Provide Nutrition to Migrant Children For a Year

Progress Report of Early Chldhood Care and Development Center at

Prestige Waterford, Anand Nagar and Bidadi centres in Bangalore

 Reporting Period: 1st October 2023 to 31st December 2023

 Supported by GlobalGiving

Dear Friends of Sampark,

We wish you all a very Happy new year 2024 ! With support from good humans like you all, it has been possible for us to deliver good work and support migrant children in Bangalore, India. Let's dive into what we did this quarter.

Background of our work

A new city, new friends, and new experiences sound exciting to many of us. Well, we wish it is true for the 4 million migrants working in the construction sector in Bangalore. Parents migrate to the city to earn an income to manage their debts, are working the whole day and children are left to themselves in the labour colony. Migrant children live in unhygienic surroundings with no proper access to water and sanitation. Children lose out on their education when they move around with their parents to different places of work. They are completely invisible in the city to access their basic entitlements on health, education and nutrition. 

Sampark creche interventions caters to 1,500 migrant children through 26 crèches in various locations in Bangalore. The children are provided with a safe and fun place to play and learn basic languages, numbers, and arts and crafts. The children are under-nourished, and the health and nutrition requirements are secured by providing them breakfast, lunch, and snacks in the evening. The crèches work from 9.30 am to 5 pm. Children as young as 6 months old are taken in, Balwadi consists of children from 3-6 years and Non-formal Education from the age of 6 to 12 years.

Sampark based on its core women empowerment values, realized in cities, women primarily need support through childcare services to enable them to join the labour force and earn an income to contribute to their family income.

Location

There are multiple labour colonies spread all across Bangalore. This report particularly provides you the progress update of the below 3 centres.

Name of Crèche & Address of Crèches

1. Prestige water ford

Prestige Waterford, ECC Rd, Pattandur Agrahara, Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560066

 2. Anand Nagar

G B J School Rd No 1, Sanjay Nagar, Marathahalli, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560037

3. Bidadi

Rangegowdana Doddi, Manchanayakana Halli, Bidadi, Ramanagar - 562109

Children catered to 

Creche (6 months to 3 years)   - 9 girls and 5 boys

Balwadi (3 to 5 years)     - 10 girls and 12 boys

Bridge course (above 5 years to 12 years)     - 14 girls and 9 boys

Government school going children - 7 girls and 9 boys

In total 40 girls and 35 boys benefitted from the services of the early child hood care centre. It is to be noted that during the reporting period i.e. 1st Oct to 31st Dec , 5 children were newly enrolled, 13 children returned back from their native villages, and 21 children went to the village. The total enrolled as on 31st December is 75 (40 girls and 35 boys). This brings out the nature of the migrant children's life and makes us understand the importance of the support provided.

 Nutrition

Sampark set up the crèche keeping in mind that migrant children’s nutrition should be given utmost priority. The team provided eggs, bananas, chikkis and cooked hot midday meals (Kichidi) every day as per the planned schedule to all the children. Protien mixture was provided to the undernourished children and supplementary nutrition such as a multivitamin, and iron syrups were also included.

We are very happy that out of 5 children, 4 Children (Shravan Kumar, Dhiksha, Poornima and Shivakumar ) have shown improvement in weight and Grade ( moved from yellow ( moderately underweight to normal weight),1 Child (Gagan ) has improved his weight .


 Health Checks

5 children recieved their age-appropriate immunization and 20 (10 girls and 10 boys) Children were provided with Vitamin A and Deworming medicines. 2 Paediatric health camps were organized for children. 56 (29 Girls and 27 Boys ) children were screened. During the health camps, the teacher identified 4 pregnant women and enabled them to get mother card from the government maternal care centre and 1 women received immunization.

The team monitored the height and weight of the 36 children( 19 Girls and 17 boys ) aged below 5 years regularly. Out of 36 children, 5 children were undernourished. A special diet (protein mixture) was provided to these undernourished children. 5 children ( 2 girls and 3 boys) showed improvement in their weight.

Learning Activities

Crèche caters to children under 3 different categories. Creche: Children above 6 months to 3 years, Balwadi- children between 3 – 6 years, and non-formal education for children above 6 years. Activities related to overall development such as cognitive and physical development were implemented on the children in the creche. The topics covered during the reporting period were 

Activities related to overall development such as cognitive like simple maths, coloring, alphabet, Numbers, etc, and physical development like exercise and indoor and outdoor games, etc were implemented for the children. The topics covered during the reporting period were, Fruits and Life Skill, Vegetables and Village and City, Water and Our Country India etc.

Community Interventions

In an effort to ensure regular attendance to creche and learn and follow good ygience, discipline and healthy eating practices, Sampark team regularly interacts with parents.

6 parent meetings were conducted. The topic discussed during the parent’s meetings includes Cleanliness part 2, Age-appropriate immunization for children, Age-appropriate children's growth, and children's Cleanliness.69 parents (1 male and 68 females) attended the parent meetings.   

12 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted. The topics discussed during the meetings were Anganwadi linkage and Children safety, Colony Cleanliness, Anganwadi Linkage, Health, Nutrition, Children Cleanliness, and Immunization. 61 parents (61 females) participated in the meeting.

Special Events and Festivals

Children look forward to fun celebrations and we make special effort to take them to many events which gives them a lot of experiential learning and exposure. The centres celebrated the below 

On November 14th Children's Day was celebrated. Several games and fancy dress competion were conducted and distributed prizes for the winners and also children enjoyed with Cake Cutting. 

Read more about how Mallikarjun’s escaped malnutrition !

Galeppa and Lakshmi faced major poverty in Belgaum. They decided to migrate to Bangalore in April 2023 for better income-earning opportunities. They moved to Bangalore with two children— One boy and one girl. When they arrived in the Anand Nagar area, they found out about Sampark’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) center and enrolled their two children in the ECCD center.              

One child Shravani who is above 6 years is eligible to enroll in Government School so teacher of ECCD center enrolled her in the government school.

Mallikaarjun is 3 years old. When he was enrolled his weight was only 7 kg. As per WHO standards at the age of 3 years Mallikaarjun should weigh 11 Kgs and so he was categorized as Undernourished Child. He had a habit of sitting one corner most of the time and he used to sleepy and tired. The teacher at the centre ensured special nutritious food (Protein mix made with equal quantities of fried legumes, jaggery, ground nut and broken wheat) was provided. Regular Boiled chick pea, Ground Nut, Cooked Moong, Gram dhal, egg, and Banana) were provided. After 4 months Mallikarnjun weight has now increased to a healthy 11.50 kgs. Since Lakshmi and her husband go to work, she confidently leaves her children at the center without any worries. Now the child is active and showing interest in participating stimulation activities and playing with other children,  

Sampark’s ECCD centers,teachers are thrilled that their efforts and care helps these children to fight malnutrition and enjoy a life full of good health and growth !!

Links:

• 5 min read about the importance of ECCD