Project Report by Suraj Baadkar

Other group members :

Aakash Doshi, Aniruddh Menon, Hansa Hasu, Pramod

Pai, Priya Singhdeo & Shruti kabo

October 18

Anganwadi Management

System Tackle the situation of malnourishment in children,

while working alongside the existing system of

anganwadi established under ICDS scheme. Create

a web-based intervention to improve the situation

in slums regarding the same.

Aiding Community Knowledge

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Group project

As designers, we were expected to study the anganwadi system and come up with an intervention

which would aid in reducing the malnourishment in children living in slums and below the poverty

line. In order to create a sustainable system, two anganwadi’s in DevanaJeevanaHalli area of Bangalore

were selected pilot test.

Statement of intent To eradicate malnourishment in children and eliminate discrepancies taking place within the

Anganwadi system under ICDS scheme.

Individual motivation In the presentation at the beginning of the semester, two things that immediately caught my attention

were

i) High rate of malnourishment in state of Karnataka

For last couple of years, I didn’t hear much about malnourishment in the newspapers or other

journalism media. Therefore I assumed that the issue wasn’t as serious. But after the presentation and

going through the data presented I was surprised and wanted to study further about it.

ii) Web based app development for intervention

UI/UX design is something that I want to explore and learn about. Therefore this project being the

only course exploring this field, it was an easy choice for me to make.

How the group project unfolded After the initial introduction to the group and the project, we decided to visit the two anganwadi’s we

would be working with throughout the course of the semester. This visit was just to give us the feel of

the place and the people we will be interacting with. Basically to familiarize ourselves with the

environment on the field. During this visit, we random asked few people living there as to what they

do and how their day goes by. We, being exposed to the environment of a slum for the first time,

were little apprehensive as to how they would react to having us around. However, they were very

cooperative and vocal about their condition especially of their children’s. At the end of the visit, we

regrouped with our facilitator to discuss the way we were going to proceed with this project. After the

discussion and meeting the next day, we decided to divide our goals and objectives into two phases.

Phase 1: Research and field work to determine a Normative Anganwadi and Anganwadi in

reality. Also, map out the communicative ecology which would help us determine the nodes

of communication for any sustainable system to work within their community.

Phase 2: Develop an app (later changed to develop a system) which will be an intervention

from our side to better the ground reality and sort out the issues we identify.

After dividing the goals, we brainstormed our action plans in order to achieve them. This is where we

felt the need to have two teams, one dedicated to study the policy and official documents to

determine the normative anganwadi and the other, to study the ground reality and interact with

people in the field. Each group then decided to catalogue or maintain a journal of their respective

research so that it is easily accessible for anyone who is part of this project. We chose online medium

to be the best as sharing information is easier. The two teams and their respective journal links were:

i) Desk work – Shruti and Myself

https://sites.google.com/site/deskattack/

ii) Field work – Aakash, Aniruddh, Hansa, Pramod and Priya

http://aidingcommunity.tumblr.com/

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Just before we got into our respective areas of research, we did a reality check on the amount of time

we had for the project and what our deliverables are we narrowed down our focus and based our

research on five action points.

i) Punctuality of the Anganwadi

ii) Relationship between the Malnourished children and the food they get

iii) Health services provided to these Malnourished children

iv) Study if local tracking or monitoring mechanism can be put into place specially parents

involvement.

v) Target only the beneficiaries attending the Anganwadi i.e Children between the age of 3-6

yrs.

Once these focus points were in place, it was pretty straightforward as to what our approach was

going to be. We as a whole group discussed and formulated certain basic necessary questions the

field work team was going to ask and also the questions that the desk work team would find from the

official documents and policies. For two weeks thereon, we worked in our respective groups doing our

research.

Deskwork; Phase One

Shruti and I thought the best, validated and unbiased source/link to the official documents would be

the advisor to the district committee appointed by the high court, Mr Clifton Rosario. We were told by

our facilitator that he will be always at our disposal for getting any kind of information. So we set up a

meeting with him where he could give us access to the documents. At his office we found huge pile of

documents and reports on the ICDS scheme from different stakeholder in the systems. The documents

also had the communication catalogued between the stakeholders regarding the subject and issue.

