The Caritas India Head of Programmes, Ms. Babita Pinto, appreciated the Sabal team for reducing malnutrition among the Korku Community during the two-day review and planning meeting in Madhya Pradesh.

In the last seven years, the program has achieved significant results while addressing the chronic hunger and malnutrition prevailing among the Korku tribal community.
Sharing Caritas India’s perspective, Ms. Babita said that our efforts should lead to getting acknowledged by the government, and our data on malnutrition reduction should be recorded in government records. She was addressing the partner directors, outreach workers, field trainers, and community facilitators assembled at the annual review organised at the Divyodaya Pastoral Centre, Khandwa, on March 23 and 24, 2023.

She also emphasized that the acute malnutrition-free villages and micro-watershed models developed under the Sabal program need to be promoted for replication by the government in other parts of the region. She said the Sabal programme has built the community’s capacities towards ensuring food and nutrition diversification, tapping government entitlements, etc., and now it is time for the community to take the initiative forward for their sustainability.

Dr. Saju MK, Zone Lead, West, also applauded Sabal Partners for successfully organising the district agriculture festival in collaboration with the Amravati Government Department. He shared that the Sabal programme has worked intensively at the household and community levels and should now focus on the district and state levels to become a model for fighting hunger and malnutrition among other distressed communities.

Facilitating the partners presentations, Mr. Robin George, the programme lead, initiated the key achievements and results sharing session. The session was insightful and participatory to learn about the innovations and best practises aimed at strengthening community food and nutrition challenges.

Mr. Robin George appreciated the partners for their wonderful efforts in approaching meso- and macro-level initiatives, naming a few: intensifying deworming campaigns; recognising tribal healers/priests as Aarogya Mitras; creating a joint platform for civil society organisations; reducing migration by generating employment through MGNREGA; and integrating Poshan-wadi in non-Sabal villages. He proposed to work on strengthening the role of Poshan Mitras as Community Support Units (CSUs) to link community members with government schemes and benefits and provide alternative livelihoods for these Poshan Mitras. Additionally, he encouraged the development of a blood donors’ group in the community to support anaemic mothers and children in need, especially mothers during pregnancy.

Dr. Mukund Deshmukh, Assistant Programme Lead, praised the team for their efforts in conducting net-planning for MGNREGA work, which helped in reducing migration among the community. He stressed the importance of creating an interface and dialogue with the government departments for the adoption and replication of food and nutrition security models in other villages and districts.

Reiterating the importance of community participation in good governance initiatives, Dr. Saju emphasised four key indicators, i.e. community’s ability to take responsibility in electing PRI members, demanding special Gram Sabha meetings, writing applications and memorandums for submission in the Gram Sabha; and ensuring accountability and transparency in governance initiatives.

The meeting concluded with the planning and finalisation of meso and macro-level activities for the next four months.