COMMUNITY LED INITIATIVES FOR CHILD SURVIVAL

Male Involvement Improves Women’s and

Children’s Health
KVMs, and represents the federation in the
Village Coordination Committee (VCC).

The ‘Federation of KVMs’ was formed by

putting together one representative or
“mastermind” from each of the 25 KVMs in the
Anji sector. It is considered the ‘governing’ body
of KVMs and provides direction and knowledge
Dabhale and Ghodkhande are fascinated by a
to the others. Funds are collected at this level
model of mosquito larvae!
and all cash transactions are conducted through
them. So far the federation of KVM has collected
How to sensitize men in a community to women
4 lakh rupees. Fertilizer, water pipes and other
and children’s health issues? Addressing this
agricultural materials bought by the federation at
question has been crucial to the goal of CLICS
discounted prices are made available to other
program, which is to create a sustainable
KVMs for purchase.
improvement in the health status and well being
of children under the age of three and women of
Men learn about health rights during KVM
reproductive age. The answer seems to lie in a
meetings and health advocacy has become
farmer’s development forum, Kisan Vikas
natural for them. Disseminating health messages
Manch.
in the community is very much a part of their
responsibility and the federation also ensures
It took a while for the idea to gain impetus, but
supply of iron tablets, iodized salt and other
today the program boasts of 75 KVMs. In Anji
health products from the local PHC for farmer’s
PHC area itself, there are 25. While the men
families. Child care which was earlier considered
group together ostensibly to learn about modern
female domain is propagated in KVM meetings
scientific techniques of farming, KVM meetings
as being the duty of men too.
provide an opportunity for the dissemination of
health education messages and promote male
Through training workshops held by CLICS,
involvement in women and children’s health
members have learned about practices they can
activities. Interestingly, the group has decided to
follow to create health in their own lives. “We
function as self-help group too and now provides
have learned how to prevent mosquitoes from
loans to farmers at low interest rates. “Not a
breeding in stagnant water,” says Abhay
single farmer has committed suicide in our
Ghodkhande, the secretary of a village KVM.
district since we formed the KVM,” says Vilas
Both he and Dabhale go around pouring bleach
Dabhale, the president of the village KVM.
into pools of water in their neighborhoods and
Dabhale is also the secretary of the Federation of

1
have also set nets on the sanitary latrine pipe in details of new initiatives of the KVMs,
their households. They say that their propagates health messages and also carries the
interventions have reduced the incidence of details of all financial exchanges. Another new
mosquito borne diseases. project of the KVM is an Information
Technology Centre (ITC). Here information on
new farming methods, weather conditions etc
will be made available to KVM members.
“CLICS has created a desire for knowledge and
learning in all of us,” says Dabhale.

Contact us
Community Led Initiatives for Child Survival
(CLICS)

Dabhale is relentless in his pursuit of knowledge

Other changes made by Dabhale to improve the

Dr. Sushila Nayar School of Public Health
health of his family include fixing a tap to the Incorporating Department of Community Medicine
mud vessel that stores drinking water in his own Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences
Sewagram - 442 102 Wardha District
home. He purifies the water with Jeevan drop Maharashtra (India)
and keeps supplies of this to sell to those in need.
E-mail: bsgarg_ngp@bsnl.in
He also stocks condoms, nets for latrine pipes,
ORS etc and participates in the social marketing
Our Website
activities of the VCC in the village. Health is http://clics.org.in
now a family matter: while his wife is active in
the CLICS program herself through her role as .
the secretary of a SHG, his 9 year old daughter
also participates in plays that propagate health
messages. Being a member of the VCC, Dabhale MGIMS Aga Khan Foundation

participates in the Bal Suraksha Diwas

Development Partner
celebration and often monitors the quality of
service in the BSD as well as the services of the
CLICS doot formally.

More recently, the federation has begun bringing

out a quarterly newsletter, Kisan Shakti.
Brainchild of Dabhale, Kisan Shakti carries the