three villages of Bankuri, Bhotupura and Semara

after the implementation (Post Intervention Assessment) showed positive

change in the health related behavior and practices of villagers. This shows

that improving availability of safe drinking water is an important means of

improving health status of such marginalized tribal communities in rural India

where safe drinking water is unavailable.