Establishment of  2 (nos.) Early Childhood Care Centers for children of Sundarbans

Supported by
SBI Foundation under their Child Development (Muskaan)
At Sagar Island and Ghoramara Island, Dist: South 24 Parganas, West Bengal

The Problem of Early Childhood Care :

Climate refugee children particularly in the age group 0-6 years from Ghoramara and Sagar Islands face malnutrition, poor health & cognitive development, developmental delays and pre-primary educational needs and are also neglected due to displacement and climateinduced poverty. Approximately 2,250 climate-affected families have been forced to relocate from Ghoramara to areas like Kakdwip, Namkhana and Sagar Island. Among them, 263 refugee families live in Sagar Island without access to essential resources such as drinking water, sanitation and agricultural land for livelihood. On Ghoramara Island, 356 displaced families reside in makeshift huts, deprived of even the most basic facilities. The children of these families hardly get any early childhood care from the government institutions.

SBI Foundation :

SBI Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, operates as the CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) wing of the State Bank of India with a sense of responsibility towards the society. It acts with a commitment to act ethically, with an ethos to bring a difference and create a positive impact on society. It operates with the vision towards Improving the socio-economic well-being of the society, particularly of the less fortunate and underprivileged members and enable them to live up to the potential that they all possess and creating an inclusive development paradigm that serves all Indians and to deliver societal benefits to all geographical regions of the country without any regional, linguistic, caste, creed, religious or other barriers.

The Project :

SEED has been working in the Sundarbans since its inception trying to bring a change in the life and livelihood of the people and for their empowerment. SEED has been running a Non-formal school in Sagar Island for the primitive Lodha tribe and other vulnerable community children over the last twelve years. Being convinced with the capabilities of SEED for this kind of work, SBI Foundation has entered an agreement with SEED for granting a fund towards establishment of two Early Childhood Care Centres (ECCC) for the climate-vulnerable islands of Sagar and Ghoramara as a pilot project for one-year period. These centres will cater to the critical needs of 100 children (0 to 6 years) from marginalized and displaced climate-affected families, focusing on SC, ST and minority communities, with a special emphasis on supporting girl child. These children will be identified from three villages each of Ghoramara Gram Panchayat and  Rudranagar Gram Panchayat of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas District.

Details of the Project :

These two Early Childhood Care Centres (ECCC) will provide daily nutritious meals and fortified supplements to these selected children simultaneously with distribution of micronutrient supplements (vitamin A & D and iron), deworming and nutritional assessment to combat malnutrition aiming for at least 15% reduction in undernourishment over a period of one year after a “Base line Assessment”. Quarterly growth and bi-annual health screenings (vision, hearing, dental & developmental screenings) will ensure at least 60% of children show improved health indicators. Play-based pre-primary education will equip at least 60% of the children with foundational literacy and numeracy skills, preparing them for formal schooling. Structured play, storytelling and guided interactions will foster cognitive development as well as emotional resilience, benefiting 50% of these children within a year. Monthly parental workshops will educate 70% of caregivers/mothers on exclusive breastfeeding, child nutrition, early learning and positive caregiving, enhancing mothers’ engagement by at least 15%. Achievements of this project will be assessed through a mid-term survey after one period after comparing these findings with those of the baseline survey.