| Sarah Jameel |
- Dedicated to every single child and mother in hunger.
The Child Nutrition Institute is a collaborative youth project that envisions an improvement in children and maternal health via curbing the issue of nutritional deficiencies, malnutrition and other preventable childhood diseases. The CNI's innovative multi-faceted approach to utilizing awareness campaigns together with social and mobile media, aims at reaching the two important UN MDGs of improving Child Health and Maternal Health. With an emphasis in the Developing World; The CNI aims at targeting a generation of children impoverished by the insecurity of poverty in South Asia, thus empowering them with the knowledge of well being, thus creating a whole child. Inspired by the WHO's Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative (NFSI), the CNI is the brainchild of a team of youth activists who believe in the power of creating a healthier generation and thus more sustainable workforce via the upliftment of Nutritional Standards. In accordance with WHO studies that identify the exacerbating issues concerned with nutrition, the NI chooses to focus on the following issues in the developing world, particularly South Asia: · Infant and young child feeding · Fetal maternal nutrition · Severe acute malnutrition · Moderate malnutrition · Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) · Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) · Vitamin A deficiency (VAD)
| The pictures we found, the people we met and the experiences we witnessed defined the issue beyond any doubt. |
The Child Nutrition Institute was founded by a group of Youth Activists from the South Asian region, with a passion to bring about social change through the upliftment of the nutritional standards of living. They amalgamate into team with their diverse backgrounds of culture, tradition and religion; thus representing the South Asian region of Sri Lanka, India and Nepal.
President & Founder
Sarah Jameel
Sarah is a Biomedical Sciences Major and International Relations Minor at McGill University in Canada. She started her activism at the age of eleven upon the aftermath of the Tsunami in the region, as she fundraised for medicine and medical equipment for affected Hospitals in the East of Sri Lanka. In 2008, she represented Sri Lanka at Presidential Classroom’s ‘Future World Leaders at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Amidst her public speaking, she was invited as Panellist for ‘International Women’s Day’ organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN Office in Colombo. She continued her passion for affordable and reliable healthcare and organized Paediatric health camps and awareness campaigns for underprivileged children in the disadvantaged urban areas of Sri Lanka. She was thus chosen as a ‘Three Dot Dash’ Global Teen Leader (GTL) by the We Are Family Foundation, and was invited to attend the Inaugural Three Dot Dash ‘Just Peace Summit’ in New York in April 2008. Upon this Summit, she founded ‘KICK THE BUTT’ (www.kickthebutt.org) – the world’s first fashion + social media based anti-teen smoking campaign, which utilizes fashion and social media such as Facebook & Twitter to change the mindset of teen smoking among the urban population of Sri Lanka and has reached about a thousand youth. In 2009 she was thus chosen as a British Council Global Changemaker, and attended the ‘Global Youth Summit’ in London. Her she got the opportunity to introduce KTB to the Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Number 10 Downing Street. She then represented the voice of youth, as one of the six Global Changemaker Ambassadors at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2010 in Davos. In addition to being on the Closing Plenary if the WEF and being a discussion leader at sessions such as ‘Brain Drain to Brain Circulation’ and ‘Attracting the best and brightest to the Public Sector’ with President Calderon of Mexico, she questioned Bill Gates and Helen Clark (Head of UNDP) on the implementation of the UN MDGs. Post WEF, she was invited join the Steering Board of the ‘NewMe
SmokeFree Initiative’ - A project spearheaded by the Young Global Leaders (YGL) in the World Economic Forum and is led by Bjarte Reve, CEO of the Oslo Cancer Cluster. Upon entering University, she was invited as a Student Speaker to speak on Youth Activism at the WE ARE THE WORLD CONFERENCE 2011 – A Conference on Economic Development, at McGill University. In February 2010, upon hearing of the arrest of a fellow GTL and Peacemaker Mahmoud Jabari, she was part of a youth coalition using social media and online petitioning that got him freed after an unjust arrest. Thus she was able to share this experience at the Opening Reception of the Three Dot Dash ‘Just Peace Summit’ 2011. Her vision is to one day see younger people at the helm of the UN and at positions of responsibility making just decisions that impact the World.
