Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Over two years, the 15,000 children receiving the fortified soymilk & deworming medicine will enjoy superior growth and decreased illness. This will improve the quality of life for them and their families, and increase their ability to learn.

Project Message

"Since the school feeding program began, attendance at the school has gone up because the children enjoy the soymilk so much… the children are happier."
- Narendra Sewa, Teacher of one-room school, Bosenmura, Orissa

Who is Running This Project

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in India and can also be found under Health.

For more information about India, read the Human Development Report on India or the Wikipedia entry for India.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on December 19, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 08, 2007.

Latest Update from the Field

Dec 2008 Update - All Systems Go!

By Hart Jansson - Project Leader, December 19, 2008 04:18 PM

Project Update – December 18th, 2008

I have good news for all the generous donors who have been waiting patiently for an update. After a long wait which caused our project to slow down, we have received approval from the State government of Orissa to serve the midday meals to the students in the government-run schools. Five new VitaGoat systems will be installed in rural Orissa in late December or early January, and over 5,000 primary school students will then be receiving the micro-nutrient-enriched soymilk. Our use of the micro-nutrient mix Budhi-Shakti will ramp up sharply so we need your donations more than ever. We will be using about 1.5 kg of the micro-nutrients every day or about 30 kg per month. The government approval clears the way for at least 15,000 students to receive the soymilk and micro-nutrients by June of next year when the project will be fully implemented. When fully implemented, we will be using about 4 kg of micro-nutrients per day or 80 kg per month, which costs about $800 per month.

Reports continue to be received regularly from the local implementing partner BISWA, both for production statistics and costs/revenues, as well as the Health Data study that is being conducted as part of the project. The 4 VitaGoats currently running are operating at a break-even level and will make a profit when they begin serving the soymilk to the larger group of beneficiaries. The initial results of the comparative health study data are very encouraging - they show a noticeable improvement in the physical development of those children receiving the soymilk compared to the control group. These micronutrients and the soymilk really work! For more details please see the attached report which highlights the positive development of a few of the children in the study. Please also see some of the new pictures that I have posted from my last trip to Orissa in October.

After the next 5 VitaGoats are installed in January, 6 are scheduled to be installed in March and another 6 in May or June – look for our next update in February – and thanks for your generous support. If you have any questions, e-mail me at hart@malnutrition.org - Hart Jansson, Project Team Leader.

Attachments:

• Health study preliminary results
• Hart sharing a laugh - Antapali school
• Children getting soymilk - Mathikai school

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