Nexus of Good: An imaginative outreach

Lack of quality educators at schools, role models at home, growth-oriented peer activities and daunting environmental constraints are inimical to a child’s holistic growth. Varnali Deka, the Deputy Commissioner of this remote District in Assam recognized this and went about addressing such issues. Regular assessment of children in the District revealed that there was a need to encourage the participation of school-going children in co-curricular activities for their overall personality development, to build the youth as future leaders and as change bearers leading the way for community goals like Swachh Bharat, public health etc and as future leaders. To promote the holistic growth of the students by improving their non-scholastic skills and encouraging the mass movement in schools, the District administration aimed to build an ecosystem that promote healthy living.

With this aim in mind, Swachh Poshan Health Clubs were launched in all 1,698 schools of the District and have brought about epochal changes in the lives of more than 10,000 students of the district by envisaging them as leaders and drivers for attitudinal and behavioural changes with a focus on nutrition, fitness, hygiene etc. Poshan Club was conceptualized to promote nutritious food habits and healthy living, extending consciousness around the significance of being emotionally and physically fit. The idea behind the launch of Poshan Clubs was to position children as the key leaders and drivers for attitudinal and behavioural changes with a focus on nutrition, fitness and hygiene. This initiative was undertaken to engage the students to spread knowledge on health and hygiene and the need for proper nutrition among all the people, encouraging students to become the ‘leaders of change’. To handhold the children in carrying out their activities effectively, efforts of Departments such as Education, Health, Social Welfare, PHE, Sports etc. were dovetailed.

In Poshan Club, an innate mechanism has been designed by the District administration to make it sustainable and effective by involving all the available stakeholders and defining their specific roles and responsibilities in driving campaigns on a mission mode every month. The system of mentorship is also inbuilt as officers and officials of different departments provide counselling and hand-holding sessions to these children during their free time. Poshan Clubs addressed the lack of quality educators/role models at home/growth-oriented peer activities/environmental apathy to developmental goals found inimical to a child’s growth and societal progress.

Poshan Club is a very simple initiative, which can easily be implemented and recreated in schools due to its easy acceptance by students. In every school, there are Core Group members (6-12 individuals) who lead other students under the supervision of a Resource Teacher and carry out activities designed on Monthly Thematic Areas. By promoting peer learning, Poshan Clubs address the lack of quality educators, role models at home, and environmental apathy to developmental goals which are found inimical to a child’s growth and societal progress.

Bal Sansads, traditional entities that were not working properly in schools of Goalpara, are revived through the mechanism of Poshan Clubs. To rejuvenate the process, a thematic calendar designed containing a set of monthly activities along with long-term and short-term goals has been curated. Monthly affairs have been synchronized with the performance indicators of health and education and Government programmes like Fit India, Poshan Maah, Yoga Diwas etc. It also focuses on developing leadership traits in the students making them the change leaders of the community. The initiative has been awarded by the Government of Assam and selected for replication throughout the state. Government of India has also appreciated this initiative and selected Goalpara as a pilot.

The Monthly Thematic Areas and indicative lists developed through intensive brainstorming with experts provide a high degree of standardisation with sufficient scope for customization. Every week, members take up various activities including personality development sessions, self-defence and engage as messengers of good nutrition, healthy habits, fitness, and women empowerment spearheading the organizing of bal sabhas, awareness runs, mothers’ meets, potlucks, exhibitions, debates, kitchen gardens etc.

Monthly reports are collected from BEEOs through the District Poshan Abhiyaan personnel and discussed in the DDC meeting. The entire system has been incentivised with the best performers being recognised on the District’s social media. Monthly and quarterly best performers respectively win a trip to the DC office that includes interaction with DC and top officials and an educational trip. An annual running trophy has also been instituted. Further, the best-performing school is awarded on each Independence Day. To internalize this lifelong message, a pledge on Poshan, Health and Hygiene has been developed and each child takes the pledge in the morning assembly.

The school authorities use the Poshan Clubs as a forum to nurture the students' overall personality development. Besides, Poshan Clubs have emerged as an effective tool for sensitisation and awareness generation regarding a wide range of topics. Every month around 1,700 schools perform campaigns or events on education, nutrition, fitness, and healthy lifestyle and impact the people of 800 villages. Annually around 8,000 students (members of the Core Group), enabled with enhanced leadership traits and enhanced life skills impact around 30,000 students and help them understand the dynamics of their village/community.

A visionary, Varnali Deka, and her committed team of officers have demonstrated that the idea may not be a big one to bring about a change. They have done that in this remote District of the country by engaging with all the stakeholders in the true spirit of Nexus of Good to make it happen. The model that they have put in place is not only replicable but also scalable. If it can happen in Goalpara, it can happen anywhere and everywhere in the country. It does not require any financial outgo. It requires some vision and planning but a lot of commitment.

Views expressed are personal