Does malnutrition in our country concern you? Then excerpts from this panel discussion are for you!
The panel discussion on ‘Prioritizing Nutrition interventions through CSR: catalyzing Better Impacts’ at the India CSR Summit, held on November 15, 2022, emphasized the need for complementing the government's efforts to curb the triple burden of malnutrition prevalent in our country.?
This article highlights some of the key recommendations discussed by a diverse panel of?Ms. Neha Bainsla , Country Manager, Sight and Life, Dr.Devika G. , Head of Public Health Nutrition, Piramal Swasthya, Dr Nilesh Yadav , Head – SuPoshan, Adani Foundation, Ms. Tanu K. , CSR Leader, Birlasoft, Mr. Abhishek Choudhury , CEO, CINI COMMUNITY INITIATIVES.
?The session was hosted by IMPAct4Nutrition (I4N) Platform (An initiative by UNICEF India , CSRBOX , Sight & Life and other like-minded organisations).
One-third of children in India are underweight, stunted, or wasted and every 2nd woman in India is anaemic. Taking due cognizance of the situation, the government of India has launched various initiatives, POSHAN Abhiyan being the flagship program to combat malnutrition is one of them. However, despite the government's numerous efforts the nutritional indicators are yet to improve. This is where the need for the private sector comes in.
The Copenhagen Consensus rates nutrition investment as the top development investment. For every $1 spent on nutrition, the return on investment is $30. Looking in this direction, the CSR sector should focus on addressing nutrition issues through, not just nutrition-specific but also nutrition-sensitive interventions.?
Key recommendations from the session
Identifying and minimizing the gap between the government and corporate machinery?
Dr. Nilesh Yadav of the Adani Foundation discussed the significance of public-private partnerships. He emphasized that collaborating with the government gives a wider reach and that is the only way to achieve a sustainable impact through sustainable programs. He urged the private sector to focus on strengthening the already existing system and services and work on generating community awareness to fill in the gaps and avoid duplication of efforts. One approach to accomplish this is to focus on quality training of front-line professionals.
No development initiative can take place without the government's assistance, therefore, a sectoral strategy is essential in terms of the resources and expertise that both sectors provide.
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Community ownership for making the development projects cost-effective?
Dr. Devika Gali Choudhary, Head of Public Health Nutrition, Piramal Swasthya, highlighted that relying entirely on the system and not the community will deliver only partial outcomes. A CSR investment should involve focusing on both system improvements and community needs as service penetration through the system is sometimes quite low. This is where a change is necessary. There is a need to collaborate more closely with community members to make them the primary owners of the challenges they are facing. It is necessary to recognize community members as participants rather than merely beneficiaries. When community people are involved in decision-making and their requirements are acknowledged, the project becomes not just cost-effective but also sustainable.
Critical monitoring and evaluation matrix to leverage while designing and implementing a program
For the successful implementation of a monitoring and evaluation plan. The first stage is to tailor the project to the community's requirements. The emphasis should be on the community's behaviour, and then the initiatives should be designed accordingly.
However, some problems must not be overlooked when establishing an M&E framework since they have a significant impact on the outcome of the assessment. Some of these challenges include;
These challenges can be mitigated by conducting a baseline analysis and accounting for the desired results from the project. On that basis, the monitoring and evaluation system should be designed. All initiatives should complement the efforts of frontline workers. Apart from this, the CSR sector can work on bringing monitoring and evaluation tools into the CSR arena and leverage technology to measure impacts. For example, utilizing offline Android applications for basic anthropometry can assist us in making the entire data collection process systematic and reliable. In addition to a strong M&E framework, all major process indicators, both qualitative and quantitative, should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.) Another key aspect is to focus on the lifecycle approach to measure the social return on investment. ?There is a need to carry out concurrent monitoring and evaluation through supportive supervision to achieve the goals and not wait for the midline or end-line results.?
Focussing on the exit strategy
Ms. Tanu K., CSR Leader, Birlasoft pressed on the importance of exit strategy while discussing the important components that need to be kept in mind while developing a CSR Project.? She said that there should be a sustainable exit strategy in place while designing the program to avoid the community's dependence on the project. The community members should be aware of the point where the support would not be there from the corporate or the implementation partner. Thus, community ownership in the program is important.?
IMPAct4Nutrition (I4N) Platform is a brand-agnostic platform that has been created to enhance private-sector action to augment the government’s efforts in achieving the #POSHANAbhiyaan goals and targets. I4N engages with companies and supports them to promote good nutrition across their business ecosystem in a meaningful, strategic way, using responsible business practices as part of the company’s business model and or through employee engagement and their CSR strategy.
In order to celebrate and spread awareness about good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, IMPAct4Nutrition works alongside their pledged partners to conduct Nutrition Learning Sessions with their employees and their extended communities.