The Anakavur Process

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which is India’s flagship programme for child development, was launched on 2nd October 1975. Considered to be one of the largest programmes for child development in the world, it covered more than 1 million anganwadi centres (community nutrition centres-cum-preschools) all over the country by 2009. However, the awareness and user rate of the services rendered by these centres seem to indicate that there is further scope for improvement. For instance, as per the findings of the National Family Health Survey Round 3- 2005-06 (India’s Demographic Survey), only 33% of age-eligible children living in the areas with an anganwadi centre were seen to be receiving any service from such centres. Again, only 26% of them were seen to be receiving nutrition supplement and only 23% were seen to be attending pre-schools. As for the women beneficiaries, the survey found that as many as 78% of pregnant women and 83% of breastfeeding women were found to be availing no services from an anaganwadi centre!
The other important point is that the popular perception of an anaganwadi centre is that it is a feeding centre where a child can also get a couple of eggs for a couple of days in a week, besides noon meal. The other important services provided there appear to be not that visible to the beneficiary groups.
Such services include:

• Pre-school services for children of 3 to 6 yrs age group
• Nutrition and Health Education to pregnant and nursing women
• Health check-up including ante-natal and post-natal care
• Weighing and growth monitoring of children
• Referral services
• Immunization

The pre-school’s focus is on providing early childhood care and education (ECCE) by creating and maintaining an ambience of joyful learning for the children such that they enjoy learning and the years spent at the centre become really a preparatory period for the children’s continuation of their learning process on to primary schools and to higher levels thereafter.

In an effort to help awareness building efforts on the services provided at the anganwadi centres, some of our volunteers have thought upon an idea to start the same with their own children’s group members first.

The following is an account of what our volunteers Selvakumari, Gowri and Thangam have done in this regard in two villages – in Chinnasengadu (by volunteers Gowri and Thangam on 26.03.2012) and in Periasengadu (by volunteers Selvakumari and Thangam on 27.03.2012).

The volunteers Selvakumari and Gowri took the children on a visit to the anganwadi centres in their respective villages on the dates noted against each in parentheses. The anganwadi workers and the ayahs (helpers) in the centres were present during the visit. Thangam facilitated both the visits.

The team members explained the activities of the anganwadi centres to the members of the children’s groups. Particularly the services provided by the centres for pregnant women, nursing women, adolescent girls, 0 to 3 year old children and 3 to 6 year old children were explained in detail. The children were really surprised to know about these activities for they had all along thought that the activities of such centres were confined to just providing nutrition supplement and eggs. They were not aware of activities such as providing complementary feeding for 6 months to 2 year old children and more particularly about what was being done in the pre-schools.

The role of ICDS programme in weighing children, growth monitoring and referral was explained at some length. Demos on weighing and growth monitoring using the weighing scales and the growth charts available at the centres were found to be very interesting by the children. The anganwadi workers helped us a lot in doing these demos. We took great pains to explain how weighing played an important role in monitoring the growth and the nutrition and health status of children. We even explained the concepts of:

• Stunting as assessed by height-for-age
• Wasting as assessed by weight-for-height
• Underweight as assessed by weight-for-age

Similarly, we took some pains to make our children’s group members realize the fact that undernutrition in childhood could lead to several types of morbidities in later life as also could greatly hamper their learning outcomes in schools and other institutions of higher learning and their productivity when they enter the workforce in later life. We gave several examples of what could happen as a result of undernutrition in childhood.

The children enjoyed the visits and obviously learned a lot about the various services delivered at the anganwadi centres. We now feel that we could carry forward this effort to reach the larger village communities as well. We must say here that the training received by us in these subjects was of great help to us in building awareness among our own children’s group members.

Selvakumari
Gowri and
Thangam.

Women’s education, nutrition, health and life skills are important factors which determine the proper development and prosperity of the family and via that of the whole community. Hence the importance given to these factors in the activities of the Anakavur Process. The work of the volunteers relating to children’s groups, women’s groups, adolescent girls’ groups and youth groups lay considerable stress on the aspects of female literacy, their nutrition and health status as also on their role in ensuring proper care practices at the household level. For instance, one such area where women can play a major role is cooking food for the family. If they become knowledgeable on what types of recipes based on locally available food materials would meet the nutrition and other preventive health care requirements of their families, they would most certainly have no difficulty in following such a carefully chosen recipes-based rotation of menus for the day-to-day family meals.

