“ Education for Empowerment, Health and Self-Reliance”
(Home Schools: focused nutrition and child development strategies in rural Birbhum)
Project goal (long-term)
The long-term goal of this project is to significantly improve the nutritional standards, health status and educational achievements of the children living in the project villages. It intends to achieve this goal by working closely with families and other service providers in the objective of reducing infant malnutrition and raising the BMI of all children in the 3 to 6 age group. The Project also aims to provide the children with an enhanced, child-friendly and motivated environment- both at the school and at home and increase the awareness of children’s rights and need for development.
Project Objectives (S.M.A.R.T.)
The project intends to work in the following areas:
· Improve facilities of 10 existing “Home Schools” and open 5 others in the Project locations (villages)
· Increase training opportunities of adolescent girls to become trainee teachers of the Home Schools.
· Strengthen the capabilities of the mothers of the school-going children to handle family nutrition, health and hygiene matters within their existing income base.
Strategy and Activities
Key strategies include capacity-building, organizational development and participatory infrastructure. Among the activities are the following:
· Develop and improve upon existing ‘child-friendly” syllabus for 15 “Home Schools”.
· Involve staff in training exercises including networking trips to other pre-schools and NGO- run schools.
· Run daily classes for pre-school children for 2 hours a day.
· Organize 3 x weekly training sessions for trainee teachers
· Hold 2 x weekly classes for mothers of school-going children on health, hygiene and nutrition
· Hold bi-weekly literacy and awareness classes for mothers
· Encourage families to have kitchen/herbal gardens so that nutritional intake can be improved.
