Fortified Midday Meals for government schoolchildren through centralised kitchens
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Improved Nutrition: Solutions through Innovation competition.
Feeding underprivileged government schoolchildren a hygienically prepared, fortified and tasty midday meal every working day on a large scale (currently 1 million children)
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Leena
Last Name
Joseph
Website
Organization
Naandi Foundation
Country
India
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Naandi Foundation
Organization Website
Organization Phone
91 40 2355 6491
Organization Address
502, Trendset Towers, Road # 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500 034, Andhra Pradesh
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
India
Your idea
Name Your Project
Fortified Midday Meals for government schoolchildren through centralised kitchens
Country your work focuses on
India
Describe Your Idea
Feeding underprivileged government schoolchildren a hygienically prepared, fortified and tasty midday meal every working day on a large scale (currently 1 million children)
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
1. We provide fortified meals to the government schoolchildren through the midday meal programme which reaches one million schoolchildren in every school working day of the year. 2. We provide food to the states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan , Orissa where malnutrition rates are alarming. We provide food to Kalahandi of Orissa which is famous for its starving deaths in the world hunger maps. There are many parts of tribal Rajasthan where children would have gone hungry, had I not been preparing a midday meal there in their schools. 3. We provide food to the tribal and remote places by climbing hillocks and crossing rivers on foot where accessibility to basic commodities is a far cry.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
The first and most tangible impact we have had is the fact that lakhs of children have actually got the midday meal in school. Prior to Naandi’s provision of meals, in many of the locations there was no midday meal being provided to the schoolchildren. For many of the children now, this is the only square meal in the day for them. The Naandi team traverses extremely tough terrains to reach this food to the children. Secondly, this programme has increased attendance in schools. As there is an assured midday meal every day, parents make sure that the children go to school. Once at school, after a good meal, the child is able to learn better.
Thirdly – the fortification of the midday meal is having significant impact on nutrition status of the children. An efficacy trial is being conducted in one of Naandi’s kitchens – this will produce scientific evidence of the change in haemoglobin levels of children who are taking the fortified midday meal.
Problem
Our project is addressing the very basic fundamental problem of hunger and malnutrition among children in poor families. It is a well known fact that India’s children suffer from high rates of malnutrition. In many pockets, even a regular meal is a rare occasion for the child. Naandi’s project reaches out to these very poor children. By providing the midday meal in the school, it is ensured that more and more children attend school – this helps address the enrolment & attendance problem in government schools. The third urgent problem that Naandi’s project helps is that of learning levels of children. A child who is hungry cannot be expected to learn in school. By providing a fortified meal, Naandi is ensuring that the children are in a position to understand and learn what is being taught in class. Midday meals from a centralised kitchen succeed in bringing down caste barriers, as neither teachers nor parents worry about who has cooked the food. It is perceived as having come from a factory. In addition, all children get the same (equal) quality and quantity of food – this helps to bring about a sense of equality amongst children, even if they come from different backgrounds.
Actions
The key actions needed for making this project successful are regular provision of the midday meal to children in government schools, provision of fruits and eggs along with the main meal, fortification of the meal, ensuring strict hygiene & cleanliness standards and increasing scale of operations.
The Naandi Team works hard to make sure each of the above actions is taken. Even if payment for purchases etc is delayed by the government/donor, Naandi has never allowed the meal preparation and distribution to get disrupted – even if it means temporarily taking loan. Extremely strict norms of hygiene and cleanliness are adhered to. Standard operating procedures have been laid out in each of the 25 centralised kitchens being run by Naandi.
Results
To reduce hunger amongst government school children
To bring down the rate of malnutrition amongst government school children
Increased enrolment and attendance in schools
Improved learning levels of children in schools
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
My project is successful today, in that it has succeeded in feeding 1 million children every day with a hot, hygienically cooked midday meal in school. Not only that, I am also able to fortify this meal with iron, folic acid and zinc. Over the next 3 years, I plan to expand my coverage to double the present number. I will do this by entering into MoUs with more and more city and district governments for setting up centralised midday meal kitchens.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
If Government of India suspends the National Midday Meal Programme, my project will be prevented from being a success.
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$100 ‐ 1000
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
In what country?
