The smart anganwadi

Context:  Anganwadi centres (AWCs) could become agents of improved delivery of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, but for that, they need to be recast in a new avatar.

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme: caters to the nutrition, health and pre-education needs of children till six years of age and the health and nutrition of women and adolescent girls.

Issues with the AWCs:

• Lack of facilities: Nearly 25% of the operational AWCs lack drinking water facilities and 36 % do not have toilets.
  • AWCs lack facilities like a creche, good quality recreational and learning facilities for pre-school education.
• Non-adherence to ICDS services: ICDS beneficiaries often have to forego their benefits and keep their children with privately-run centres, as seen through a study in coastal Karnataka.

Ways to revamp AWCs

• Expand its utility: to play a larger role in anchoring community development; (Saksham Anganwadi Scheme aims to upgrade 2.5 lakh such centres across the country)
  • In 2015, the NITI Aayog recommended better sanitation and drinking water facilities, improved power supply and basic medicines for the AWCs.
• Combine supplementary nutrition with pedagogic processes: Research has shown the significance of the playing-based learning approach in the cognitive development of children.
• Ensure adequate manpower: and upgrade skill through training.
  • Improve the career prospects and service conditions of Anganwadi workers (AWWs): By creating a robust mechanism to regularly assess and plug knowledge gaps.
    • E.g. Kerala, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have done relatively better.
    • Centre’s POSHAN Abhiyaan has taken steps towards building capacities of AWWs.
• Effective use of technology: E.g.
  • In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, AWCs have been geotagged to improve service delivery. 
  • Gujarat has digitised the supply chain of take-home rations, and real-time data is being used to minimise stockouts at the Anganwadi centres.

Conclusion: States have much to experience from each other while the success of programmes like ICDS depends on the efficiency of institutions like AWCs.