Following are two accounts on how the Day was celebrated this year in the villages of Melnemili and Mahajanampakkam on the 8th March 2012 .

The Celebration in Melnemili Village

There was a fairly good gathering of children, adolescent girls and women of this village for the celebration. I anchored the day’s events which focused on the important role of women on changing their cooking practices in favour of increasing proportions of green leafy vegetables in the daily menus as also reducing the proportions of menus with high sodium and sweet contents. My introductory talk focused upon the following points:

• the recent increases in critical renal failure cases reported in Anakavur villages
• what causes renal failure
• basics about kidneys, where they are located in the body, and what are their functions
• the fact that they receive the highest proportion of blood supply and constantly filter out toxins as urine
• increased blood pressure can harm the very minute filters in the kidneys
• similarly, increased amounts of blood sugar can also hamper the filtering process
• unfortunately, there are hardly any early alerts about any serious deterioration of kidneys’ functioning
• when symptoms do set in, it is usually too late to take any effective damage-control steps
• therefore, the best way is to prevent any such possibility through diet control and changing life styles favouring physical work
• elder members can always go in for periodic tests of urine as also blood pressure so that severe renal damages could still be prevented by taking medicines plus changing diet and life styles
• women have a great role to play in changing the family food patterns as explained above

My earlier training on the subject by Dr. M. K. Mani (the famous nephrologist of Chennai) and his team came in very handy for my work on this Day.

C. M. Thangam and Jeyanthi

In Mahajanampakkam Village

Twenty members of the local children’s group and twenty women of the village participated in the event. Manikandan, the local volunteer welcomed all the participants. I then spoke about the importance of the Day in focusing on the role of women in ensuring the proper nutrition and health status of the family by following the proper preventive and promotive nutrition and health care practices. I particularly touched upon the role of women in preventing renal failure.

I highlighted the following points:

• the location and functioning of kidneys in the human body
• how excesses of blood sugar and high pressure could damage kidney health
• the fact that if renal failure occurs then dialysis is the only recourse left, which could be quite unaffordable to most villagers
• similarly, kidney replacement is also very expensive
• therefore, the best way out is to prevent renal damages by proper management of food intakes balancing the proportions of carbohydrates and sodium contents of the food
• women have a major role to play in this area since they do most of the cooking in most rural households
• they should pay particular attention to reduce sodium and carbohydrates particularly for the elder members of the household
• they could limit the servings of items such as dried fish, pickles, papads and other items rich in carbohydrates
• the above-mentioned efforts could be further supplemented and supported by taking up more of physical activities
• in addition, regular check- ups for pressure and urine could help
• any problems noticed in the above could be managed with simple treatment

The response from the participating women was quite encouraging. Two of them already had the problem of high blood sugar and were getting treated for the same. They found the information on preventive health care given by us on managing the recipes for household meals very useful. Most of the women promised to bring about suitable changes in the cooking patterns to suit the health needs of the family members.

As mentioned by Thangam, I also underwent a similar training course on prevention of renal failure conducted by Dr. M. K. Mani and his team, which proved very useful to me in holding this event.

K. Muniyandi and Manikandan

‘Pongal’ is a traditional pastoral and harvest festival of the Tamils. It is a festival of thanks giving to the Sun, to the Rain and to the cows, bullocks and the goats for their great and valuable contributions in making the human lives happy. The festival is usually celebrated on the 14th, 15th and 16th of January every year, corresponding to the first three days of the Tamil month of ‘Thai’. It also happens to be the post-harvest time of the bumper crop. People wear new clothes and ornaments and worship Sun as the visible image of God, with offerings of ‘Pongal’ (a preparation of rice, milk and lentil using the newly harvested grains and pulses), sugar cane, bananas, betel leaves and areca nuts. On the second day evening, the cows and bullocks are washed, their horns painted in bright colours, and they are bedecked with sandal paste, vermillion and flower garlands. The people then have joy rides around the village on bullock carts with a lot of enthusiastic children shouting “Pongalo Pongal!” (meaning ‘Hail, Pongal!). Gifts are exchanged between friends and relatives. In the southern districts of Tamilnadu, particularly in Madurai, bull-taming events known as ‘jallikattu’ are held in several villages in which young men display their prowess.
Though the ‘Pongal’ festival is usually celebrated at homes in the villages, the members of the Elaneerkunram dalit Colony Children’s Group decided this year to celebrate it as a Group Event as well. On January 14th, the children brought the needed ingredients for making ‘pongal’ from their homes; things such as, rice, milk, jaggery, cardamom, pulses, fruits, bananas, betel leaves, areca nuts, etc. At the place where the group usually meets, the children lit the traditional cooking stove, put all the ingredients in to a decorated pot (usually turmeric leaves are tied around the neck of the earthen pot and sandal paste and vermillion are applied to its sides) and prepared the traditional ‘pongal’. All the children wore new clothes for the function. Then they offered worship to the Sun God with offerings of ‘pongal’, betel leaves, areca nuts, coconuts and bananas and then lit the camphor. They all prayed for their good education, good rains and good harvest for the village and for general happiness of all. After this, all the 25 children and myself sat on the floor and partook of the ‘pongal’ on the customary pumpkin leaves. We had a very good fun time.

