Nand Ghar has formalised a strategic partnership with John Snow Inc. (JSI) R&T India Foundation and Rocket Learning under Project Balvardhan. This marks a transformative step towards strengthening early childhood education, health and nutrition across Nand Ghars in Rajasthan.

June 2, 2025 - Vedanta’s flagship CSR initiative Nand Ghar is transforming traditional Anganwadis into modern centres equipped with smart education tools, BaLA (Building as Learning Aid) design, LED TVs and child-friendly infrastructure to create an engaging and safe environment for children aged 3-6 years. Nand Ghars provide nutritious food, health services and nutrition support to children and mothers, while empowering women through skill development programmes to ensure livelihoods and overall development of the community.

Project Balvardhan, an initiative launched by Anil Agarwal Foundation, aims to combat malnutrition in children and enhance the capacity of Anganwadi workers. As per NFHS-5, 31.8% of children under five years of age in Rajasthan suffer from stunting and 16.8% from wasting. 

Through this project, more than 800 Anganwadi centres in Dholpur, Rajasthan, will be converted into Nand Ghar, directly benefiting more than 80,000 children and 14,000 women and overall positively impacting the lives of more than 1,00,000 community members.

The initiative adopts a 360-degree systemic approach, focusing on strengthening early childhood care and education (ECCE), combating all forms of malnutrition, and ensuring quality supplementary nutrition as per ICDS Rajasthan guidelines. At the same time, special emphasis will be given on behaviour change methods to ensure long-term and sustainable impact on health and nutrition status.

Building Strong Foundation

Through this strategic collaboration with JSI (John Snow Inc.) and Rocket Learning, Nand Ghar will create a strong foundation for nutrition, health and education interventions, creating a holistic development model based on sustainability, scalability and community participation.

Shashi Arora, CEO of Nand Ghar, reiterated the commitment of this programme saying, “At Nand Ghar, we believe that real change begins from the roots. Project Balvardhan is an important step in our commitment to fight malnutrition among children and empower Anganwadi workers. In collaboration with the Government of Rajasthan, JSI and Rocket Learning, Nand Ghar is committed to driving this change from the grassroots level and building a secure future for our coming generations.”

To Improve Nutrition

Under Project Balvardhan, JSI will work to improve maternal and child nutrition and health through improving the nutritional status of children under six years of age, upgrading Anganwadi services infrastructure, digital growth monitoring (anthropometry) and enhancing maternal nutrition awareness based on scientific methods. These efforts will directly benefit children, pregnant women and lactating mothers and improve the overall health outcomes of rural communities. Additionally, emphasis will be laid on capacity building of Nand Ghar Didis (Anganwadi workers), frontline workers and communities to ensure lasting impact through behaviour change.

Rocket Learning will enable Anganwadi workers to provide high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE). This will be achieved through increasing children's attendance and participation, developing State-based educational content, and training in modern teaching methods.

Transforming Anganwadis

JSI and Rocket Learning, in collaboration with ICDS Rajasthan, are ushering in a transformational era in Anganwadi services by combining their deep experience in maternal and child health, nutrition and ECCE. They are pioneering an integrated systemic approach to elevate service delivery standards and realize a new vision of holistic child development.

This project is funded and implemented under the guidance of Diya Kumari, Deputy Chief Minister and Women & Child Development Minister, Rajasthan, which reflects the strong commitment of the Government towards child welfare and rural development. 

Project Balvardhan is partnership-driven, community-inspired and a symbol of a collaborative impact rooted in sustainability.

About Balvardhan:

Project Balvardhan is a collaborative initiative between Anil Agarwal Foundation, Government of Rajasthan and the district administration. It is based on the partnership of Vedanta’s Nand Ghars and the Department of Women and Child Development. More than 5,100 Nand Ghars have already been built in Rajasthan and the target is to expand to 25,000 Nand Ghars. The initiative seeks to transform Anganwadis into technology-enabled hubs that will provide integrated services of early education, nutrition and health care. It is designed as a scalable and sustainable model that combines technology , policy and community participation. It also includes regular training for Anganwadi workers and behaviour change programmes to empower women and caregivers in maternal and child welfare.

About Nand Ghar:

Nand Ghar, the flagship social impact project of Anil Agarwal Foundation , works towards strengthening the Anganwadi system in the country. There are 8300+ Nand Ghars present across 15 States in India impacting the lives of more than 3.2 lakh children and 2.4 lakh women. Established in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development ( MoWCD), Nand Ghars work towards eradicating malnutrition among children, providing pre-primary education and primary healthcare, and empowering rural women through skill training. These state-of-the-art Anganwadis aim to transform the lives of seven crore children and two crore women in the country by replacing 13.7 lakh traditional Anganwadis.

For more information, see: https://www.nandghar.org/

About Anil Agarwal Foundation:

Anil Agarwal Foundation is the umbrella organisation for Vedanta's community and social initiatives. Its key areas of focus include healthcare, women and child development, animal welfare projects and sports promotion. The foundation is working to empower communities, transform lives and accelerate nation building through inclusive growth.