The Ministry of
Women and Child Development , Government of India, and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) today to provide
technical support at the National and State level for strengthening the
delivery of nutrition goals, especially during pre-conception, pregnancy and
first two years of life. Further, the Gates’ Foundation will support an
enhanced framework of collaboration in Information and Communication Technology
enabled Real Time Monitoring (ICT-RTM) of Integrated Child Development Services
(ICDS) and technical support on nutrition.
The MoC was signed by Shri V. Somasundaran, Secretary,
Ministry of Women & Child Development and Shri Nachiket Mor, Country
Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the presence of Minister of
Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in New Delhi today.
Improving the health and lives of women and
children in India, by strengthening nutrition programs in order to promote their holistic
development is one of the topmost priorities of the
Government. In sync with this focus, the four priority areas of work as part of this MoC
would
include:
Development and deployment of ICT solutions for improving and strengthening
ICDS Service Delivery System.
Support Ministry of Women & Child
Development in developing a shared national communications campaign for maternal and child nutrition among target populations.
Provision of technical support for the National Nutrition
Mission, Restructured
ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition
Improvement Project (ISSNIP) and
Restructured ICDS through a Technical Support Unit at the national and state
level for strengthening their capacities to deliver nutrition especially during pre-
conception, pregnancy and first two years of life.
Technical support and Knowledge management support to strengthen human
resource
capabilities at various
levels in order to
deliver effective
nutrition
interventions.
This
collaboration will strengthen the government’s restructured ICDS Systems
Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement
Project
(ISSNIP) and
National Nutrition Mission, with a focus on technological innovation, sharing best practices and use of
data and evidence to enhance performance at the national and state level.
Smt Mane ka Sanjay Gandhi, while appreciating the collaboration with the Gates’
Foundation, stated that ICT based real-time monitoring of ICDS services is
only the first step towards eliminating malnutrition.
The services including the supplementary nutrition provided needs to be standardized and the Ministry is working
towards it, the Minister added.
Commenting on the partnership, Shri V. Somasundaran, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, said, “We recognize the
need
to strengthen our maternal and child nutrition efforts, while also enhancing monitoring and technology leveraged solutions in improving the service delivery system
of
ICDS. We are committed to advancing our goal of improving maternal and child
nutrition in the country, and use of appropriate technology tools that enable the same, and view the Gates Foundation as an active partner in achieving progress. This MoC will
provide an appropriate platform to develop the partnership”.
Mr. Nachiket
Mor , India Count r y Dir e ct or of t he
Bill
& Melinda Gates
Foundation, said, “At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation our vision is for all women
and children to have the nutrition they need to live healthy and productive lives so that they can reach their full potential. Placing women and children at the heart of India’s development agenda is critical in ensuring our economic and social progress. Through this MoC we reaffirm our continued commitment to partner the government to achieve
its national nutrition goals.”
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NB/UD