The inaugural meeting of the second phase of the multi-sectoral project for the scale up of a nutritious smart village in Paroha Municipality of Rautahat was held on Tuesday, April 13 at the hall of Paroha Municipality. The project is financially and technically supported by Welthungerhilfe (WHH)/ BMZ and its implementing partner is FORWARD Nepal. This project operates in coordination with the Paroha Municipality. The second phase of the project will be in operation for three years.
The project coordinates with the local government to improve the nutritional status of children under the age of five and women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) by promoting the concept of multi-sectoral nutrition in this municipality. The project will continue previous activities in the area of nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene at the household and community level, nutrition sensitive sustainable integrated farming system, nutrition sensitive village micro plan formulation and facilitation for capacity building of health system and local bodies at institutional level.
The inaugural meeting was chaired by Mayor, Sheikh Wakil of Paroha Municipality and hosted by Jalandhar Prasad Yadav, Health Coordinator of the Municipality. Chief Administrative Officer of Paroha Municipality, Om Prakash Yadav and WHH Representative Deependra Chaudhary were the special guests of the program. Likewise, the meeting was also attended by ward chairpersons or ward representatives of all the wards, heads of health, education, agriculture and livestock, planning section and other stakeholders. From FORWARD Nepal, project coordinator Archana Kumari Gupta, Project cum Advocacy Officer (PAO), Dipnarayan Thakur, Agriculture Officer, Ram Chandra Pandit, Nutrition and WASH officer, Bihari Prasad Kushwaha and Agriculture intern, Niharika Kumari Pandit were present.
Paroha based PAO, Dip Narayan Thakur, facilitated a brief discussion on household-based nutrition. He tried to explain about the economic and health benefits of making kitchen garden/ nutrition garden at home. Similarly, Dipendra Chaudhary of WHH discussed the introduction of the project, the purpose of the project and the essence of the project. At the same time, Jalandhar Prasad Yadav, Health Coordinator of NPA, explained about the achievements of the first phase of the project. The project found significant improvements in malnutrition rates and dietary diversity among children under five. Similarly, the Project Coordinator, Archana Gupta, introduced FORWARD Nepal, project’s area and duration, target groups and beneficiaries, expected returns, project activities and budget allocation, project implementation structure, monitoring and evaluation, and grievances management. At the end, the Agriculture Officer, Mr. Pandit explained how toxins/chemicals enter vegetables and how much we need to be careful.
Sheikh Wakil, the mayor of Paroha municipality, said, “We expected the nutrition situation to improve through the Nutrition Model Village Project.” Various officials of Paroha Napa had expressed their views to make the project a success.
