Projects

Despite various health schemes and services in India, inadequate implementation and ineffective monitoring have led to a persistent gap in accessing quality healthcare, particularly for the marginalized communities, perpetuating health inequities in India. Breaking the cycle of intergenerational malnutrition and improving the health and nutritional status of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) requires an integrated approach. This means devising and coordinating programming to target AGYW’s attitudes and behaviors and those of their families and communities. It also includes addressing their low socioeconomic status, their treatment and power within the home, school dropout rates, the age at which they marry and become pregnant, and their earning potential outside the home. Looking beyond the immediate family, it requires addressing challenges with educational and health facilities, the people who serve AGYW in those sectors, and the larger communities’ support for AGYW and their children.

To address these problems, the STRONG project targets three avenues of change: service improvement, provision of products and supplements, and behavior change among AGYW and those in their spheres of influence, to create and enabling environment for supporting improvements to AGYW’s health and wellbeing.

• Improve services, provision of products and supplements, and behavioural change for improved nutritional status, health, and well-being of AGYW.
• Build the capacities of frontline workers (ASHA, Anganwadi, Sahika, teachers, etc.)
• Promotion of kitchen gardens and demonstrations of nutritionally rich foods, etc.
• Sensitize key family members and to mobilize support and action around the AGYWs