The event provided an opportunity for the entire group to come together to celebrate a traditional function on a voluntary and participatory basis. It stood out as a great example of team work.

K. Muniyandi
Akkur.

We have already seen in this blog a write-up dated August 2011 on the peer group work done by volunteers Thangam and Babu. As a follow-up of that effort, Purisai volunteer Babu has organized a larger meeting on the 14th December 2011 in the village Purisai. Given below is an account of what Thangam and Babu has done:

The children who were trained by us earlier on the problem of iron deficiency anaemia and how to address the same had shared the information with their peers at the rate of another five children per child so trained by us earlier. Each second-tier peer so trained also observed her/his individual diet pattern and recorded their observations on a daily basis for a period of two months.

We organized a meeting of this larger circle of second-tier peers on the 14th of December 2011 in the Purisai school. We requested the Headmaster Mr. Samuel Rajasekaran to preside over the meeting. There were 40 children-participants from the VIII std level hailing from different villages around Purisai. We requested some of the children to speak about the results of the diet survey. It was quite apparent from their observations that they had successfully influenced their mothers to include more frequently sources of iron in the daily cooking menus for their families. We also took the opportunity to once again highlight the main points relating to locally available food items which contained iron in good quantity and renewed our plea especially to the mothers to include such iron rich food items which were available locally and were either low cost or no cost sources so that the problem of iron deficiency anaemia could be successfully tackled.

We find that this method is capable of spreading important messages more easily and faster than taking training sessions in smaller groups. The other new point is that we find that the teachers of the school evince interest in health care subjects like this. Given this positive sign, we hope the school may now take further initiative to spread the message to cover a much larger number of students.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene is an area, where in spite of appreciable efforts to implement national programmes, their public health outcomes have been quite elusive. Making water available in villages is one thing; but ensuring that it remains safe until it is consumed by the end-users is entirely a different one. While fair progress has been achieved in the former aspect, the same cannot be said of the latter. This is mainly due to the fact that attempts to bring about behaviour changes in matters like keeping the water tanks clean, the water lines clean and the ultimate water receptacles clean have proved to be daunting tasks. There are several local cultural perceptions that determine water and sanitation related behaviour. One such, for instance, is the belief that water tanks should be always kept open so that there could be free circulation of air and exposure to sunlight, which are thought to be sufficient to keep the water safe for drinking. This has resulted not only in such tanks becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes of the anopheles type, but also they get infested with a lot of other parasites. In this background, what our volunteer, Thangam, has done in her village Cheyyatrai Vendran is remarkable. Here is an account of what she has done:

Even though I have received training on the subject of water, sanitation and hygiene, it has been a rather desultory process for me to make even the members of my family practise safe beahviour in this regard. It has been harder still in the case of the village community. I attended recently another training programme on the subject and I repeated what I learnt to the children’s group of Cheyyatraivendran. Something clicked this time! The children suddenly remembered that the overhead tank in the village was never closed on top, making it vulnerable to infestation including the dumping of food wastes by crows, other birds and animals. They remembered having seen remnants of cooked fish, dead rats and other insects inside the water tank. Even though the local Panchayat workers used to take and throw them out, no efforts were made to make the water safe enough to drink.
So, I invited the newly elected President of the local Panchayat, Mr. C. Gunasekar, to participate in my next training class on the subject for the children’s group. He obliged and listened carefully to what the children had to say about the contamination of water in the overhead water tank of the village. He took the matter seriously and immediately promised to look in to the matter and do the needful. I am glad to note that he has since actually started work on closing the water tank on its topside. I feel thrilled at this because something that has never been done all these days has been done now thanks to the initiative taken by our children’s group!