Our task there was to filter out the relevant reports and documents which would aid us in our

objective. After spending two long days going through them we collected all that we thought was

relevant. In next few project weeks, we consolidated the research information we had onto our

website in categories (the link to which I’ve provided above). We also tried to look for and study

systems which were similar or have already been implemented in other states.

Couple of weeks before the deadline for phase one, 1st September, both the teams regrouped to

decide on the deliverables for phase one. The deliverables for phase one was imperative as it would

feed into the system that we had to design in phase two. As a result of this meeting, we reaches a

conclusion that the people around anganwadi didn’t actually know what an anganwadi is supposed to

provide. They didn’t know that the services of an anganwadi were their rights and not charity done by

local leaders etc. So, we decided to produce a set of posters with the content majorly talking about

the services of the anganwadi and malnourishment in general. We also felt the need to tell people

about the stakeholders in the anganwadi system and the flow of food and money within it. Therefore,

the Field work team took responsibility to design posters for malnourishment and services, while the

Deskwork team (Shruti and myself) decided to design posters of food and money map. The content

for these maps were dictated by the two important meetings we had during the process. One with the

CDPO of our pilot anganwadi, head of an NGO called Sumangli and the second one with Aditi at

Fields of View.

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The maps we came up with were:

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While, we were in the process of still making the deliverables for phase one, due to some availability

issues, the UI/UX workshop which was scheduled to happen in phase two was pushed back. Due to

lack of preparation for the same, we couldn’t really benefit much from the workshop. Still we kept

some of the key points mentioned in mind to incorporate it in phase two system development.

It was the end of phase one with us going on two weeks break from project into our respective srishti

workshop curriculum. When we returned from it, we had to begin working on developing a system to

address the issues we found were of utmost importance.

Deskwork; Phase Two

We still ended up working within the original two teams we had made for this phase as well. Though it

was intended to go about this way, few of the project members lacked inspiration and seemed to have

lost their way. Beginning of phase two we met as a whole group and decided what the system should

be and what it should address. After long debate and discussion we felt the need to have a system

which could track and monitor the basic functioning of the anganwadi. Supporting argument was that

if in real time we could track the working of anganwadi, we could pin point at which stage the

discrepancy occurs, if at all there is one. Scaling it upwards in the chain of money and food flow, we

could apply the same mechanism to see if any discrepancy occurs at higher chain of command. Given

the limited time and resources, we thought of developing an app which in its first module would track

food flow from CDPO to anganwadi and its consumption within the anganwadi and also the growth

monitoring of each child in the anganwadi. Additional feature was to track the punctuality of the

anganwadi. Hence this system would be consistent with the five focus points we had come up with in

phase one.

The medium for this system was decided to be a cross platform app which would be able to run on

touchscreen cellphone or tablet and as a website on the computer. The choice of multiple platform

development was so that the budget and feasibility wasn’t a major issue. However the whole group

agreed that a Kiosk running this app would be the best option and sustainable solution for better

results. Other system in our study was the sms based system which is currently active in Andhra

Pradesh, but it can only monitor a single data at a time unless syntax for sms was developed. It was

also outdated given the fact that it was introduced nearly 6-7 years ago. I highlighted the main points

of our discussion however we made a big list of pros and cons of each system and finally reached a

conclusion to develop a cross platform app. Most importantly, additions of more modules to this

system were possible from time to time addressing different issues.

It was time for us to execute the plan and develop information architecture, wireframes and then the

mock-ups for the app. Given that most of us in the group didn’t know what these three terms meant

and had never done anything like this, the responsibility fell onto myself and shruti to do it. While

pramod and akash showed interest in making the mockups, Aniruddh, priya and hansa decided to

redo the posters from phase one to incorporate the feedbacks received from the facilitators and FOV.

So in the final weeks of phase two, I developed the wireframe for the app while shruti worked on the

details of the wireframe working and tested the flow. Once it was ready we presented it to others and

it seemed to have worked. Pramod along with us then made the final mockups which were presented

at the end of the project.

