A malnourished child growing into an unhealthy adolescent, and then further growing into an anemic pregnant young woman who will give birth to an asphyxiated low birth weight baby. This baby then facing possible developmental delays, grows into a malnourished child and this child will further struggle for nutrition. In order to break this vicious cycle, the main thing to be targeted is children’s nutrition. Bongaigaon district in Assam had a total of 2,416 malnourished children; 246 cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 2,170 instances of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) in September 2020.

Project Sampoorna was launched targeting the mothers of SAM/MAM children, the tagline being ‘Empowered Mothers, Healthy Children’. The mother of a healthy child of the same Anganwadi Centre (AWC) was identified and paired with the target mother, that is the mother of SAM/MAM children; they would be called ‘Buddy Mothers’ (2,416 pairs). They were usually neighbors and shared similar socio-economic backgrounds. The pairs were given diet charts to indicate the daily food intake of their children. Buddy mothers would have discussions about this on all Tuesdays at the AWC. The local practices related to nutrition would also be discussed.

Active intervention under Project Sampoorna was done only for first 3 months by providing protein rich food in the form of 100 milliliters of milk and an egg on alternate days was arranged for all 2,416 malnourished children giving time for their mothers to stabilize themselves in their newly found jobs. The mothers who became financially independent by end of 3 months through the Self Help Groups continued to provide nutritious & protein rich food to their children, thereby making 95.6% of children totally healthy at the end of one year, making Project Sampoorna a grand success. The project has further yielded encouraging results and by March 2021, 84.96% of SAM children and 97.3% MAM children were normal.

The Objectives of the project:

• Accurate Identification & Reduction of Malnutrition among children.
• Sustain the result by education & economic empowerment of the mothers of the children.
• Community Management of malnutrition & reduction of hospitalization.
• Breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition & ill health.

Decentralized 4- tiered model of implementation along with community participation at the grass-root level.

Implementation Strategy:

• Identification of all Malnourished children of the district- Assessment of Nutrition level of children using Simplified WHO Growth Chart by Anganwadi centers which helped in identifying & comparing malnourished children (SAM/MAM).
• Replace weight by age growth chart by Simplified WHO Growth Chart in Angadwadis.
• Buddy Mother Concept-The mother of a healthy child becomes the buddy mother of a malnourished child of the same Anganwadi center and they meet on weekly basis and discuss about various practices related to nutrition.
• Community Participation.
• Regular Follow up-A Dietary chart was given to each mother of SAM/MAM child to follow regularly and the same was monitored daily by Anganwadi Workers (AWWs).
• Providing Protein Supplement (Eggs & Milk) for 3 months- Supplements provided till the mothers become economically empowered by being a part of the self help groups. After 3 months , since they were financially stable by then and educated about nutrition through Project Sampoorna.
• Education of the mothers regarding nutrition- Pre and Post Questionnaires to assess the relevant knowledge of the buddy pairs. Based on the assessment,
  training was imparted on the basics of nutrition and indigenous food practices.
• Economic empowerment of the Mother- The project facilitated economic empowerment of the mothers of SAM & MAM children by inclusion in Self Help Group under National Rural Livelihood Mission