Project Society for Promotion of Rural Education and Development (SPREAD)

Campaign Story

About the project

The villages of the Lamtaput Block face concerning health and nutritional deficits among children and women. The acute poverty in this region has a significant impact on women’s health, often leading to child marriage and an increased risk of early pregnancies. 60% of adolescent girls in this region are anemic due to a significant gap in access to and quality of primary healthcare services. Additionally, malnutrition remains a major issue in this community

Making a difference

CRY America’s Project SPREAD is working to provide access to basic healthcare services for pregnant women and lactating mothers. It focuses on reducing malnutrition among children aged 6 months to 5 years and decreasing anemia among pregnant women and adolescent girls. The key activities under the project include growth monitoring of children at Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centers, counseling parents to adopt kitchen gardening practices to reduce malnutrition, and forming Adolescent Collectives to raise awareness about anemia, child marriage, and menstrual hygiene.

The way forward

● Map all 31 Anganwadi Centres and 23 Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs), assess beneficiary reach and travel distance, and collaborate with stakeholders to add more VHND points.
● Conduct health sessions with 42 adolescent collectives on anaemia, ensuring access to Iron Folic Acid and deworming tablets.
● Develop 5 Anganwadi Centres as model centres.
● Track growth monitoring of 542 children aged 6–60 months.
● Monitor the progress of 20 Severely Underweight children and refer them to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres for advanced care.
● Train 31 Anganwadi Workers on household-level food demonstration practices.
● Sensitize 42 Adolescent Collective members on child marriage, and the importance of completing education and pursuing vocational training.
● Conduct Life Skills sessions for 512 Adolescent Collective members.

Project Impact

271

Village Health and Nutrition Day (VHND) sessions held.

1,418

Families linked to government programs for health benefits

89

Hospital deliveries ensured

108

Children under 0-1years 100% vaccinated

283

Attended health camps at Primary Health Center

387

Adolescents girls attended health camps for anemia check ups

33

Moderate Underweight children moved to complete recovery

1,462

Community members attended session on nutritious food habits

512

Adolescent girls trained through Life Skill sessions

Last year’s disbursed grant for Jan ‘25 to Dec ‘25: $23,327

This year’s approved budget for Jan ‘26 to Dec ‘26:

Health$19,502

Administration$4,476

Total Budget$23,978

Khushi’s first step towards a healthy future

Khushi, a 2-year-old girl, was left out of essential healthcare and nutrition due to the absence of identity documents. When CRY America’s project team learned about her situation, they stepped in with care and urgency, working closely with Anganwadi Workers and frontline health staff. They accompanied the concerned authorities and followed up consistently for 10 days until her birth certificate was finally issued.

With this in place, the team ensured her documents were submitted at the Community Health Centre (CHC) and guided her parents to access services under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Khushi soon began receiving her Take Home Ration from the Anganwadi Centre, and her family was supported in adopting more nutritious dietary practices.

Building on this effort, the team also supported 9 other children in the area to secure their identity documents, helping them access healthcare and ICDS services, and reaffirming their right to health and nutrition.

Project Photo Gallery