Seminar on nourishment of tribal children on January 15

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Jan 12: A national conclave would be held at Bhubaneswar on January 15 and 16 to workout strategies for properly nourishing tribal children who suffer from chronic under-nutrition.The conclave on Nourishing India`s Tribal Children: Voices of Frontliners, Good Practices and Policy Implications has been jointly organised by Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, Government of Odisha and UNICEF.Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be attending the conclave besides large number of participants.This conclave brings together frontline workers, practitioners, State and District officials from Departments of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe, Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, representatives from the Tribal Research Institutes of various States as well as the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and UNICEF.Together they will take stock of the nutrition situation of India`s tribal children, discuss “what works and how” and how departments of various States can coordinate, contribute and collaborate for reducing stunting in India`s tribal children.The conclave will chart a road map for these States for improving access to food, nutrition, health and sanitation services for children in tribal pockets and solidify all stakeholders` commitment toward nourishing India`s tribal children.The states are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana.The need to organise the conclave was felt in view of high level of chronic under nutrition or stunting which contributes to one-third of under-five child deaths.The focus will be to collectively identify gaps and good practices and prepare a roadmap for improving access of tribal children to food, nutrition, health and sanitation that would improve their nutritional status.The participants would identify implementation challenges in the National Tribal Policy and ensure better utilisation of Tribal Sub Plan budgets.Core areas of discussion would be household food and livelihood security, Integrated Child Development Services, health outreach and referral, drinking water and sanitation, plans and budgets for improving service delivery in tribal areas and engagement of civil society including academic institution for improving service uptake The main purpose of the seminar is to collectively identify gaps and good practices, and chart a road map for improving access to food, nutrition, and health and sanitation services for children in tribal pockets and solidify all stakeholders’ commitment toward tribal children’s development.The seminar will have six thematic sessions on food and livelihood security; reach of integrated child development services; outreach and referral of health services; water and sanitation services; tribal budgets and plans; and role of development agencies.Each thematic session will be facilitated by a technical expert in the subject area.Around 150 delegates comprising experts, government officials, practitioners and field workers from various states would be attending the conclave.