Undernutrition in Tamil Nadu - Research Proposal Example

Project proposal: Under nutrition in India Basic data sheet Name of agency: Feed the World (FTW), 23 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch, London W1A 4UR, Telephone: +44(0)870 333 9116, Fax: +44(0)20 7499 8558, Email: contact@foodforall.com Name of project: Undernurtition in Pudukkottai in India Project cost: £ 150,000 Grant payment details: Natwest PLC, Banking, 3rd floor, 2 Waterhouse Square, 138-142 Holborn, London, EC1N 2TH Account number: 69073922, Branch sort code: 60-99-30 Problem addressed: Undernutrition in Tamil Nadu state in India is present due to the high level of poverty, low level of agriculture and insufficient government support. Project summary: In order to enable access to foodstuffs, distribute food to the low-income needy population of Pudukkottai district. A logical frameork Objectives Measurable Indicators Means of Verification Important Assumptions Goal: Undernutrition in Tamil Nadu state, Pudukkottai District is present due to the high level of poverty and insufficient government support (only 30% of required). 1. Geo-demographic - who they are: age, gender, class, location 2. Lifestyle - how they live: income, occupation, 3.Transactional - what, how and how much they need Least-cost analysis To organize suppliers of food and distribute food for those who affected by undernutrition Purpose To arrange the supply of food for definite groups of population (children, pregnant and lactating women, pensioners) On the basis of similar nutrition programmes (PDS) the quantity of food per person will be distributed to needy in the state (The Targeted Distribution System, n.d.) Least-cost analysis To support the local suppliers Outputs During a year, the population of the state will have a possibility to receive additional food. In a year suppliers of this region will receive additional government support and FDI. This will help to reduce prices on food and create new work places. The ways of judging the results will include the decrease in death rate in this region and the rate of calorie deprivation. Least-cost analysis Contracting with local suppliers Activities Agreement with suppliers, Control of fair distribution of food. Inputs: The budget will be £150,000. The money will be spent on grain, oil, milk products, vegetables and canned meat. - Project rationale Agency background Feed the World (FTW) is a well-known non-governmental organization, which in the past has dealt with a variety of nutritional issues around the world. This agency has a lot of experience particularly in the issue of undernutrition within a country, as in the past has implemented a project to alleviate hunger in Somalia. In the past, it has collaborated with other big organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. The FTW in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in India, has arranged to design a project to implement in Tamil Nadu state in India, in order to decrease undernutrition/hunger (The Targeted Distribution System. (n.d). The task of organization is to purchase products (mainly from local suppliers) and distribute food to needy around the state. As a result, the energy intake will be increased with the final goal being the alleviation of hunger. The Ministry of Health was the one that agreed to provide a budget for the implementation of the project. The timeframe of the project is 1 year. During that period of time it is expected that government would be able to recover the agricultural sector of this region supported by FDI (FDI Confidences Index, 2004). Moreover, by the implementation of this project a few working places will become available helping people to become employed, educated thus, improve their lifestyle together with their nutrition. It is a good opportunity for the state that the government provided a financial support. Project approach The global economy makes an impact, these cities lack equal access to the world’s material assets, including technological resources, and there is less linkage between urbanisation and industry – an informal economy often predominates, and the spatial segregation is overlaid by ethnicity, caste, religion and language.The expected benefits from the project are that the region will start to develop again. According to the survey India has to sell grain to richer countries “for use as animal feed”. In general, “thousands of hectares of Third World land is still utilised solely to produce animal feed for wealthier countries” (Feed the World, 1999). The state of Tamil Nadu used to be a place very high in tourism so, with the expected results from the project, the government will benefit from that. Moreover, people will become productive, as placed to work will become available through employment for the project and this will help at the redevelopment of the region. Foreign investment is a very important feature of the economies of India. In is expected that during the next year the level of FDI will be increased which allows the country to redevelop its manufacturing and agricultural sector. “India become the third most attractive FDI destination worldwide and increasingly perceived as a R&D hub for a wide range of industries” (FDI Confidence index, 2004). The government will benefit because after the achievement of the goal, it will gain extra votes. This will happen because new places to work will become available. Therefore, there will be a political benefit. Retailers will also benefit as their work will be increased by providing help to that issue. Local communities will also benefit as they will be involved in the implementation of the project, doing some extra work on that. Finally, the Ministry of Health will benefit as a result of the achievable goal. In this case of suffering a disaster, the needs of particularly vulnerable groups are being addressed, as the project is designed to eliminate hunger and undernutrition for those people in particular. The Ministry of Health participates in an indirect way in the implementation of the project. It is the FTW that participated at every step. After every step, the Ministry of Health is informed in order to get approval of the