Co-Founder
Lihini Ratwatte
Lihini is a British Council Global Changemaker from Sri Lanka, and is starting her degree in International Relations and Journalism at Monash University, Malaysia in February 2012. With a passion for serving communities stricken by poverty and hunger, she organized several fundraisers/charity events and aid distribution projects through the Social Services Union and Interact Club of her High School and later through the Rotract Club in Kandy. Her continuous commitment to fundraising during the 2004 tsunami in the region and later for droughts and floods that followed has kept her motivated. She has a dream start her own Foundation that helps people who live in abject poverty. Finally her passionate work in the field of AHIV/AIDS awareness and other community diseases through the organization of awareness campaigns has rendered a great service to both youth and adults alike in her hometown of Kandy in Sri Lanka.
Co-Founder
Deepika Mandava
Deepika is fourth year student double majoring in Economics and Civil Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. She is the co-founder of a non-profit organization, Parivartan Foundation (www.parivartanfoundation.org), which is a Community Development Project in a group of 9 villages in Andhra Pradesh in India. It also runs Education Projects in Jharkhand and other districts in Andhra Pradesh. Being a Health Rights Activist and witnessing the disadvantage of having one doctor per 30,000 people in underprivileged regions of Andra Pradesh and has concluded an array of health camps/ clinics for disadvantaged communities in the region. She is thus developing clinic based on a tele-medicine model to treat the scores of numbers. Deepika is also a British Council Global Changemaker, and was chosen to attend the Global Youth Summit in London in 2010.
Co-Founder
Serene Khatiwada
Serene is a British Council Global Changemaker from Nepal. He was chosen to attend the Global Youth Summit in London in 2009 and then subsequently as a Peer Facilitator in 2010. He is currently a youth radio personality on HitsFM, and has a show with a 20 minute segment on Youth Awareness of issues in Nepal and the Subcontinent region. With a strong commitment to issues of Educational Reform, he teaches children in grade ten whilst counselling them on higher education goals. Prior to this commitment, he went to remote villages in Nepal during his vacations and taught underprivileged children. He also coached orphans and physically challenged children to play basketball during these vacations. Among his many feats in activism, one of the most memorable to him was rescuing a girl from child marriage in rural Nepal. He has also worked for a thinktank and published a paper on Economic Reforms on taxation and prospects of being an Free Economic Zone in his country. Most recently, he has worked on a youth-led protect amalgamating 6000 youth from Nepal.
Co-Founder
Aashish Birgi
Aashish is an Indian British Council Global Changemaker and was chosen to attend the Global Youth Summit in London 2009. He has been very passionate about environmental issues and sustainability thus has had awareness campaigns on waste management and its repercussions in New Delhi. He is an active member of AISEC Delhi IIT and promotes the involvement of youth in National and International issues in the region through his peer influence. He is currently the College Leader for ‘Project Akshar’ his College Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, India. This initiative provides affordable educational resources to the economically backward, while empowering a marginalized community within an environment-sensitive framework. More recently, he is the Director of a new initiative he has collectively founded called ‘ProSocc’, which aims at merging public policy making with entrepreneurship to minimize social issues. With the launch of a pilot project of this initiative; ‘Feed India’ he was able to provide edible residual food from restaurants across his College Campus, which was then sold to Construction Labourers at very affordable prices. This project simultaneously addressed the issues of food disposal in restaurants, a means of hygienic and affordable food for the labourer, a source of income for College Students, and lastly a sustainable method of preventing food wastage within this human ecosystem. He is also a very active Social networker and utilizes his Social Media Networks such as Facebook and Twitter to keep his network of youth informed and mobilized on the most recent developments in the field of activism and causes that need a platform to be heard.
