Innovation: 3 Akshaya-Patra

Team Trojans

NitinSupriya

SanaChirag

Sector Analysis :FOOD APOCALYPSE :

India is failing its rural poor with 230 million people being undernourished — the highest

for any country in the world. Malnutrition accounts for nearly 50% of child deaths in

India as every third adult (aged 15-49 years) is reported to be thin (BMI less than 18.5).

According to the latest report on the state of food insecurity in rural India, more than 1.5

million children are at risk of becoming malnourished because of rising global food

prices.

Category Analysis The Mid-day Meal Scheme involves provision of lunch ,free of cost to school-

children on all working days. The key objectives of the programme are: protecting children from classroom hunger increasing school enrolment and attendance improved socialization among children belonging to all castes addressing malnutrition which is also one of the Millennium goals of the UN social empowerment through provision of employment to women Improving absenteeism rates in rural areas

The scheme has been adopted by most of the states in India after a landmark direction by the Supreme Court of India on November 28, 2001. The success of this scheme is illustrated by the tremendous increase in the school participation and completion rates in the state of Tamil Nadu.

12 crore (120 million) children are so far covered under the Mid-day Meal Scheme, which is the largest school lunch programme in the world. Allocation for this programme has been enhanced TO RS 7324 crores in 2008-09 budget.

Akshaya - Patra Ganesh is an 8 year old who can’t wait

for school every morning. Many others

like Ganesh now look forward to school

with the added incentive of mid-day meal available there. Thanks to Akshay Patra.

Akshay Patra literally means inexhaustible vessel .It is a private-public partnership based organization which reaches out to 1.2 million children everyday by providing mid-day meal in schools across the nation. "Our program is not just about providing food," says Madhu Pandit Das, chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. "It is about providing opportunities for children from economically challenged backgrounds to get a good education and thereby realize their true potential." Akshaya Patra is the world's largest non-governmental organization (NGO) school meal program, according to the Limca Book of Records.

Key characteristics of Innovation : The School meal is :

A strategic initiative to address two crucial and inter-linked issues: hunger and illiteracy

A wholesome, nutritious, three-item menu, prepared in stringent hygienic conditions, as per the nutritionist's recommendations

The program is : Implemented using a technology-intensive,

centralized model that can be efficiently scaled and replicated

Secular, and inclusive, with the child as the focus

Transparent, professionally managed, and run by a Board of Trustees, with the support of committed professionals and volunteers

Audited by KPMG, one of the leading providers of internal audit and regulatory services.

Cost structureEvery meal costs Akshay Patra Rs. 5.50/- 5.50

Rs 2.5 Rs. 2 From government From fundings of other organizations

Naandi runs several automated central Midday Meal Kitchens across the country. These kitchens prepare and deliver high-nutrition noon meals to lakhs of underprivileged children everyday. Naandi even delivers Midday meal in many tribal areas across its project areas in 4 states which includes Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. With a highly sophisticated centralised kitchen Naandi delivers food to nearly 8 lakhs children

USP

--- Kitchen videos by field team as an evidence of hygiene.

Akshaya Patra is unique because:

Public Private Partnership

ISO CertificationThe Akshaya Patra meal is hygienicSecular & non-

discriminatoryEducation InitiativesTransparency

SWOTStrength:

• Public private model ensures efficiency• Promotes education• Helps India in endeavours to achieve UN millennium development goals

Weaknesses:

•Children come for mid-day meal and not education•Scaling up can create problems in maintenance of standards

Threats:

• Commercialization of funds available from public bodies

Opportunities:

• To scale up in other parts of the country• To take up other feeding projects like mid-day meals for labourers and daily wage earners

Stage I- Table Analysis Rating the innovation on a scale of 0 to 5 (5 being the highest

score) on    each of the parameters outlined in the sandbox, the self assessment scores are: 

          0 1 2 3 4 5

Capacity to scale up

Ensuring Social equity

Creating new price – performance levels

Fair & Transparent transactions & relationshipsEnvironmental sustainability

Respecting rule of law and individual rights

Stage II- C.K. Prahlad’s Sandbox

HIGH

HIGH

HIGHMODERATE

MODERATE

HIGH

Combine Study and justifications : Scale of  Innovation :The Innovation is capable of being scaled up as it is

relevant to a lot of government schools which have a high rate of absenteeism

The distribution pattern shall be the most important in the case of scaling up

The biggest challenge is maintaining standard quality of food in other states and preventing misuse of funds

For E.g. the news in Tribune – “The Delhi Police have unearthed a scam in the centrally sponsored Mid-Day Meal Scheme seizing eight truckloads of rice meant for primary schoolchildren allegedly being siphoned off by a UP-based NGO in connivance with the government officials.”

Current reach

Treading the Road 2 Ideas…Some Recommendations Quality of teachers :- Hardworking and trained teachers will

engage children in activities to genuinely teach them

Tie-ups with NGOs :- NGOs which are recognized by ISO or

approved by government can be tied up with to provide similar service in other states

Bal Panchayats :- Bal Panchayats, where a selected few

children of the gram were given the onus of bringing back the dropouts from the villages turned out to be very successful in the Parbhani District of Maharashtra and dropouts from 220 villages were sent back to school. This idea is revolutionary and must be reinforced in all villages by panchayat’s order. Here, they can propagate mid-day meal as well.

Dabba system for the labourers:- As a feeding project, a dabba system can be

started for labourers and daily wage earners, generally the livelihood of the parents of the students