C. M. Thangam.

Today’s children are the assets of tomorrow’s world. Therefore, investments for human development should start with investments in children. The Human Development Index (HDI) developed by the UNDP places India at the 134th rank out of 187 countries. This inequality-adjusted index combines economic prosperity with education levels and life expectancy. Therefore, it may be taken as a more accurate indicator of human development than the more well-known economic indicators such as GDP or per capita income. India’s rank at the lower rung is a cause for concern.

Both the quantum and quality of services delivered under the crucial sectors of health, nutrition, education, water supply, sanitation and environment as also for mainstreaming of gender in all such activities are far from satisfactory. The ‘Nine is Mine’ campaign underlines the urgent need to address these concerns. Stated in brief, this campaign states that six percent of GDP should be earmarked for education and another three per cent for health. There are also nine specific demands made, namely, compliance with Rights to Education Act, age-specific education to all children under RTE, equitable and inclusive education without discrimination, progressively upgrading the standards of education in all government schools, all children out of school to be brought in to schools alongside elimination of child labour, provision of wholesome and regular mid-day meals, provision of comprehensive health coverage to all children, provision of adequate and appropriate toilet facilities and provision of safe drinking water facilities in all schools. Viewed from a quality angle, equal stress must be laid upon addressing micronutrients malnutrition in utero as also in infants and children. Similar stress is called for in enhancing the quality of teaching in schools through suitable capacity building training for teachers as also upgrading the infrastructure available in schools. Only then, the performance indicator for human development for the country would register improvement. Further, the value of achieving excellence in whatever one does must be inculcated in children from early on.

With a view to building awareness on these concerns and to highlight the need to pay more attention to the qualitative aspects of care of the children, particularly in the areas of health care and education, the National Children’s Day has been celebrated by two of our volunteers, namely, Muniyandi and Thangam on the 14th of November 2011 in two villages of Anakavur. Here is a brief account on what they did on that day.

Celebration in Nedungal Village – by K. Muniyandi
The event was got up in the village temple and it went on for an hour from 6 PM. There were 25 participants from the children’s group of the village. In addition, 20 other children from the local school participated in the event. There were also 15 mothers who were there and they evinced keen interest in the proceedings. The event started with a prayer song by Danasekar. After a brief introductory talk by Muniyandi on the importance of the Day, the children were formed in to two groups – Group A, consisting of students from the 4th to the 7th standards and group B, consisting of students from the 8th to the 10th standards.

Muniyandi then conducted two quiz sessions, separately for Group A and for Group B. The questions for group A were selected from the information already given to the children about the different countries of the world. The quiz for group B was based on the earlier training given to the children on nutrition, heath and hygiene as also on English words taught to them earlier. The children participated in the quiz programmes with a lot of enthusiasm and interest. Prize winners have been selected from both the quiz programmes. They will be given the prizes in a separate event later when Venakt Sir visits Anakavur.

The children then performed two special skits prepared by them for the occasion, namely, one on life skills providing education and the other on the adverse impact of pollution. Both these skits were performed well and were appreciated by all those present.

The event came to a close with the distribution sweets to the children, followed by a vote of thanks.

Celebration in Chinnasengadu Village – by C. M. Thangam
Thangam organized this event in the village Chinnasengadu. There were 63 participants including children and adults.

Thangam stressed the following points relating to proper child development in her talk addressed to the parents:

• The need for inculcating the habits of personal hygiene in children
• Encouraging children to continue their studies up to higher education levels
• Child care should start early on even from ante-natal stage and continue through delivery, post-natal
stage, infancy and childhood
• The importance of early childhood education
• Importance of life skills, general knowledge and English

She also explained how the activities of the children’s group were woven around the above themes. The parents listened intently to the contents of the talk and responded by saying that the activities of the children’s group were indeed quite useful for the proper development of their children and they requested Thangam to continue her good work for the benefit of the local children.

