Revamping of Anganwadis is a continuous process for which various steps have been taken from time to time by the Ministry of Women & Child Development for improving the condition of the centers across the country. Following measures have been taken for up-gradation of facilities at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs):
(i) Revised joint guidelines were issued by Ministries of Women & Child Development, Rural Development, and Panchayati Raj for construction of 4 lakh AWC buildings across the country under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in convergence with Anganwadi Services (ICDS Scheme).
(ii) Under Swachhta Action Plan, Rs. 10,000/-per AWC is provided for drinking water facilities and Rs.12,000/-per AWC for toilet facilities.
(iii) Grants are sanctioned for the purchase of water filters, furniture, equipment, etc.
(iv) Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) have been provided with Smart Phones for efficient service delivery.
(v) Streamlined guidelines were issued on 13.01.2021, covering several aspects such as quality assurance, roles, and responsibilities of duty holders, the procedure for procurement, integrating AYUSH concepts and Data management and Monitoring through ‘Poshan Tracker’ for transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the delivery of Supplementary Nutrition.
Training is a crucial element in the Anganwadi Services Scheme as the achievement of the Programme goals largely depends upon the effectiveness of frontline workers in improving service delivery. Since the inception of the Scheme, the Ministry has formulated a comprehensive training strategy for the functionaries of Anganwadi Services. Training is imparted to the functionaries on a regular basis.
Anganwadi Workers are provided job training for 26 working days. During this job training, the knowledge, understanding, and skills of the Workers on various Acts, Policies, Programmes related to women and children, setting up vibrant Anganwadi Centres, conducting Early Childhood Care and Education activities, health & nutrition care of children and women, Community Mobilisation, Awareness, Advocacy & IEC, Management of AWC and hands-on experience through supervised practice to work in Anganwadi Centres are developed.
Moreover, a robust ICT-enabled platform named Poshantracker has been designed to capture real-time data on the implementation and monitoring of Anganwadi Services across the country. The Poshan Tracker management application provides a 360 – degree view of the activities of the Anganwadi Centre (AWC), service deliveries of Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), and complete beneficiary management.
Common services Centres (CSC) SPV under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been entrusted with providing technical support to States/ UTs and resolving issues regarding downloading the new Poshan Tracker app and its functioning as well as imparting inputs based training to the field functionaries. State-wise nodal persons from CSC-SPV have been identified for the smooth functioning of the application.
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