Staff Reporter –
Adani Wilmar Limited (AWL), one of India’s largest food FMCG companies, is pleased to announce the resounding success of its Fortune SuPoshan Project during Poshan Maah (Nutrition Month) that commenced this week, in its fight against malnutrition and anaemia. The project, initiated in 2016, has made remarkable progress and achieved encouraging results in enhancing the health and nutritional status of children under 5 years, women of reproductive age, and adolescent girls, benefitting vulnerable communities across six sites in India; it includes Bundi (Rajasthan), Godda (Jharkhand), Raigarh (Chhattisgarh), Dhamra (Odisha), Haldia (West Bengal), and Tharad (Gujarat).
The endline evaluation conducted by Iotalytics Research and Analytics Pvt. Ltd., a New Delhi based private research institute, has unveiled the impressive impact of the Fortune SuPoshan Project interventions and the substantial progress it has made in addressing malnutrition among children under the age of 5 in aforementioned six sites.
The findings highlighted the success of the project in combating malnutrition, encompassing a total population of 415,694 across the six sites. It assessed the outcomes in 315 villages, involving 582 anganwadis with the help of 190 Sanginis, who are women volunteers from the local community. The results demonstrate significant improvements in the well-being of the community, with 26,204 children, 70,620 women, and 26,306 adolescent girls receiving support and witnessing positive changes. This initiative has positively affected 77,326 households. These encouraging findings underscore the effectiveness of targeted interventions and collaborative efforts in addressing malnutrition and improving the overall health of our communities.
The evaluation assessed the project’s impact, revealing a significant reduction in all three key indicators of malnutrition since 2015-16 to 2023: stunting (height for age), wasting (weight for height) and underweight (weight for age) among children under 5 years of age at all six project sites. The findings reveal that underweight prevalence has been reduced to 25.6% from 40.6% in 2015-16. Similarly, stunting has been reduced from 41.5% to 28.6%, while wasting reduced from 23.3% to 15.1%. These findings demonstrate the project’s effectiveness in addressing the critical issue of malnutrition in India and the country’s highest global child wasting rate, as the country ranks 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022, falling into the “serious” category. Adani Wilmar’s Fortune SuPoshan Project was launched, utilising evidence-based, technology-powered, and community-centred approaches in collaboration with Adani Foundation to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition.
Sharing her views about launching the project at new sites, Dr. Priti Adani, Chairperson, Adani Foundation said, “It is heartening to share the end-line evaluation results of six sites in Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, in the second phase (2018-23) of Fortune SuPoshan. The project has been instrumental in bridging gaps in information availability and creating a more informed, motivated and engaged community. I applaud the efforts put in by the site teams, especially our SuPoshan Sanginis, in promoting the importance of the 1000-days life cycle and breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition.”
According to Mr. Angshu Mallick, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adani Wilmar Ltd., “The Fortune SuPoshan Project reflects the vision of Adani Wilmar ‘for a healthy growing nation’. We look forward to touching the life of every Indian, enabling them to live life fully, thereby making India stronger, healthier, and more productive. I am glad that this assessment report has led to some vital information emerging at a crucial time that motivates us and even paves the way to better address the issues of malnutrition and anaemia in the future.”
The impact of the project, however, goes beyond child nutrition, encompassing various aspects of maternal health, infant and child feeding practices, adolescents’ knowledge and practices, as well as WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene). The evaluation findings underscore several positive outcomes, including notable increases in proportions of ANC (antenatal care) checkups, iron folic acid consumption, institutional births, initiation of breastfeeding within one hour, and improved dietary diversity among program beneficiaries. It also includes activities like family counselling, focussed group discussions, village-level events, nutrition garden and cooking demos. Interestingly, counselling sessions has followed by nutrition gardens, have emerged as the most effective for behaviour change.
The success of the Fortune SuPoshan Project is attributed to active engagement with stakeholders, including gram panchayats, local governing bodies, healthcare facilities, and frontline health workers. The project’s unique aspect involves training local community volunteers known as SuPoshan Sanginis, who have played a vital role in implementing interventions and driving behaviour change at the grassroots level. This collaborative, evidence-based initiative complements the Government of India in health, nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, gender equality, and women empowerment, contributing to the vision of a healthy and vibrant nation. Launched by Adani Wilmar in 2016 and implemented by Adani Foundation, the project follows an integrated community-based model in its ground-breaking mission against malnutrition and anaemia, empowering over 260,000 households across 14 locations in India, aligning with the National Nutritional Strategy and contributing to India’s global targets.
