Strengthening Rural Governance for the Right to Adequate Food

Ensuring last-mile delivery of essential public schemes and services has been at the core of PHIA Foundation’s actions in India. Supported by Welthungerhilfe, PHIA Foundation is promoting the right to adequate food for vulnerable communities Khunti and Latehar districts of Jharkhand by strengthening rural governance in these areas. This year, PHIA Foundation coalesced with the Right to Food Campaign (RTFC) to monitor the performance of PDS for particularly vulnerable tribal groups and resolve and advocate for pending ration and other services under the National Food Security Act and Jharkhand Food Security Scheme through web publications. To further strengthen governance at the village level, workshops have been organised to train staff and community members with the required skills for advocacy including taking photos through phone cameras, writing reports, posting on social media, etc. and applying for social security. Undertaking Nutrition Sensitive Micro Planning and tool of Community Score Cards has resulted in a new AWC being set up on the demand of the Gram Sabha. Linking community members to various social security entitlements is also an objective of the project. To improve nutrition, maternal and child health workers were oriented on ICDS services. With regard to the scaling of the Community Score Card (CSC) exercise as part of the social accountability process to the project villages, the team was successfully able to pilot CSC in 2 villages and administer CSC in 18 project villages. In total, action plan in CSC process have been developed for 20 project villages