Production of Nutritious Foods through Women’s Groups Project

Overview

Through a US$ 850,330 grant, GAIN is working with the World Food Programme (WFP) India to provide technical support to women’s groups in Rajasthan to produce nutritious foods (IndiaMix) for children 6 to 36 months served by the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme in three tribal districts of Rajasthan. ICDS, which is managed by the Indian Government’s Department of Women and Child Development, provides a basket of services including supplementary nutrition to more than 80 million children and pregnant and lactating women across India.

The project builds on the experience of WFP in setting up and supporting self-sustaining small food manufacturing units run by women entrepreneurs in the state of Madhya Pradesh. These units have been operating successfully for the last ten years with consistently good quality food.

Goal

The goal of this project is to reduce malnutrition among infants and young children participating in the ICDS across the state in a way that mobilizes and provides income generating opportunities for women’s self help groups. The project aims to reach 250,000 children under three years old per year with improved nutrition. Plans are underway to establish 10 small self-sustaining food production units that will serve as a model for replication across the state of Rajasthan. The Government of Rajasthan has committed to purchasing products produced by the women’s groups.

Impact

The project expects the consistent use of the nutritious food to improve children’s nutrition and reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia by at least 30 percent among the target population of children 6 to 36 months of age. It aims to cover 10.5 percent of infants aged 6 to 24 months. 

Duration

The project will be implemented from 2010 to 2012.