MGIMS’s ‘Aarambh’ initiative set for Maha role

Wardha: A division-level training for master trainers from 11 districts of Nagpur and Amravati division under ‘Aarambh’ initiative was inaugurated at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sewagram.
Rubal Agrawal, commissioner of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Maharashtra, was chief guest at the inaugural function.
‘Aarambh’ — an initiative by MGIMS is aimed at building the capacity of parents and other caregivers — emphasizes on early childhood development and to provide parenting information to underprivileged communities.
This initiative will be implemented throughout Maharashtra by the department of women and child development through ICDS. UNICEF is providing support to MGIMS to sustain a state-level resource team as well as 30 key trainers to facilitate this scale-up.
The state resource team and key experts will train 250 master trainers, who in turn will train 3,000 ICDS supervisors who will then guide nearly 1,12,000 anganwadi workers in the state and expand the reach of the programme to each household.
“With 250 master trainers, 3,000 supervisors and over 1.1 lakh aganwadi workers, I can foresee a bright future for all children in Maharashtra,” said Agrawal addressing the participants. She also commended the efforts of the entire team and assured support for the successful implementation of this project.
“I shall be happy to witness ‘Aarambh’ rolling out throughout the country in the next two years,” she added.
Through ‘Aarambh’ and its profound training programmes, we have been successful in reaching out to communities and thereby helping in shaping the early childhood development in the district,” said collector Prerna Deshbhratar. “This initiative not only focuses on health and nutrition, but also on key aspects of development like emotional, intellectual and social well being of children,” she added.
“MGIMS always stands as a testament for community empowerment and social service,” said vice-president of Kasturba health society PL Tapadiya. “The ‘Aarambh’ initiative is a beautiful symbiosis of public-private partnership of MGIMS, UNICEF, government of Maharashtra and district administrations,” he added.
Master trainers from 11 districts have assembled for a five-day training programme at MGIMS. “The community-led programme was initiated at MGIMS in 2003 as a means to empower family members in the upbringing of their children. What started with just a handful of ASHA workers has today become a pan-Maharashtra model for early childhood development,” said Dr NM Gangane, dean MGIMS.
Sharmila Mukherjee (consultant, UNICEF) invited all district-level ICDS officials to ensure quality training programmes so that the initiative can be implemented smoothly across the state.
“Through ‘Aarambh’, we aim to bring holistic development of children in their formative years,” said Dr Subodh Gupta, who is also the brain behind the project. Our team of passionate faculty members, project team, ASHA and anganwadi workers along with their supervisors have worked hard for the last two decades. It is a moment of pride to see this scale-up throughout Maharashtra. I hope the idea as powerful as this will definitely get scaled-up beyond Maharashtra,” he said.
Prerna Deshbhratar, and Dr Sachin Ombase, CEO, Wardha, were the guests of honour. PL Tapadiya, Dr BS Garg, secretary, Kasturba Health Society, Dr NM Gangane, Dr SP Kalantri, medical superintendent, Kasturba Hospital, Dr Subodh Gupta, and Sharmila Mukherjee, shared the dais with other dignitaries.