International Journal of Social Science : Vol. 3. No. 4, 511-520, Dec 2014

DOI No. 10.5958/2321-5771.2014.00025.8

Community participation in integrated

child development services programme

in rural Punjab

Sarbjit Singh Kular

Department of Public Administration, Guru Gobind Singh College, Sanghera, Barnala,

India.

Corresponding author: kularsarbjit@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Realizing the great importance of bringing improvement in children and women’s

health and nutritional status, Integrated Child Development Services (ICSD)

Scheme was launched on 2nd October 1975. The scope of present study is to

evaluate the community participation in ICDS programme. In order to achieve

the objectives of the present study, all three ICDS project: Barnala, Sehna and

Mehal Kalan of the Barnala District of Punjab were selected for the study. A total

of 30 villages (10 from each ICDS project) were selected on the basis of random.

From each village Anganwadi Worker and village Sarpanch were selected for

study. Thus a total of 30 Anganwadi Workers and 30 Villages Sarpanch was in the

sample, from all 30 villages which were having Anganwadi for at least the last 25

years. It was disappointing to find that a majority (76.66%) of the AWWs did not

receive any help from anyone in running the AWCs at village level. Half of the

village Sarpanches did not make any contribution to the AWWs. It was also found

that a majority (66.66%) of the village Sarpanches did not visit the AWCs at all.

All (100%) village Sarpanches answered that there was no local committee formed

to help the AWWs to conduct different activities and nor any organization like

youth club or village school teachers or voluntary organizations at the village level

to help the AWWs. In this regard, it is recommended that the training of project

ICDS functionaries should be strengthened to impart them specific skills to elicit

community participation and also need to have a short duration preparation phase

to raise awareness of the community regarding ICDS services.

Keywords: ICDS, AWW, AWC, NIPCCD, PEO

Realizing the great importance of bringing improvement in children and

women’s health and nutritional status, Integrated Child Development Services

(ICSD) Scheme was launched on 2nd October 1975, on the auspicious occasion

of the 106th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation.1

Government of India initiated an integrated approach for the delivery of health care