Major feedback we received after the presentation was to incorporate a feature to register complaints

from the parents or people around the anganwadi. We did think of the feature but left it for next

module as we have to think about administrator monitoring the complaints and also who would be

the responsible to act on the complaints registered. Also currently, there is a helpline which works

efficiently in registering complaints about the anganwadi.

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The rough draft and wireframes were as follows.

These are just a couple of pages. Complete wireframe of all the pages are included at the end of this

document.

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My assumptions From the beginning of this project I had assumed that we had to be a little biased and we will have to

generalize and extrapolate some of the information that we gather during the research process. While

going through the process of data collection, I learned that some of the information couldn’t be

generalised and needed further in depth study to be taken into account.

One of the major drawbacks I felt was the UI/UX workshop being pushed ahead of time. We were

preparing ourselves for the scheduled dates assuming we would be ready to learn how to apply our

research. As a result of the date mix up, we did not benefit from the workshop at all and had to rely on

my previous knowledge about the development of wireframe and information architecture. I think if

we were prepared for these workshop and had made better use of it, we would be able to present

maybe a better application rather incorporated more modules and features within the same

wireframe.

Lastly, I had high expectations from the group members, considering the enthusiasm they showed to

make a difference. As the project progressed, their individual motivations kind of hampered their

interest for the project objectives and the efforts died out.

Insights about myself I personally, learned a lot about team work, leadership and

delegation of work from this project. I gained immense

confidence in system development while going through the

phase two of this project. Initially I was very sceptical as to how

we would come up with a system without knowledge of UI/UX

development, but in the end the app we developed is

applicable in the field and will definitely show better results.

After this project, my interest for communication systems and

interface design has grown and I have a better idea as to how I

should proceed towards pursuing it. At a personal level, I

learned a lot about the reality of people living in the slums and

the hardships they go through. Being so far removed from that

kind of environment I never imagined the situation to be so bad

that people in slums find it difficult to get two meals a day. I

seem to have started appreciating everything I have and I put

honest effort while working towards achieving something.

Repeating it all If I had to do things differently, I would firstly keep specific days in this project for UI/UX development

throughout the project period. I felt that Mr. Vinod had good insights and suggestions when we met

him but it was either too late into the project or too early in the process.

We found ourselves without facilitator for majority of phase two. I would prefer if there was one

facilitator who was with us throughout the process of this project, just so that the unfolding of the

process was consistent. This is specifically when there are more than three interested parties working

on the project. Example, we made certain focus points and objectives at the beginning of phase one.

But when we met Aditi from FOV after 4-5 weeks into the project, she had a different view of the

project and some focus points had to be redirected or needed further clarification. We lost a lot of

time bringing everyone to understand our action plans and project goals.

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Lastly, most of the group members lost their way in phase two. Therefore, most of the work got

directed towards three of us who were willing deliver the end result of phase two. This wouldn’t be the

case if there was somebody facilitating the process throughout. It would also result in better

assessment of individuals who worked so much more than others towards the project. I honestly do

not think it is fair for those who didn’t put in as much efforts to be rewarded on the basis of those

whose work has resulted in deliverables.

Review other group project I enjoyed the presentations of the other group. It was very playful and well themed. Though I felt it

needed a lot of learning as a new user for their product, even though am tech-savvy. Their project was

to connect artists and space owners which would result in more performances around the city. They

worked around creating a user generated database to go about it.

One of the best things I liked about their process was that it was facilitated throughout and the result

was more thought through. Though I felt their project was well defined and the end result was

understood at the beginning itself, which gave them a clear goal and objective to work towards.

The final product itself is very artsy and creative but highly tedious and time consuming. Some of the

features could be made optional as I feel all artists and space owners wouldn’t find time and necessity

to provide all the information that the product asks. I feel this is a result of lack of usability research

conducted on the field by the group. In all, I would enjoy using the product they have proposed

especially when it becomes a one stop place to find all the artists, space owners and events happening

in the city.

Specific questions As the product we proposed is still in the nascent stage and there was absolutely no time to test it in

the field environment, I cannot provide the extent of its impact on the people who are part of the

anganwadi system directly or indirectly. Though, the app holds a promise to deliver unbiased, real-

time, statistical data which will be consistent information to all the stakeholders and interested parties.

