IDinsight informs social and behaviour change communication programming and monitoring approach for India’s national nutrition mission

The IDinsight AMAL Health and Nutrition team has been working in India with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and NITI Aayog to support India’s National Nutrition Mission, POSHAN Abhiyaan. Our work has been informing social and behaviour change communication programming and the monitoring approach of the Mission.

As part of its focus on Social & Behavior Change Communication, in September 2018, the mission launched a month-long intensive campaign called POSHAN Maah. In November, IDinsight conducted a survey of about 6,000 pregnant and lactating women across 27 aspirational districts in 8 states of India for the Ministry of Women and Child Development. A key finding was that across 21+ platforms ranging from mass media to interpersonal communication, home visits were the most effective in reaching women. Our findings have been presented to key stakeholders at top forums such as India’s National Council and the evidence is  being utilised to inform national-level SBCC programming.

The team has also been engaged with IFPRI and NITI Aayog in developing and testing monitoring frameworks for the Mission. The need for a nutrition monitoring framework arose due to the fact that currently nutrition-related indicators exist in disparate data sources and no comprehensive, actionable monitoring tools exists for government officials. Our work has been well received at forums such as “Nutrition Data Bonanza” by BMGF nutrition partners in April and we  continue to refine the frameworks we have developed with the goal for these to be used widely.