Government of Madhya Pradesh launched 'Poshan Matka', a community-based initiative to educate families about good nutritionRashtriya Poshan Maah is observed in India every year in the month of September to promote nutrition among women and children and to encourage community partnership to ensure health and nutrition for everyone. This year’s theme for the Poshan Maah is “Eat Well and Stay Healthy”.

The Department of Women & Child Development, Madhya Pradesh developed an innovative multi-pronged strategy – POSHAN MATKA – a community-based approach involving Anganwadi workers to generate awareness about good nutrition practices among people.

Poshan Matka is a nutrition pot which becomes the central theme of discussion among health workers and communities. While celebrating the Poshan Maah, the Anganwadi Centres bustle with community’s women every day, while the beautifully decorated Poshan Matkarests at the center. As the women enter the Anganwadis, they carry some local grains, vegetables and fruits, some of them grown in their kitchen gardens, which they handover to the Anganwadi Didi.

All women settle down and the Anganwadi worker begins the counselling session, explaining the purpose of this creative innovation. In the local dialect she illustrates the grouping of food items and the nutritional benefits of each food item that the women brought with them and drops them into the pot one by one. As the pot slowly fills up, women part of the workshops understand the significance of locally available food items and dietary diversity for a healthy body and mind.

Explaining about the Poshan Matka activity conducted in her centre in Heerpur village, Angwanwadi worker Najira Katoon says, “I asked the tribal women in our area to get some indigenous fruits and vegetables from their own homes, to fill the Poshan Matka. As I explained them the benefits of each food item, they realized how easy it is to maintain dietary diversity through locally available food. I also invited their husbands for the session and urged them to take equal part in maintaining good nutrition for the family. 6 months pregnant Ramakatha who attended the Poshan Matka session shares, “I have understood that our stomach is like a pot and we have to fill it with nutritious food. It is for my own and my baby’s good health.”

The idea of Poshan Matka was conceived by the Department of Women & Child Development, Madhya Pradesh. Nutrition International, which has been supporting the Government of Madhya Pradesh since 2006 in reducing malnutrition among children and women, has extended its technical support for the

Poshan Matkainitiative as well. Nutrition International is training Anganwadi workers on ways to improve  community engagement and counselling with the right messages on diet diversity Shusma Soni, ICDS Supervisor in Sheopur District shares “The Poshan Matka initiative has a dual power.

(The writer is State Program Representative, Nutrition International 1 National Family Health Survey-4)