The Antara Foundation Blog

Mahadevan Nambiar As a student of public policy, the Antara Foundation held a lot of promise because of their approach of building solutions that are can be scalable and sustainable. This would mean that every intervention envisions the foundation working with the government and eventually institutionalizing the solutions it builds. Furthermore, the fellowship offered an opportunity to be on the field, something which was sorely missing from my otherwise sanitized and academic experience. Primary Health Centre, Dahikhera (Khanpur Block) For the fellowship, I am placed in the field office located in Jhalawar, Rajasthan. It was an interesting time to be in Rajasthan as the hot sun gave way to clouds full of rain. I was assigned to work on the pilot of the Rajsangam App in the Khanpur block of the district. The work itself was pretty straightforward- I was to assist with the rollout of the app, work on improving the use and adoption rates as well as monitor its progress. The ap...

Adityavarman Mehta Having conducted field research on maternal, child health and nutrition outcomes in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya, I was eager to explore these issues in low-resource settings in India. As a sociology and global health student, working for the Antara Foundation in Rajasthan presented a number of captivating intellectual challenges because of the extensive literature on Rajasthan’s skewed sex ratio and abysmal maternal and child health indicators. With the responsibility of eighteen Anganwadi Centers in Khanpur, Jhalwar, I was excited about the potential for discovery afforded by this opportunity.    Maraita village, where I work with four Anganwadi Centres According to the 2011 national census, Rajasthan had a sex ratio of 928 females per 1000 males. [1] Although Rajasthan’s sex ratio has improved from 909 females per 1000 males in 2001, the preference for the male child is indisputable. Jhalawar, in particular, has witnessed a more skewed sex ...

Owais Shafiq Late monsoon drizzles and an overcast sky prevails, the loo has left for better days. Walking through narrow roads of un-finished houses, the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), the Anganwadi Worker (AWW) and the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife)(ANM) each make their way to work with an android tablet in their grasp - a strange sight for most locals in Khanpur block of Jhalawar district. Anganwadi Centre - Bhatwasi village The Antara Foundation, in partnership with the Government of Rajasthan and Tata Trusts, introduced the AAA (ANM, AWW ASHA) program which has been scaled across the state. The AAA program revolves around the idea of the frontline health workers corroborating each other’s data and working together for better service delivery . An AWW in Rajasthan is expected to maintain eleven registers to document the services she provides. These registers include her village survey, immunization, information on pregnant women and more. An ASHA, is r...