Project Vikas Samvaad Samiti (VSS)

Campaign Story

About the project

In many villages of Madhya Pradesh the Sahariya tribe resides. Due to poor financial conditions, the members of this tribe tend to ignore issues related to health. Most of the people are landless and so in the absence of sustainable livelihood or opportunities to grow their food, the Sahariya tribe has continued to languish in poverty. This also explains causative factors of alarming rates of Severely Acute Malnutrition (SAM), Moderately Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and large-scale anemia, particularly among women and girl children of Sahariya community.

Making a difference

CRY America project VSS works towards survival of newborn children ensured through strengthening preventive and protective mechanisms on maternal and child health, reduction in the cases of malnourished children, combating child malnutrition through strengthening the livelihood system of the community and also enhancing household food security. The key activities under the project are regular home visits to sensitize families on the importance of institutional delivery, organizing health camps to address maternal and child health issues as well as the issues related to seasonal diseases, capacity building of members of children, adolescent and youth group members with the support of the module provided by child

Action during COVID times

● Awareness generation and sensitization in the communities regarding the COVID-19 vaccines
● Development of IEC on COVID symptoms, hygiene and safety protocols and mitigation strategies in local language

The Way Forward

● 100% targeted people from reference communities will get awareness training during the project period about COVID-19 & its protection systems
● Survival of newborn children ensured through strengthening preventive and protective mechanisms on maternal and child health
● Reduction in the cases of undernourished children
● Combat child malnutrition through strengthening the livelihood system of the community and also enhancing household food security
● Provide critical education support in this extended gap period, so that children can return to school with confidence

Project Impact

pregnant women attended all four antenatal care

171

Pregnant women attended all four antenatal care

institutional deliveries

181

Institutional deliveries

children received full immunization

124

Children received full immunization

children moved from moderately underweight to normal

50

Children moved from moderately underweight to normal

families benefited from kitchen garden

150

Families benefited from kitchen garden

children participated in sports

200

Children participated in sports

Last Year’s Grant Disbursed : $52,529

Current Year’s Approved Grant

Health$20,774

Nutrition$20,774

Administration$10,388

Total Budget$51,936

Story of Community Upliftment

The Sahariya are an ethnic group in Madhya Pradesh, India. They are classified as a particularly vulnerable tribal group. They are expert woodsmen and forest product gatherers, but they don’t have much agricultural land, and they mainly depend upon seasonal labor work. A balanced and nutritious diet is like a dream for these tribes.Poultry rearing has been a tradition in the Sahariya tribal families, so eggs and meat were easily available in the past. But the last few years were not the same, which affected the nutrition of children, women and adults. According to the National Family Health Survey 4, 49.6% of children under five in the Sahariya community are malnourished. 35% of adults in this community are undernourished, while 48.7% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 are anemic.

To improve the condition of malnutrition in the Sahariya tribal community of Shivpuri District, Vikas Samvad Samiti started a community-based management of malnutrition (CBMM) project in 15 villages of Pohri Block from the year 2017. Under this project, in coordination with the local Animal Husbandry Department, people of the Sahariya community were trained to rear Kadaknath species of poultry. In the project, 758 families in 15 villages are doing poultry farming.

Within a few months, the hens of the Sahariya families started laying eggs. These families ate the eggs themselves and also fed them to the guests. Soon people from outside started coming to Pohri to buy chicken. However, chickens were sold when there was a particular need. They have been earning an average of INR 5000 – 7000 by selling these chickens. In this way, the community was safe from the debt problem, as they could arrange the money at the time of crisis and need. This solution has improved their financial conditions, and families can now spend more on providing nutritious meals to their children.

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