Bhubaneswar: Aiming at bringing greater community ownership and accountability to anganwadi services, the state govt has decided to entrust local women with the responsibility of monitoring the functioning of anganwadi centres by constituting all-women anganwadi management committees (AMCs) across the state by July 31.The women and child development department has directed all district collectors to ensure the formation of the committees in every anganwadi centre under the Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 programme.Officials said the committees are intended to serve as grassroots institutional mechanisms that will strengthen transparency, community participation and oversight in the delivery of nutrition, pre-school education and health services.Unlike the existing monitoring structure, the new AMCs will draw members entirely from the local community and will include women directly connected to anganwadi services and child welfare. The eight-member committees will comprise mothers of children enrolled in the centres, local ASHA workers, representatives of self-help groups or non-governmental organisations and female teachers from nearby govt primary schools. The state govt has decided to include two community-specific members to broaden community representation — an adolescent girl from the locality pursuing Plus II or college education and a beneficiary of the Subhadra scheme, excluding self-help group members.Each committee will be chaired by the anganwadi supervisor concerned, while the anganwadi worker will serve as member-convener. “The objective is to ensure that women from the community take ownership of the functioning of anganwadi centres and actively participate in monitoring the quality of services being delivered,” a department official said.The committees will meet once every two months at the anganwadi centre and decisions taken during the meetings will have to be documented and submitted to the concerned Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) within seven days. CDPOs have been asked to review the functioning of the committees at least twice a year on parameters such as regularity of meetings, attendance, community participation and follow-up action taken on issues raised by members.The govt has simultaneously decided to discontinue the existing anganwadi level monitoring and support committees (ALMSCs), with the newly-constituted AMCs becoming the primary community-level bodies for monitoring, support and feedback on anganwadi services.Officials said the move is expected to strengthen participatory governance and create a stronger feedback mechanism by giving local women a direct role in improving service delivery at anganwadi centres across the state.