The data created by this app will act as an evidence for any discrepancy that will be reported once the

next module is introduced. The information generated by this system is basically the rearrangement of

community data, which until now was kept in huge dusty registers. Now anybody from the community

or outside audience can access the data right from day to day working of a specific anganwadi to the

whole structure of anganwadi system.

As a result of this system being real time, the response of the stakeholders in the system will be faster.

It will serve as an incentive for all the interested parties to make enough contributions and

interventions which will lead to show a tangible difference in the data collected by the app.

In the end, I think this app gives us enough authority to contest community knowledge and rearrange

it. Also the results, stats, and trends shown by this system will bring lot of attention, improving the

involvement of stakeholders.

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Conclusion & Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my deskwork teammate shruti kabo to have stepped in

whenever I was drifting away from the focus and Ram from Maara to have supported us to develop

the system in medium we felt best. He appreciated the work when it was good and gave up

constructive criticism when we fell short.

I, most importantly would like to bring to your notice the amount of deliverables Shruti and myself

were responsible for and also collating the information about the normative anganwadi which became

the content for all the posters and infographs. Also I want to appreciate the enthusiasm and

willingness to work from Pramod, who not only took care of field work but also helped us in making

the mock ups for the app.

In this section, I am attaching some of the documents I made to assist other group members in their

understanding of anganwadi and please go through the deskwork website where you will find all the

information and research material, I came across. Also in the end I have attached all the wireframe

pages of the app.

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Additional document 1

Meeting with Aditi (Fields of View) – Friday, 17 August 2012

Actors involved in the nourishment of the child

Parents/Family

Teacher

Helper

Children

Neighbours around AWC and homes of children going to AWC

Doctor/LHV

Supervisor

To be mapped -

Relationship between the actors

Influence on each other

What we need to convey to the parents.

Parameters

Time AWC opens

Supplementary Nutrition Program:

Health Check

Check growth chart

Malnourished Children

Information

Registration of the child in aanganwadi.

What time does the AWC open?

Convey that it is SUPPLEMENTARY nutrition and not the complete. What food and

when?

no. of meals a day and portion.

How often doctor visits? (to let them know there is someone else to monitor the

health of the child)

Average weight to age ratio

What is malnourishment + Ill-effects of malnourishment

What AWC does to tackle severe malnourishment?

1. Rs. 750 given for medicines and supplements

2. Change in food supplement (Egg and Milk)

3. Child being weighed weekly

4. Toilet and Drinking water

Things to do

Find out what the doctors check for in general check-up (personal)

Double check the LHV responsibility

Field info on

1. Literacy of the community around the AWC

2. Languages read and spoken

3. The nodes of communication

Answer the FOV questionnaire for meeting with Aditi on Thursday at 4PM in Maraa

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Additional document 2

Designing material

Actors involved in the nourishment of the child

Parents/Family

Teacher

Helper

Children

Neighbours around AWC and homes of children going to AWC

Doctor/LHV

Supervisor

What we need to convey to the parents. (Keep in mind while working and checklist once

done)

Parameters

Time AWC opens

Supplementary Nutrition Program:

Health Check

Check growth chart

Malnourished Children

Registration of the child in Anganwadi.

Information

Convey that it is SUPPLEMENTARY nutrition and not the complete. What food and

when?

no. of meals a day and portion.

How often doctor visits? (to let them know there is someone else to monitor the

health of the child)

Average weight to age ratio

What is malnourishment + Ill-effects of malnourishment

What AWC does to tackle severe malnourishment?

5. Rs. 750 given for medicines and supplements

6. Change in food supplement (Egg and Milk)

7. Child being weighed weekly

8. Toilet and Drinking water

Work Delegation (to be finished and shared by –

Poster outside anganwadi – Aniruddh

Maps (Food, money, organization) – Suraj, Shruti

Services (Staff and infrastructure) – Priya, Aakash

Nutrition for a child – Pramod, Hansa

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Additional document 3

Wireframes

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