A dual strategy to provide livelihood opportunity and improve health and nutrition of rural families through women’s empowerment

Health and Nutrition Enterprises:

Health and nutrition enterprises (HNE) play a pivotal role in not just augmenting livelihood opportunities but also promoting well-being and addressing certain health and nutrition challenges. These enterprises encompass a wide range of products and services, from organic food producers and dietary supplement manufacturers to fitness centers and telehealth platforms..

Thus, there is a need for scalable strategies to create awareness on setting up such enterprises and marketing / promotion and consumption of produce from these HNE. It is therefore strategic to promote more remunerative models (focus on generating demand, creating awareness for usage of the product along with income generation, for better nutrition and health outcomes.

When such enterprises owned and run by women collectives are initiated, it results into multi-fold benefits for the entire family, and this has been demonstrated through Women collectives (Self Help Groups) being nurtured by different State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs). The SHGs have been able to establish various HNEs which has resulted in economic empowerment of women, improving, and enabling their purchasing decisions, specifically in matters related to health and nutrition. Women are more aware of dietary requirements and importance of healthy lifestyle of family members, thus, leading not only economic gains for the women but a tremendous health gain for the family.

The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) through health and nutrition specific Enterprises have demonstrated the efficiency of their SHGs to improve the health and nutrition status of rural households along with the economic empowerment of the women.

This webinar is going to take the conversation further, and the experts will dwell on the following few critical questions in their talk / presentation:

1. What strategies lead to the successful management of HNEs by women's collectives?
2. What are the challenges that require immediate attention to sustain the momentum of these initiatives?
3. What key factors should be considered when providing support and funding to HNE led by women collectives?

Time	Agenda	Speakers
03:30 – 03:35	Welcome and Housekeeping	Ms. Vineha Tatkar
03.35 – 03.40	Introduction to the topic Moderator	Mr. Prasann Thatte
03:40 - 04:00	PCI's study on HNEs supported by SRLMs	Dr. Amrita Misra, PCI
04:00 - 04:10	HNE bringing gains in livelihoods as well as improving HN status – UP THR Experience	Dr. Shariqua Yunus, WFP
04:10 - 04:20	Challenges that require immediate attention to sustain the momentum of these enterprises: Experience from Kudumbashree initiatives.	Mr. Naveen C, Kudumbashree, Kerala
04:20 - 04:30	Key factors to be considered in providing support and funding to HNE led by women collectives.	Dr. Sujeet Ranjan, Tata Trusts Kerala
04:30 - 04:50	Question & Answers	Participants & Panelist Facilitated by the moderator
04:50 - 05.00	Concluding Remarks & Closing Moderator	Moderator

Speaker details

Dr. Amrita Misra - is the Director for Health and Nutrition at PCI India. She is an M.D. in Community Medicine from Lady Hardinge Medical College and has over 22 years of experience in managing projects on maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, nutrition, WASH and Infectious Diseases. Before joining PCI India, Amrita worked with John Snow India as Senior Technical Advisor. She has earlier worked with the United Nations and the World Health Organization in various techno-managerial capacities. Amrita is a member of the Technical Advisory Group of MOHFW on Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) and several other professional and advisory bodies.
Dr Shariqua Yunus - graduated in medicine from the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh in 2001 and subsequently did her post-graduation in Community Medicine from the same college in 2005. She holds a diploma in Public Health Nutrition from the Public Health Foundation of India and has also been trained on the management of nutrition in emergencies by the University College of London and Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre.
She has worked on the ASHA project under the National Rural Health Mission with the training division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. She has also worked as the focal point for Nutrition at the World Health Organization, Country Office for India. Currently, she is working as the Head of the Nutrition and School feeding unit at the World Food Programme office in India. In this role, she has also supported several countries in the region in their quest against anemia and micronutrient deficiencies.
She has to her credit several research papers in various national and international journals. Her main areas of interest are maternal and child health, infant and young child feeding and links between disease and nutrition.

Naveen C – Mr Naveen has been working in Kudumbashree Mission as the Chief Operating Officer - NRLM since Feb 2023. He also holds charge of State Programme Officer for Gender & FNHW and MIS. As the State Programme officer, he has been supervising the various activities done by Kudumbashree in Kerala as part of women empowerment and Gender & FNHW initiatives.




Dr. Sujeet Ranjan is Associate Director – Nutrition at Tata Trusts, heading the Nutrition portfolio within the organisation. He has been associated with the public health sector for more than two decades. His experience includes large-scale program management, policy advocacy and partnership management.
Prior to this, Dr. Sujeet has worked as Executive Director, Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security (CFNS), Director – CARE India and Chief Operating Officer – Swasthya Management and Research Institute, Hyderabad.
He has also undergone International Fellowship Program on Visionary Leadership. Has undertaken the international fellowship on leadership at the Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS), Nairobi, Kenya, and with the NFPCB, Government of Indonesia, Jakarta