India
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Naandi Foundation
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
My organization believes in forging partnerships with governments, businesses as well as NGOs. This belief stems from the conviction that a cross-sector partnership is the one that garners the strengths of all partners, and delivers best results. Partnerships with government give our project the ability to reach out and cover millions of underprivileged people. It also gives us the official sanction of being a credible organization. Partnerships with businesses gives us visibility in the corporate sector, which in turn, increases our chances of getting technical and funding support from corporates.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
(i) More and more city governments approaching Naandi Foundation to set up centralised midday meal kitchens. ii) Government decision to meet cost of fortification of midday meals (iii) Corporates coming forward to meet capital cost of midday meal kitchens in remote, tribal areas.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
It started with a preliminary survey in few schools where Naandi was associated with and we found that 50% of the children in government schools come on an empty stomach. It is impossible for a child to learn anything when she is hungry. So Naandi began a school feeding programme on a small scale in a few schools in Hyderabad, with support from some corporate sponsors. It was while feeding these children in a few schools that I realised how important a good meal was, for these children, and what a rare commodity for them. Not only that, it was making a big difference to attendance percentages as well as learning levels of children. This revelation led me to this innovation. Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea. (400 words or less)
Leena Joseph is a Psychology graduate and has been an active volunteer with orphanages, old age homes, and government schools where ever she has lived. In the past she's been the National Project Convenor, for Ladies Circle and the Vice President for Ambassadors of Goodwill for Aids Patients Everywhere. Leena was awarded the 'Manava Seva Dharma Samayardhani Award' for her Social Entrepreneurship work for the Midday Meal, in 2004. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, a fabulous cook and enjoys working with children in any way she can. Today, Leena is the National Director of the Midday Meal Programme of Naandi Foundation.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
Leena Joseph is a Psychology graduate and has been an active volunteer with orphanages, old age homes, and government schools where ever she has lived. In the past she's been the National Project Convenor, for Ladies Circle and the Vice President for Ambassadors of Goodwill for Aids Patients Everywhere. Leena was awarded the 'Manava Seva Dharma Samayardhani Award' for her Social Entrepreneurship work for the Midday Meal, in 2004. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, a fabulous cook and enjoys working with children in any way she can. Today, Leena is the National Director of the Midday Meal Programme of Naandi Foundation.
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Newsletter from Changemakers
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Comments
You are doing great! I can't keep myself from writing you because of the success/sustainability factor of your program. I would be a great loss to the community helped if by any chance your organization will be halt to deliver the needed government support.
Sustainability means your initiative can go on even when the threat happened. I am not sure of the climate, water and soil factors in your place but the aquaponics can help the community for their food safety and security and to your sustainability.
In the Philippines local government became our social investors and the community became the business people. We mentor them how to address sustainability on a close loop approach. Ours is not a dole out so profitability is addressed.
If you are not for profit, community can be helped through bridging resource and leadership.
Good luck and I hope you go on helping the communities regardless of whether your government stopped providing your organization the resources. This can be done if the insights get through!
Best,
Jean Cruz
http://soupoftheday.weebly.com
On January 18, 2010 the judges reviewed the entries for the Changemakers Improved Nutrition: Solutions through Innovation competition and would like to pass on the following feedback (listed below) for your entry. Thank you for applying and for your hard work in the field. We are excited to archive your entry to serve as a leading solution for the worldwide community of innovators. We wish you continued luck with your innovative, sustainable, and socially impactful initiatives.
All the best, The Changemakers Team
“This is a very interesting example of improving nutrition at school. It’s a large scale initiative that would be replicable in many countries, despite difficult conditions. Other initiatives are often looking to do this, but lose out because of the fact that they don’t have the initial capital.”
“While I find the target population to be an important one, I would like to learn more about why they don’t target 0-3 year olds. This age group is often the worst off, especially since they don’t attend school, and this kind of a set up would be extremely beneficial for them. Why not target the groups that are the most affected?”
- Changemakers Improved Nutrition: Solutions through Innovation Judges
What Naandi is doing is a benchmark to all social works. In country like India, with a remarkable population, still a big mass is there who is deprived of basic amenities of life. Feeding to such crowd and enabling linked children for education is something very noble task Naandi is doing. Good Luck to them.
Ok. You have submitted the midday meals scheme. But this was already taken in effect in Tamilnadu, India during the year 1960s by the then Chief Minister Mr.Kamaraj(Congress). But during the tenure of Mr.M.G.Ramachandran and then, Ms.Jeyalalitha and now Mr.K.Karunanithi are following this scheme without any interruption. They give midday means alongwith one egg.
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