Co-Founder
Ashini Sumanapala
Ashini is a British Council Global Changemaker from Sri Lanka, and is currently obtaining her degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of London (External Program). She has been an active Interactor of the Interact Club of her High School, Visaka Vidyalaya, where she was involved in the organization of numerous Community Service Projects. Since 2005, she has been at the helm of organizing and carrying out a series of Health Camps that have treated up to a thousand poverty stricken people. She has also initiated the collection and distribution of essential school items to underprivileged school districts in the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has also helped conduct National Blood Drives to assist the Sri Lankan Army during the period of war in the country. Upon being chosen as a Global Changemaker, she was invited to attend the Global Youth Summit, London on 2009. She still continues to volunteer at various charitable endeavors in the country, and aspires to reduce the issue of adverse poverty through the Empowerment of Youth in her region.
Co-Founder
Diya Anand
Diya is an Economics Major at McGill University, and is from Pune, India. From a very early age she has been volunteering in her hometown and in its outskirts, including teaching children for three consecutive Summers at ‘Akanksha’ – an NGO in Pune that works towards Child Rights. She has also been a Youth Volunteer for ‘Operation Smile’ and ‘Amnesty International’. Whilst schooling in England for a few years, she assisted in setting up a Child Playgroup for children of parents who had to work full-time. She has also worked as a Microfinance Volunteer at ‘Pondicherry Prime Trust’, and was recently appointed as its Youth Ambassador to Canada in order to attract volunteers for the organization. She is currently working in the Media & Communications Department of the organization ‘Teach for India’. With her busy schedule of voluntary work, she is more recently working on a HIV/AIDS awareness campaign called ‘Wake up Pune’ this Summer. She aspires to form a sustainable Scholarship rewarding Organization for financially disadvantaged students around India, with the vision of reducing the income disparity.
Co-Founder
Nikita Karki
Nikita is Political Science Major at McGill University in Canada and is originally from Nepal. With a diverse childhood of schooling both in Nepal and later in Boarding School in India she was exposed to very distinct cultures and outlooks. Whilst at Boarding School in India, she has volunteered for many local organizations in the surrounding region of Rajasthan, from spending time with the children from the School of the Deaf & Dumb to working with the empowerment of women in the area. Upon graduation from Boarding School, she worked at an NGO named ‘Saathi’ that focuses on the empowerment of women in Nepal. Here she got the opportunity to work at the grassroots level, and witness the disparity between the two genders as she strived to change it. After starting College at McGill University, she volunteered for a program called ‘Junior Peacemakers’, where she got the opportunity to teach children on current affairs and career paths in the surrounding School Districts of Montreal in Canada. Most recently, she was appointed as VP Communications for a College Organization called ‘South Asian Women’s Aid’ (SAWA), where she will continue her work on women’s’ issues. Her dream is to one day form her own International Organization that directly focuses on empowering women in her country, Nepal.
The CNI’s Coalition Partners are true endorsers and supporters of the CNI concept and CNI based initiatives. They follow common insight on its need to curb the issue of malnutrition and other preventable childhood and maternal diseases via focusing on improving Nutritional Standards of children and pregnant/feeding mothers.
Global Changemakers was founded in 2007 when six young activists, brought together by the British Council, were invited to lend the ‘voice of youth’ to the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. Since then, the network has grown to a community of over 600 Changemakers in 110 countries world-wide. The mission of the programme is to empower youth to catalyze positive social change. It has expanded since its inception, and is now built on 3 pillars: Learning, Doing, and Advocacy. Bringing together people from over 100 countries, it’s a place to share experiences, build skills, apply and test ideas and access some truly amazing opportunities. Global Changemakers are at the forefront of running innovative projects in their communities, shaping policy and speaking truth to power through access to institutions and platforms such as the World Economic Forum. www.global-changemakers.net
Three Dot Dash速 is a global initiative of the We Are Family Foundation速 designed to recognize and support the efforts of Global Teen Leaders around the world who are actively working on projects that promote a more peaceful society by addressing issues related to basic human needs: food, water, health, shelter, safety, education and the environment. Inspired by the late 13-year-old poet and peacemaker Mattie J.T. Stepanek, Three Dot Dash is an innovative year-round leadership and mentoring program that teaches teen leaders how to "tell their stories" effectively using various forms of media, current technology and distribution methods in order to accelerate their leadership potential, advance their projects, mobilize peers and amplify their work to broader audiences around the world to take action. Three Dot Dash creates a sustainable worldwide network of individuals, corporations and non-profit organizations to further the efforts of young leaders by harnessing the power of media, mentoring, and social networking to foster public participation around the globe. www.threedotdash.org
