Story of Change

Distribution of Ration Material with Special Attention to the Families with Pregnant Women, Single Women and Malnourished Children

he series of ongoing lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic in now in 3rd phase with an extension of two weeks in India. The poor households coming from the poor economic background dependent on daily wages are in the center of the multidimensional pandemic poverty cycle. The vulnerable population of these households i.e. children, women and aged ones are in major crisis with a primary dependency on govt. support services and local support from the community and social organizations. The services of Anganwadi Centers plays important role in the village child centric programs and nowadays they are also not functioning smoothly due to lockdown. The crisis has its highest magnitudes in the households or families with pregnant women or malnourished children. Samarthan a leading social organization in Madhya Pradesh, stand strong with these vulnerable population through its innovative community centric approaches. These needy households were identified and prioritized for emergency relief support. Samarthan has successfully distributed food materials to 219 such families in 24 villages of 8 Gram Panchayats in Panna block of Panna district. Out of these families, there were 86 families are with malnourished children or pregnant women. Considering the nutritional needs the ration kit food/material to these 86 families includes 1 kg of drumstick (Munga/Sahjna) apart from the regular items. These nutritious drumsticks were mobilized through the contribution of village women specially donated for these 86 families. Similarly, 72 single women households were identified in 15 villages of 10 gram panchayats in Mavai block of Mandla district and distributed ration to them. Likewise, ration material was distributed to 28 single women households of 10 villages of 10 gram panchayats under Isanagar block in Chhatarpur district.