In her address to the children, Thangam focused upon the following points:

• Continue education and avoid dropping out at any stage at any cost
• Participate in the activities of the children’s group, which will provide opportunities for acquiring life
skills education including general knowledge and knowledge of English

She then held a competition for the children showing them flash cards of wild life specially prepared for this occasion and asked them to name them in Tamil and English. In fact, the children felt very happy about this type of game and participated very enthusiastically in it.

On behalf of all volunteers, children’s groups, youth groups and women’s groups of Anakavur process, we wish all well wishers and friends of Anakavur a HAPPY DIWALI!

A training programme for skill development was conducted by Venkat in July 2011 for the Youth Group of Anakavur Block, which has been formed and run by Muniyandi, the volunteer. This programme was thought of mainly to bridge the gaps in life skills education which the youth of the villages miss out as compared to their urban counterparts. The focus of this programme was on career choice; how to plan for a career, enter upon it, derive satisfaction from it and be successful in it. It sought to guide the trainees on how to acquire the needed skills to compete successfully in the highly competitive job market. Such guidance is found to be woefully lacking in the education system of rural areas. Muniyandi has attempted a quick assessment of the impact of this training by interviewing three beneficiaries of the pogramme. Here is his report:

R. Rakesh is from Kunnavakkam village and he is currently doing his third year of B.A. degree course in English. When he completed his XII std., he was in no mood to continue his studies further. However, a chance counseling from Venkat Sir made him change his mind and opt for higher studies. He says that he realized the importance of knowledge of the English language in the modern world and hence chose to do his graduate course in that language. He also takes classes for the children’s group of his village. He feels what impressed him most was the skill development training programme conducted for the Youth Group by Venkat Sir. He has found it very useful as an eye opener of the complexities of the job market and the skills that are needed to successfully compete and enter upon it. He recalls the several topics that were covered in the training – writing skills, speaking/conversing skills, creative skills, skills related to decision making, time management, team work and management skills. However, the one thing that has impressed him the most is the skill relating to ‘critical thinking’ and its wide relevance to one’s work situation. He expressed his deep sense of gratitude to Venkat Sir for having given the Youth Group of Anakavur Block a rare opportunity free cost (and without any expectations in return), which one could otherwise get only through attending expensive courses run in the cities, such as personality development course or skill development course.

D. Chinraj is from Akkur village and he is currently doing his B. Sc degree course in Physics. What has impressed him most about the Youth Group Training Programme is the point that in the absence of certain basic life skills it could be an extremely difficult task to compete successfully in the job market and he is thankful to Venkat Sir for having created this awareness in him. Of all the various skills which Venkat Sir had explained in the training programme, the one that has impressed him most is the skill relating to ‘Time Management’. Like Rakesh, Chinraj also feels that this is a very rare and valuable opportunity that is normally available only to students in cities and he feels very thankful to Venkat Sir for having given such a wonderful opportunity to the youth of Anakavur.

K. Srividya from Madipakkam village is studying in the XII standard. She has been a member of the children’s group of her village for the past six years. She also feels that the skill development training programme conducted by Venkat Sir is highly useful for it has exposed the trainees to certain much-needed skills to cope with the challenges of finding a suitable job after completing studies, thus taking them beyond the routine class room instructions and examinations conducted at schools. In this sense, the training programme has indeed filled in a gap that is there in what is taught in schools. She is particularly impressed by the fact that certain basic skills are needed to cope with life situations including the efforts to find a suitable job. What has impressed her most is ‘creative skills’, which help in the development of one’s thinking and mental development. It helps one to develop the needed skills to cope with the challenges of life. She further feels that this training has helped the trainees to bring out the best in their personalities. Like the other two youths, she too feels extremely grateful to Venkat Sir for having provided such an excellent and useful opportunity to them absolutely free of cost.