The We Are Family Foundation (WAFF) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the vision of a global family, by creating and supporting programs that inspire and educate the next generation about respect, understanding and cultural diversity – while striving to solve one of the biggest global problems at the same time. In a very direct way, the traumatic events of September 11, 2001 revitalized a spirit of unity, solidarity and civic pride among U.S. citizens, and it gave legendary songwriter, producer and musician Nile Rodgers, a New Yorker, the idea to re-record his hit song "We Are Family" written for pop group Sister Sledge in 1979 – with a diverse community of artists, actors, personalities, firefighters, policemen and everyday citizens affected by the tragedy. Nile Rogers, along with Tommy Boy Music President, Tom Silverman, gathered over 200 personalities together just 11 days after the terrorist attacks, all eager to use the song's message and uplifting beat to mobilize the world and commence the healing process. Together they sang one powerful song that is featured in the music video directed by Spike Lee and the documentary The Making and Meaning of We Are Family. It is also available for download on iTunes, with all proceeds going to WAFF's programs. The reaction to the celebrity "We Are Family" re-record was powerful and unprecedented – and the "we" began to resonate as an international message of hope. What else could be done to harness the powerful effects? Reaching out to our youngest family members In what seemed like a natural next step, the We Are Family Foundation – a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) – was formed by Nile Rodgers to promote the message of a global family by creating and supporting programs that foster respect, understanding and cultural diversity. www.wearefamilyfoundation.org
The Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, created in 2005 to continue the work of the late teen poet and peace activist, Mattie J.T. Stepanek. During Mattie’s ‘almost 14 years’ of life, he penned seven NY Times bestselling books of Heartsongs poetry and peace essays, and served as an ambassador for many peace- and disability-related organizations. Mattie died in 2004 due to complications of a rare neuromuscular disease. The Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation is a The Foundation develops educational and recreational programs and outreach activities for children and adults that encourage Peacemaking as a deliberate action. The Peace Garden in the Mattie J.T. Stepanek Park, Rockville, Maryland is a living reminder and tribute to this young hero. The Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation exists to further Mattie’s message of hope and peace by; Providing access to the message, promoting understanding of how to apply that message to one’s self, to the community and to the world and motivating people to action in sharing that message. The Mattie J.T Stepanek Foundation endeavors to:
Encourage the concept ofplans peace understanding. Develop and implement forand executing this mission and effectively using resources. Promote interest and peace education and research in local and state schools, and other areas. Facilitate citizen participation in the furtherance of this vision and these objectives. Cooperate with governmental and private groups in the furtherance of these objectives.
www.mattieonline.com
Save-A-Meal School Event Save-A-Meal is a donor-supported concept of bridging the nutrition gap between varying schools/school districts in a country. This initiative aims at providing underprivileged schools with a meal at school via the help of more privileged schools in the area.
iGrow Awareness Campaign iGrow is an innovative self-awareness program for children aged 5-18 years in underprivileged children in both rural and urban settings. It addresses the issues of Severe Acute/Moderate Malnutrition, Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA), Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) and Vit A Deficiency, and related health/hygiene methods. This program incorporates workshops, speech days, socially-responsible advertising by Nutrition Brands and curriculum-based learning at schools afflicted by the following issues.
"Healthy ME" School Competitions We understand the importance of reinforcement in the process of lurking out of the deadly circle of poverty and ignorance that leads to malnutrition and many nutritional deficiencies. Thus this ideology of healthy competitions aims at utilizing the Arts to bring out the essential need of living on a balanced diet with the required exercise, and mental & social well being. These competitions will provide a platform for creativity in art, drama and dance in those underprivileged societies. The incentive of recognition for their art forms will be through the Inter-School and Intra-School Competitions and Award Ceremonies (Sponsored by Nutrition Giants). These competitions will be judged by an esteemed panel of Local & International Artists in the region.