actions to be taken. Specific issues are present in relations to conflict, such as how much food will be distributed, to whom and how often. The main beneficiaries will be pregnant women and mother with children under 6, people with serious health problems and aging population. They will be identified on the basis of the state social agencies and police information. Approximately, the number of beneficiaries will be about 1000 persons. So, the average sum for each will be £150 within 1 year (about £12,5 per month). The food will be distributed twice a month for each member of the family. The staff will deliver the food directly at home for each family in order to avoid any kind of forgery or deception. The food will be distributed directly to the needy according to the list provided by the state administration. The quantity of food will depend upon the group and family member (see the next section for details). The project will focus on three distinct customer segments. The first group is pregnant and nursing mothers. The second group is children under 6. The last group is pensioners. India’s ageing population faced the lowest social costs in the world and falling real incomes. Traditional hedges against inflation such as certificates of deposit and real estate began to look less attractive. These issues have been resolved by the employment of staff to set regulations related to the nutritional needs of each individual and accordingly provide the right amount of food. “World Bank collaboration with the government of India in its nutrition efforts began in 1980, with the Tamil Nadu Integrated Nutrition Project (TINP)” (The Crisis of Malnutrition in India, n.d.). Other systems or services already exist at the region which can help achieve the original goal. “India has established a framework of programs with the potential to combat malnutrition, including a Public Distribution System (PDS), an Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program, a National Mid-day Meals Program (NMMP), and several employment schemes providing food for work (the Indian Experience on household …n.d.). PDS plays an important role in India supplying 75 millions households in the country. In Tamil Nadu, PDS provided only 30 % of grain required (The Targeted Distribution System. (n.d). So, PDS cannot reach all the provinces and state. According to the report: “A major constraint with the PDS is that the responsibility for local food distribution lies with the States, and fiscal crisis (especially among the poorer ones) prevents them from accessing (‘lifting’) their allocations. Direct price support to farmers is highly distorting, operating only in Punjab, Haryana and parts of Andhra Pradesh” (Farrington, Saxena, 2002). Management arrangements The success of any project is closely connected with its management team, structure of the company and people work with it. The project will have a general a manager on the top who coordinates the work of the division and reported to the main office. Two groups (population service and fright forwarders) report only to him. The senior management team is responsible for controlling activities such as fair and appropriate food supply and distribution. In general, the team will include 9 persons. The project will take place in 2005, December. This particular period of time was chosen because during winter months there is a great problem with food as the reserves are already exhausted and food becomes more expensive as in autumn and summer. Tamil Nadu population is about 62,110,839. The state consists of 30 districts (Appendix 1). Tamil Nadu is urbanized state, but still agriculture plays an important role. The only problem is seasonality and threat of cyclonic storms affected the region in October-November (Tamil Nadu, wikipedia, 2005). The project will cover only one district, Pudukkottai (Appendix 2). Its population is about 1,322,494 and area is 4,6492 km. The unemployment ratio in Tamil Nadu is high and was 2,6%, and povert ratio was 20,1% in 1999-2000. In Tamil Nadu the calorie deprivation rate is the highest among other states. 86,5% of its population consume less than 2,400 Kcal per day (Food Security in India, 2005). “According to Swaminathan (2004), Tamil Nadu discontinued its food coupon system (initiated in July 2002) because of huge public dissatisfaction with the way it functioned. This district was chosen as the poorest one with the highest rates of malnutrition” (Food Security in India, 2005; Swaminathan, Medrano, 2004). The beneficiaries will be divided into three groups. The first group is pregnant and nursing mothers will receive about 2 kg of grain per week, 3 liters of milk and additional 2 liters of milk for a child under 1 year, 400gr of butter, 2 canned meat, and 2 kg of vegetables, 1 liter of oil. The second group is children under 6 will have 1 kg of grain per week, 200 gr of butter, 2 canned meat, 1 kg of vegetables and 0,5 liter of oil. The last group is pensioners - 2 kg of grain per week, 250 gr of butter, 2 canned meat, 1 liter of oil and 2 kg of vegetables. The quantity of products mentioned above is calculated on the basis of a personal need, but it is expected that food will be distributed to families; that is why the quantity of food will correspond with the family members and their needs. The number of beneficiaries will be 250 families around the state (about 1000 persons). The average sum for each member of the family will be £150 within 1 year (about £12,5 per month). As it is women who generally organise food in any household it seems natural to them to feed their families first and more adequately than they do themselves. Seventy per cent of pregnant women suffer anaemia caused by malnutrition. This is not really sur­prising as even early studies show the extent of inequality - in Tamil Nadu the calorie intake for pregnant and lactating women was only 1400 per day against the average Indian requirement of 2200 calories per day. According to the survey “the nutritional status of the population shows significant variation between states since it results from a varying combination of factors” (India: summary, 2005). Furthermore, the selection of food to be distributed