K. Muniyandi.

Every year the World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in the first week of August to bring in to focus the importance of breastfeeding the children for ensuring their proper physical and mental growth and development. The key messages relating to breastfeeding are also disseminated regularly by the extension educators of the health department and the nutrition department all over India. Similar efforts are undertaken by NGOs involved in delivery of health care. In spite of all these efforts, the indicators of breastfeeding in India, as revealed by the National Family Health Survey (Round III) are not very encouraging. Only 23.4% of the mothers interviewed were found to be breastfeeding their newborn babies during the ‘golden first hour’ after birth. According to experts, just by enhancing this activity alone, sizeable newborn deaths could be averted annually. Again, such a step could save 22% of all neonatal (0-28 days) deaths. Further, it has been estimated that this could also help the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No.4 of reducing mortality of under 5 years old children by nearly two-thirds by 2015.
Similarly, exclusive breastfeeding of the babies for a period of six months is considered a must for avoiding infections to the babies, for strengthening their immune systems, for strengthening their guts adequately, for developing in them a feeling of psychological security and self-confidence and for ensuring proper brain growth and development. There are again evidences to prove that breastfed babies tend to have less dental caries in early childhood than babies fed on formula milk. There is also evidence to show that exclusive breastfeeding acts as a deterrent to obesity and connected ailments in later life including diabetes and cardio vascular diseases. However, as per the results of NFHS-III, only 46.3% babies were exclusively breastfed.
At the third stage, complementary feeding is to be introduced to children from age 6 months onwards up to age 2 years, along with continuation of breast milk. Here again, NFHS III found out that only 55.8% of children in the age group of 6 to 9 months were found to be given solid mushy complementary food. This stage is very important as about 90% of brain development of the child is completed at this age.
Ms. Thangam, our volunteer from Cheyyatraivendran village has been an avid communicator of the messages relating to breastfeeding of children to the women of all the villages where she works. Besides training the local volunteers of the area where she works, she has also been celebrating the World Breastfeeding Week every year. In fact, a report has already been posted on this site (dated September 21, 2011) on how she and Volunteer Ms. Jeeva from Thavasi village celebrated this year’s week in the village Thavasi on the 7th of August 2011.
She has now attempted to make a quick assessment of the impact of her above programme on the women of Tavasi village. Here is her report:
I selected five women of Tavasi village who attended the World Breastfeeding Week Celebration in that village on the 7th of August 2011 for purposes of this impact assessment. They were: Vatsala (23 yrs), Sumati (28 yrs), Jeeva (23 yrs), Sasi (20 yrs) and Shakila 24 yrs). I asked each one of them 10 questions relating to breastfeeding and I have summarized below their responses:

1. By what time the newborn baby should be put to the breast of its mother?

Of the five respondents, only two were able to say precisely that it should be done within the first hour after birth (40%). One was vague saying that it should be done immediately after birth, another stated it should be done within 1½ hours, and the remaining one said that colostrum should be given immediately after birth.

It may be seen from the above responses that there is still some vagueness about what should be done and when it should be done.

2. Why is such an action necessary?

Three respondents (60%) felt that breast milk contained anti-bodies that could strengthen the baby’s immune system. Another felt that it would keep the baby healthy. Yet another felt that breast milk contained the needed nutrients for the baby.

3. Should the newborn baby be fed with any other concoction or stuff than the mother’s milk? If yes, why?

Four out of five respondents (80%) felt that nothing else than mother’s milk should be given to the baby. However, one of them stated that her family members fed her baby with donkey’s milk as they believed that it was good for the baby’s health!

4. For how long should the child be exclusively breastfed?

Four out of five (80%) felt that exclusive breastfeeding should be done for a period of six months. One of them felt that it should be done for about to 4 to 5 months.

5. Why should this be done and who gave you this information?

Two of the respondents gave the source of this information as the World Breastfeeding Week Celebration. Two other attributed this to the Health Sub-centre and Anganwadi (Nutrition Centre) staff. One just said that she knew it already but this celebration reinforced her information. None of them said anything about why this should be done.

6. What should be given to the child beyond six months?

All of them specified different kinds of food that could be given as complementary feeding, such as well-cooked and mashed greens, lentils, boiled rice, etc. One of them stated ‘solid mushy food’.

7. For how long should breastfeeding of the child continue?

Only one of them said ‘up to two years’. Others were not specific and said things like ‘for more than two years’, ‘up to three years’ and ‘up to two-and-a-half years’. The message regarding breastfeeding to continue up to 2 years needs to be conveyed very specifically and clearly.

8. What are the advantages of breastfeeding to the child?

Almost all of them have mentioned the main advantages, such as, strengthened immune system, proper physical growth, proper development of psycho-motor functions, strengthening of guts, acquiring a sense of security and self-confidence, better brain development and better learning capacities.

