Meena comes to ICDS

Meena is a media initiative aimed at bringing about social change among the SAARC countries using animation for portraying social themes in regional languages. In India, this is undertaken jointly by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Department of Women and Child Development, in collaboration with UNICEF. The Meena serial has been on air for nearly three years and has addressed major child and women’s development issues. Using the ICDS outreach to disadvantaged communities, it focusses on equal survival, development, protection and participation rights for the girl child.

Meena is very curious and full of questions: Why are girls cared for less? Why can’t girls go to school? Why do girls get a smaller share of food? Why are girls married off early? Why do parents prefer boys to girls?

Meena is a crusader for child rights. She is an animated character, but could well be real. Her personality was given shape after extensive brainstorming sessions with over 10,000 children across South Asia. Her appeal lies in the fact that the stories are about children’s lives, crafted to a great extent by children themselves. Meena reflects their concerns and their hopes, their aspirations and their dreams. She may be imaginary, but she is no figment of imagination. For many underprivileged South Asian children, Meena’s problems mirror their own difficult existence. Her ability to triumph over these odds endears her to thousands of girls trapped in similar and often helpless situations.

ICDS has been identified through action research as one of the most effective channels for bringing Meena to young children and disadvantaged communities. In 1998, through a participatory process, trainers and ICDS functionaries came together to evolve their role in breaking an intergenerational cycle of gender discrimination. The group identified affirmative action to improve both the condition and the position of the girl child and women using Meena as a bridge to children and their communities.

A series of six workshops were conducted for the training teams of about 200 trainers from anganwadi workers training centres representing 11 states. In 1998 - 99 participants deliberated on how best the Meena philosophy, concept and approach can be integrated into the ICDS outreach system. Through these training teams about 18,000 anganwadi workers have already been trained, using participatory learning and action approaches. As a result, more than 20,000 community discussion groups are in place now and the community decides as to how best the girl child issues could be addressed in their own context. The groups use the anganwadi as a contact point for listening to Meena episodes broadcast over the ratio-and generating discussion. The training methodology under Udisha has addressed anganwadi workers, first as women themselves, in order for them to function as catalysts for social action to improve the status of the girl child and women. And this is just the beginning of Meena in ICDS.

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