A new mother or a nursing mother requires support in her daily life if she has to go out, do some activity and contribute to the household’s finances. Anganwadi centres play a crucial role in reducing stress and fatigue of the mother by contributing to their most important responsibilities of nurturing small children.

Anganwadi Programme – a part of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) (which includes The Anganwadi programme) was launched on 2 October 1975 and is a national programme that addresses the needs of children below the age of six years.
• Anganwadi centres provide an integrated package of services including supplementary nutrition, basic healthcare and pre-school education.
• Since the health and nutritional needs of a child alone cannot be addressed in isolation from the mother, the programme also extends to pregnant and lactating mothers.

Importance of Anganwadi programme in India
Nutritional levels during the early stages of life directly impact the overall health and growth of children to support the important milestones of life. This programme also educates mothers about the importance of nutrition and health, enabling them to provide better care for their children.

• Accessibility and affordability to healthcare
To the rural population of India, getting the right healthcare facilities is a challenge. Most people are not even aware of the programme they can benefit from.

• Establishes social connections with community
These centres give the women a sense of involvement in the community. It gives them the opportunity to participate in things that they would not have been able to otherwise. In short, it gives them social time – to catch up with neighbours, attend functions or weddings and also helps them socialise with other women in the Anganwadi centres.

• Eradicates malnourishment
Every child needs nutrition for healthy development. These essentials help them grow physically and mentally. When a child is well nourished right at a very young age, s/he is more likely to develop into a healthy adult.

• Gives access to Government programmes
Anganwadi workers become the main source of access to the Government’s scheme for rural people. With their help, mothers or parents become aware of the key health services and benefits.

In short, mothers feel less stressed that their child is well-taken care of. Many NGOs in India support the Government of India to run these Anganwadi centres. Most mothers do not have enough time to spare for their children. Plus, their husbands also work and do not have enough time for them. These centres allow them to have some free time for themselves.

Some of these centres are run with the generosity of donors who donate to feed the children coming from difficult backgrounds.

Akshaya Patra’s Anganwadi Feeding Programme
Having been a provider of mid-day meals to children, Akshaya Patra is well-aware of the significance of adequate nutrition in the growth and development of children. Hence, by initiating the Anganwadi Programme, the NGO in India aimed to feed the children and women in Anganwadi centres with nutritious meals daily.

Donate to NGOs that nourish children right from the early ages of childhood.

To ensure the beneficiaries receive the required quantity of nutrients every day, Akshaya Patra follows a cyclic and locally palatable Anganwadi food menu. This results in the inclusion of a variety of nutritious food items, taste while preventing monotony.

These meals that you donate to NGOs like Akshaya Patra:
• Provides required nutrition
• Supports age-appropriate growth
• Boosts immunity in the log-run
• Addresses health-related concerns
• Reduces mortality and morbidity rates in children.

Anganwadi Feeding Programme is a crucial intervention to ensure that every child receives a healthy start. Support women and little children for 300 days in a year, in the stages that require all nutritional needs for a better life with your contribution of Rs.1900. Donate to Akshaya Patra today to feed a mother and her child.

Millions of children are exploited for cheap labour and some of them don’t even know that they are being exploited. Many of these children are mostly forced by their families to be a helping hand to the family’s financial situation. Poverty is one major factor that ensnared into child labour.

“There is no place for child labour in society. It robs children of their future and keeps families in poverty.”
Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General

Unpaid or paid work, both deprive children of a well-deserved education. Can you imagine a child who has never seen the bright side of life but has always either worked with poisonous substances in a factory or has taken the role of a caretaker to babysit their siblings?

Over 9 million children could be pushed into child labour by 2022: International Labour Organisation (ILO)
But, is this the case only with India?
No, it is prevalent all over the world.

According to the latest report by ILO and UNICEF, the number of children has risen to a shocking number of 160 million, worldwide.

Many NGOs in India and worldwide work towards eliminating child labour at the grass-root level. What are the root causes?
There are many interlinking factors, if we do not address the root cause, then we will never be able to address the issue.

• Poverty
Without a second thought, poverty is the most powerful influence in pushing children into child labour. When basic requirements like food, shelter, health or education become luxurious commodities, children are forced to supplement their family’s income.

• Lack of quality education
It is a prevalent fact that mostly, children coming from challenging backgrounds do not get access to quality education in private institutions due to lack of funds, etc. Though you can donate to NGOs that support children’s education, there is always a gap that is difficult to bridge.

And this gap can be reduced by a simple intervention called the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDM Scheme). Education and food are the two solutions that could tackle child labour. Various states implemented this programme after its success in Tamil Nadu. After the mandate of the Supreme Court of India in 2001, all the states started implementing school meals for primary and upper primary school children.

The Mid Day Meal Scheme could work to bring children to school and help them become regular so that the social evil of child labour has no space to grow.

\To support the Government of India to feed and educate children, The Akshaya Patra Foundation – an NGO in India provides unlimited food for education to 1.8 million children in need every day.

Mid day meals relieve them of the burden of working for their daily meals. Donate to feed the children who need you the most to overcome every little hurdle in their life. Join us in our feeding initiatives.

One well-fed and educated child is one less child on the list of child labour.