9. What should be the minimum birth weight of a newborn baby?

Three of them (60%) gave the correct response of 2.5 kg. One gave the figure as 3 kg. One stated that she had no idea.

10. How can one find out the growth status of the child?

Three of them (60%) gave the correct response, namely, ‘through monthly weighing’. One thought that the doctor should be consulted to find this out. The other one felt that if the child gained height that would be an indicator.

From the above analysis, it may be gleaned that overall, the awareness level on breastfeeding after the World Breastfeeding Week celebration 2011 is satisfactory. However, there are certain crucial areas on which I have to work with re-doubled vigour in the coming months to convey the right messages, clearly and convincingly. The areas needing such special attention seem to be:

• To remove the vagueness about what should be done about breastfeeding the baby after birth and when it should be done.
• To remove the still persisting belief in some people that donkey’s milk could be substituted for mother’s milk.
• To prove clarity about the exact duration of exclusive breastfeeding and the reasons for doing this.
• Similarly, to provide precise information of the period for continuing breastfeeding beyond six months.
• To convey the precise minimum birth weight recommended for the newborn baby.
• To underline the importance of monthly weighing in order to know the health status of the child.

This quick assessment has been an eye-opener for me which would now enable me to focus on the areas highlighted above in my efforts of building awareness among the women of our villages in the coming months and I expect better awareness as also better practice levels among them by the time the next World Breastfeeding Week sets in.

Although the literacy rate of India grew from a mere 12% in 1947 to 74.04% in 2011 (Census of India 2011), it is still found to be below the world average literacy rate of 84%. It is a matter of concern that India at present has the largest illiterate population in the world. The decadal growth rate of literacy between 2001 and 2011 has also been rather slow at 9.2%.There is also in evidence a wide gender disparity in literacy rate, with 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women (2011).
According to the message of Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the International Literacy Day 201, the following points, inter alia, come upfront as focus points:

• In today’s knowledge driven societies, lack of literacy is more than ever synonymous with exclusion and marginalization.

In Anakavur Block, the Day was celebrated on 8th September 2011 in two villages, namely, Cheyyatraivendran (by Thangam) and Akkur (by Muniyandi). The following is an account of what they did on that day:

Cheyyatraivendran:

The members of the children’s group and other school students participated in the event, which took place at the local Middle School. There were some special guests, namely, the Assistant Education Officer (Mr. P. Duari), the Headmistress of the local school (Ms. E. Vijayakumari), the President of the local Panchayat (Mr. K. Ganapathi), other teachers and the local nutrition centre worker, besides some members of the public.

A special mention would be appropriate at this point of the fact that this was the first ever event of International Literacy Day held in our village. I feel very pleased with it. I took the opportunity to explain to the audience at some length the points made by Dr. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, in her message on the occasion of the International Literacy Day for the year 2011. I further dwelt upon the need to completely eliminate the problem of school drop-outs in our village. I also explained to the audience about the importance of learning the three R’s as also of acquiring life skills.

This was followed by some special skits prepared and performed by the children on the importance of literacy.

After this, I spoke about the Anakavur work and its importance to human development efforts in the block. I drew the particular attention of the audience to the fact that as part of this process, I had been successful in putting back in to school as many as 14 children so far. This part of my work was appreciated by some beneficiary children – Rakesh, Manivannan, Devaraj, Varalakshmi and Selvam. Some parents who had come for the event also endorsed the views expressed by the above children.

The special guests spoke next one by one and all of them were all praise for the Anakavur process and laid stress upon the need for achieving full enrolment and total elimination of the problem of drop-outs.

I would particularly like to thank Venkat Sir, my mentor, who has involved me in this very useful Anakavur process.

C. M. Thangam

Akkur:

I organized a modest event in my village in which all the children of our local group participated. Some local friends also participated in the event. After a brief introductory talk by me on the importance of literacy, particularly the three R’s and the life skills, I requested the children to read out paragraphs from the translated message (in to Tamil) of Dr. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO.

Each such reading was followed by discussions by the audience on the points contained therein. The discussions were quite lively and the participation by the audience was quite intense.

I also took the opportunity of reviewing the activities of the children’s group and how they were supportive of the development efforts of the village and the block.

K. Muniyandi.

Pictures from Cheyyatrai vendran and Akkur village functions: