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.