|Well MUMS| Maternal Camps The necessity of balanced and sustained nutrition for a mother and new new born/child to be is of mandatory importance. This is precisely what is emphasized in the | Well MUMS | Program, which equips pregnant mothers and mothers with infants on the proper dietary and nutritional requirements/supplements for adequate growth of their child. This is via information/seminar sessions in the multiple languages, thus suiting the targeted crowd. A follow-up session with feedback from the MUMS is the final step of this Maternal Camp Program.
food.is.good Food-Drives There is nothing more fulfilling than truck loads of new fresh food for a hungry village of children. This is the premise behind the food.is.good Food Drive. With pre-set donation points for the collection of non-perishable nutritional food, we strive to divide these rations in an equal manner at common checkpoints such as local schools, community centers and places of worship. With a strict emphasis on the nutritional value of the food and a close eye on the expiry dates, we hope to utilize these Food Drives to also bring to the limelight the online donation packages/hampers that can be purchased online to be sent to these hunger stricken children in these developing regions. We see this method to solve the loop hole of transport/shipping of food items from the developed world, that has been historically attributed to loses and thus resulted in a lack of commitment on the par of donors.
Nutri-Child College Fundraisers This sub-project has been specially designed to cater to the various CNI College Chapters across the globe. This serves as a major fundraising pool for the above mentioned CNI Initiatives, whilst also giving these Chapters a choice on what CNI Initiative they want to fund for the year. This flexibility allows for a networked collection of funding for the running of the CNI Initiatives in the Subcontinent.
(I'm not hungry alone.) Social Media Campaign Inspired by the World Food Program's (WFP) Join the 1 Billion Fighting Global Hunger, (I'm Not Hungry Alone!) is a global humanitarian campaign that urges socially responsible people (Youth) to stay hungry for 12-24 hours. Thus, the campaign aims in creating global awareness on the plight of one sixth of the world's population and its drastic effects on society. This campaign runs on the rails of social media such as Facebook & Twitter.
To Accomplish:
Improve infant and young child feeding via the | Well MUMS | Maternal Camps. The |Well MUMS | Maternal Camps will serve as an informative platform for pregnant/feeding mothers during the vital months of their infant’s/child’s development. It will also be an opportunity for these mothers to learn from medical leaders in this field and get their queries answered. The follow-up sessions will serve to gain feedback on the developments post the seminars/workshops, and will also be a learning platform to adept to necessary changes that need to be made to make future workshops more effective to the specific target audience.
Fight severe acute malnutrition via the iGrow Awareness Campaign. With a firm belief that the age group of 5-18 years serves as an essential indicator of an entire generation, we believe that targeting Nutritional Awareness especially within ignorant and underprivileged school children is imperative. The incorporation of workshops, speech days, and Socially Responsible Advertising by Nutritional Brands at these events, and curriculum based learning at schools will be useful in instilling the idea of Child Nutrition in fighting severe acute malnutrition. Thus, the iGrow Awareness Campaign has been designed to cater to the individual need of every child, taking into account their economic and social status, whilst placing an emphasis on personality development as per implied by the term ‘iGrow’.
Address moderate malnutrition via the Save-A-Meal School Events and the food.is.good Food Drives. Under the premise that a balanced and stable diet is a key ingredient in child growth, we have designed these two CNI Initiatives to bridge a prevalent social and economic disparity in the region, which we see to potentially lead to lifelong nutritional deficiencies. Thus, we use this two pronged approach of utilizing both economically able children and families together with generous and socially responsible Nutritional Brands to come forward and spearhead these two Initiatives.
Create awareness on the importance of Child Nutrition & the issue of Hunger via the “Healthy ME” School Competitions and the ( I’m not hungry alone. ) Social Media Campaign. The Arts connect people like no other. It is under this notion that we initialized the “Healthy ME” School Competitions, as we are aware of the essential need of bringing out a child’s creativity and vitalizing this as a key point from which to introduce the concept of Child Nutrition and its importance in this day and age. This is also a way in which children can express their talents in the arenas of art, drama and dance threaded via an emphasis on healthy lifestyles. The ( I’m not hungry alone. ) Social Media Campaign is aimed at targeting the masses online via Facebook & Twitter. This is also of great significance because it raises awareness on a very vital issue threatening the development of the region. Thus, this will not only call for local pressure in order to solve this issue using a multi-faceted approach, but it will also create global awareness on the plight of millions of children and mothers who have been stripped of their right to proper nutrition for growth.
Numbers to Reach Per year: Improve infant and young child feeding via the | Well MUMS | Maternal Camps.
[3,000]
Fight severe acute malnutrition via the iGrow Awareness Campaign.
[15,000]
Address moderate malnutrition via the Save-A-Meal School Events and the
and the food.is.good Food Drives.
[9,000]
[30,000]
Create awareness on the importance of Child Nutrition & the issue of Hunger via the “Healthy ME” School Competitions and the ( I’m not hungry alone. ) Social Media Campaign.
ďƒœHealth Ministries {Endorse and nationalize CNI Initiatives, and adopt its framework in low-income school districts.} Health Ministries of countries are at the helm of responsible influence when it comes to the initiation and implementation of health policy. Thus, this special targeting on these bodies in order to equip them with a framework of action needed to implement in chosen low-income school districts in these countries. This will also serve as a bridge between more advantaged and less advantaged school districts to interect with one another on fighting a common cause.
ďƒœSchools {Accommodate CNI Initiatives as school based endeavours, and promote it as a Student Group within the school.} As Schools, the promotion of the CNI and its collective initiatives as doable school-based projects will lead to the creation student youth groups with the potential of using a peer-based influence via implementing CNI Initiatives. This will not only lead to awareness about the dire situation of some school districts, but it will also lead to a collective student response and a sense of empathy whilst carrying out these CNO Initiatives.
ďƒœPrivate Sector {Utilize CNI Initiatives as CSR Projects, upon selecting a CNI Initiative to sponsor for the year.} The Private Sector plays a pivotal role in the harnessing of public-private partnerships, and thus it takes on a responsible role in this case as it utilizes CNI Initiatives as sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Projects under the mandate of Child Nutrition. In this way, companies can decide on a CNI Initiative to focus or may multiple CNI Initiatives they would like to run simultaneously(depending on their commitment and budget), and will thus conduct and sponsor the cause for a year. The flexibility of using their own employees or CNI Volunteers emphasizes a holistic effort in achieving targeted goals.
ďƒœUniversities {Pledge CNI Nutri-Child College Fundraisers, and gather CNI Volunteers to initiate CNI Initiatives in the required regions.} As fountains of volunteer and service potential, Universities have a big ground in promoting and fundraising for (a) specific CNI Initiative(s). Their mass in numbers and the leadership capacity of youth at these institutions serve as pillars of strength in the CNI Nutri-Child College Fundraisers. This will also enable a wider circumference for the awareness of this issue in the South Asian Region and across the World. Thus, while University Student groups are given the freedom of creativity in designing unique and individualize College Fundraisers to suit their regions and locations, it will also be a think-tank and amalgamation of useful CNI Volunteers from across the world. These International CNI Volunteers may even wish to visit the specific regions in South Asia and volunteer for a specific CNI Initiative/ CNI based CSR Project/ for a Summer. Finally, they will result in stabling fully functional CNI College Chapters with a franchising nature.
ďƒœMedia {Advertise concurrent CNI Initiatives in the region, and promote/publicize CNI Initiatives on a long-term basis in both print and electronic media.} With the belief that sufficient media on issues of paramount significance like in the case of Child/ Maternal Nutrition in the region, it is understood that uncensored and real media coverage is imperative in solving and overcoming such an issue. Thus, under that premise of a betterment of a new generation, media coverage is welcome on board in order to promote and publicize CNI Initiatives that are taking place in the region. Their valuable contribution will also be useful in the long-term publicizing of CNI Initiatives that take place annually in the region, within their scope of print/electronic media. Therefore, the Media will pave the path for social change via their resourceful outlets of informing citizens and thus making them active citizens in society. They will also spearhead and contribute towards making an advantaged part of a young generation aware of this just cause, thus activating them to seek social action in their capacity through their involvement in CNI Initiatives.