A technical training program on Nutrition and Food Security was organized in Bissumcuttack, Rayagada district on 17^th June 2022 by SWAD Rayagada (the implementing partner for addressing Nutrition and Food Security under Global Program India). The objective of this program was to bring about conceptual clarity and enhance the capacity of project staff on Nutrition and Food security. Apart from the project staff seven frontline workers (AWW), and two volunteers were the key participants in this program. The overarching purpose of the project was to reinforce the 20 most marginalised village into a nutrition smart village and to ensure the quality-of-service delivery system, upscaling the nutrition kitchen garden and managing the gaps of government services. The workshop brought about the understanding of the food chart for children and mother, Importance of locally available food, State-specific government services on ICDS and possibilities of Convergence with the Odisha Millet Mission (OMM). Mr. Judhistir, an expert working with Dangaria Kandha Development (DKD) for the last two decades dealt the session on concept clarity and government services. During the session, food diversity was highlighted. He said that the food diversity in the locality is great with greens, wild vegetables, shoots, fruits, mushrooms, and tubers. There is a seasonal variation in the availability of different produces for household consumption which are very rich in nutrients.

It is necessary to collect information regarding the diet diversity of people in the household and to be aware of the families’ capacity to maintain a diverse diet (Food chart). It was also discussed that to address the issue of malnutrition, especially in women and children, the Government of Odisha has been implementing the flagship centrally sponsored schemes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the Mid-Day Meals (MDM) scheme and the Central Government’s food subsidy scheme called the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). It has also seen good results in its schemes MAMATA and Janani Suraksha Yojana targeting the overall well-being of pregnant, and lactating women and their infants (including their nutritional needs). It aims to promote the thought of healthcare-seeking behaviour amongst all strata of society. It is important to integrate the ground-level ASHA and Anganwadi workers into the mainstream primary healthcare system and give them more responsibility and incentive to deal with real everyday nutrition problems of children under the age of five. Hence it is important to train them and equip them with knowledge and tools to alleviate the stress of the people and reduce the burden on our healthcare sector. There, the SWAD Project team and AWW were mutually discussed sharing the information and requested the project team for awareness generation, timely information to the beneficiaries for availing health benefits etc. Staff can assist AWW in regular survey and periodic check-ups of the child and mother to assess the gravity of the health issues. Mr. Laxmikant Singh, Block Coordinator from Odisha Millet Mission (OMM), spoke about the convergence with OMM for millet cultivation in the project area.

He has requested for a survey of landholding household to demonstrate the millet cultivation for first year and that can be upscale to further years. Also, he asked for SHGs formation and strengthening to promote millet enterprise and linked with government for income generation activity. The training helped the staff, front line workers and volunteers to coordinate and define activities to monitor together and helped community to improve their health status. AWW were encouraged to support project staff in helping in identifying the SAM/MAM children, NRC support and engaged the committee to monitor the AWC for quality service. All the AWWs were encouraged to support and work together to combat nutrition issue in the area.