A 501(c)(3) registered organization supporting Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust in India
Sponsor ECCD support to village
The Background
India continues to have a major problem of “stunting and wasting” in children under 5 year olds. This is mainly because of the lack of awareness of the importance of early childcare. The Government has set up Anganwadis in villages to support prenatal mothers and children under 5 years. However, these centres are understaffed, and the Government employed person has too many things to take care and are unable to spend quality time with the children to stimulate them. This leads to development delays which causes the child to lag behind and not reach their potential.
The Initiative
Bala Mandir came up a “ECCD Programme” in a cluster of villages in the Tiruvallur district wherein its field workers, who are trained in ECCD methodologies, spend their morning time in the Anganwadis supporting the children and in the afternoon spend time with the families with young babies and pregnant women giving various inputs and explaining the importance of care and how the same can be given with available resources. Social workers monitor the performance of the field workers and conduct training programmes and plan other initiatives to ensure good execution of the plans. The inputs are a blend of education, guidance, and hands-on stimulation to enhance overall development and optimize brain development during the critical early years.
The Bala Mandir initiative currently covers 27 village anganwadis and plans to expand this to cover a full block of around 100 Anganwadis in a years’ time. This planned growth is mainly on account of the significant social impact noted during the pilot work done. Details can be obtained from the enclosed presentation.
Typical Comments from the parents
- Through this program, I learnt about how to involve children in day-to-day activities and allow them to do their own work. I also learnt how stimulations help the child’s brain development. I came to know of the services given by the Anganwadi for ANC & PNC. Information on the roles of the teacher and helper was also very useful – Ms. Kavinya, Sengiagaram.
- I whole heartedly thank the organization for arranging such a wonderful program. This program was a platform for us to gain information about importance of parenting and how the teacher is working in the center. The information given by the team was very useful to us – Ms.Vaishnavi, Villiyar colony.
Sponsorship
It costs $ 1250 to sponsor the Bala Mandir work in one village per year. Sponsors could opt to support 3 or 6 months of any village. This cost includes the employment of field worker for each village and the other support provided. A typical village would have approximately 10 pregnant women under this programme plus 20 babies and toddlers under are still at home and around 25 children who go to the Anganwadis. The Bala Mandir support has been having a transformative impact and hence the plan to increase the number of villages covered.