has been done, to provide the nutrients most in need. The food will include grains (rice, in particular), bread, canned meet and vegetables, oil, milk and butter. The grain will be supplier by local farmers. Canned meat and fresh vegetable will be supplied by national manufactures and farmers. It is expected to contact fro one year with two main dairy product suppliers in India for milk, oil and butter for regular supply of these products. In order to minimize the risk, the agency will pay 15% in advance for both of them. The first step for the implementation of the project is the budget arrangements. After funding has been found, a presentation to the government needs to take place in order for them to approve the idea. The costs of physical distribution are closely linked to the location of production and stockholding. After approval has been taken, a meeting with food retailer companies willing to provide foods at a reasonable price, needs to be arranged. These will impose new challenges for retailers in India. Designing systems to optimise the level of service provided and minimise the cost to the firm is a complex balancing act involving a trade-off between the costs of adding to the service level and losing business through cutting back on essential services. The government agencies will provide the list of those who need support according to the group requirements listed above (low income pregnant women, pensioners, etc). The next step will be to employ staff and provide the appropriate training in terms of the transport of the foodstuffs. The staff also needs to be trained for the deposition of the foodstuffs. Some of the staff will have the responsibility of food distribution to the population. Finally, meetings with the local government and the Ministry of Health will be arranged to set regulations regarding the times during which people can collect foodstuffs from the office as well as the amount of food given to each person according to their personal needs. The duration of the project has been set to be 1 year. In terms of monitoring of the progress, the staff employed will have the responsibility and every month they should provide the agency with a written report. Analysis of risks and undertakings Decisions are long run decisions where consumption and investment alternatives are balanced over time in the hope that investment now will generate extra returns in the future. There are similiarities between short-run and long – run decision making, for example the choice between alternatives, the need to consider future costs and revenues and the importance of incremental changes in costs and revenues. To achieve the objectives, the project is needed £150 000 approximately. Sensitivity analysis. The appraisal of almost any project in the real world will involve the making of a great number of estimates. For example, the outlay required to undertake the project, its life, the annual cash inflows and out­flows it will generate, the scrap value it will have, and even the correct rate of discount to reduce the cash flows to present values. Estimates will be made for all these factors and the project will then be appraised by calcu­lating an expected net present value. To reduce the level of risk connected with weather disasters and suppliers the project team can insure the main risks on the sum equal to the project cost. During a year, it has been found that not any environmental damage will take place so we assume that there is no risk of not achieving the goal of the project. The other risk concerns undertaking problems. The project team should be competent enough to control fair distribution of the food among the population. Also, the risk is that the local suppliers is financially weak and any changes in local taxes will have a great impact on their activity. Also, the project team should take into account the risk of crop failure and increase in price level. For this situation the alternative suppliers should be found before the start of the project. Project Budget The budget for the implementation of the project has agreed to be £150,000 for 1 year. This has been provided by the Ministry of Health in particular, to cover costs of foodstuffs provided, to pay staff employed and provide households with the appropriate equipment. December 2005-May 2006, £ June 2006-November 2006, £ 1 Grain 25,000 25,000 2 Oil 5,000 5,000 3 Milk product 15,000 15,000 4 Canned meat 20,000 - 5 Canned vegetable 5,000 - 6 Meat 20,000 7 Fresh vegetables 6,000 8 Delivery 2,000 9 Other services 2,000 The budget spending may vary because of the changes in price levels in new season. References 1. The Crisis of Malnutrition in India: New World Bank report addresses food program shortcomings. (n.d.) Available at: http://wbln1018.worldbank.org/sar/sa.nsf/0/9c8acc61f27739468525686b0056d709?OpenDocument 2. Farrington, J., Saxena, N.C. (2002). Annex 1: Food Security in India1 Available at: www.odi.org.uk/publications/ working_papers/wp231/wp231_annex1_India.pdf 3. “FDI Confidences Index” The Global Business Policy Council, October 2004, Vol.7. Available at: http://www.atkearney.com/shared_res/pdf/FDICIOct_2004_S.pdf 4. Feed the World: Special Report. (1999). Available at: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/vegan/feed99.htm 5. Food Security in India. ASIA PROGRAMME, February 2005. Available at: www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/ research/asia/India%20food%20security.pdf 6. Indian Experience on household food and nutrition security. (n.d.) Available at: http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/DOCREP/x0172e/x0172e07.htm 7. India: summary. (2005) Available at: http://www.fao.org/es/esn/nutrition/ind-e.stm 8. Tamil Nadu: Map (2005). Available at:http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/tamilnadu/tamilnadu-district.htm 9. Tamil Nadu: Wikipedia. (2005) Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu 10. The Targeted Distribution System. (n.d.) Available at:  http://fcamin.nic.in/hlc_app4.htm 11. Swaminathan, M.S., Medrano, P. (2004) Towards Hunger Free India - From Vision to Action, EastWest Books, Chennai. Appendixes 1. Tamil Nadu state 2. Pudukkottai District Read More