Gender equality, with a focus on women’s safety, workforce participation, and health and nutritional security, constitutes one of the central pillars of the Indian government’s development agenda today. It is recognised as a crucial factor for achieving sustainable economic growth, social equity, and democratic governance. This focus aligns with both domestic policy priorities and international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Women’s nutritional security, reproductive health, protection from violence, and maternal health require higher levels of community engagement to create awareness and foster a deeper understanding of indigenous practices, aiming to bring about substantive changes through positive intervention strategies. Within policy analysis paradigms, NGO-government partnerships have been recognised as one of the most effective measures to address women’s health issues in India, given the complexity and scale of the challenges involved. 

The Poshan Abhiyaan/National Nutrition Mission, a flagship programme of the Government of India, an important initiative in this direction, aims to enhance critical nutrition indicators for children aged 0-6 years, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers nationwide. The latest report of the Mission (released by NITI Aayog, 2023) highlights achievements such as reducing the prevalence of underweight children and raising awareness among women. However, it also identifies persistent barriers to ensuring women’s access to adequate nutrition. To address the existing gaps, the report advocates for a more integrated and collaborative partnership between government bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to effectively address the nutritional challenges faced by women from low-income backgrounds. This approach is deemed essential for extending the reach of nutrition programmes, improving service efficiency, and delivering context-specific solutions in marginalised areas. 

One of the most promising ongoing programmes that encapsulates this collaborative approach embedded in sustainable development and gender equality, that we came across in our study, is Harit Se Poshan (Poshan Vatika), a collaborative project by Plan International (India Chapter) and Elios Management Consulting. This transformative initiative focuses on women’s health and nutritional security through an integrated, sustainable approach rooted in kitchen gardening. It enables women to access nutrient-rich foods while also contributing to environmental sustainability. The project taps into women’s traditional knowledge of cooking and food preparation, empowering them to make decisions about family nutrition by determining who eats what and how much. Women, positioned as producers and decision-makers, grow nutrient-rich vegetables in kitchen garden plots near their homes. With a sense of ownership over these gardens, the initiative has the potential to expand the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, thus empowering women with choices and agency.

Currently, the project operates in six districts: Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Hazaribagh and Khunti, engaging 5,117 women in 500 HARIT groups through capacity-building programmes. These programmes focus on creating sustainable kitchen gardens, increasing home waste recycling, and improving household nutrition. A comprehensive survey was conducted to assess the social, economic, and nutritional conditions of the beneficiaries, particularly examining the role of women in households, communities, and society before and after the introduction of the initiative. The project empowers women by providing the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to transform their homes and communities in the long term.

The initiative acknowledges the intersectional vulnerabilities faced by marginalised women, aiming to improve their health, boost food security, and empower them to reach their full potential, live with dignity, and make meaningful choices. The programme includes the establishment of vertically designed kitchen gardens and recycling various types of waste. Findings revealed that women engaged in manual labour require diets rich in macronutrients like carbohydrates and fats to sustain the energy needed for their physically demanding work.

Additionally, it provides women with the opportunity to generate income from raw produce. The widespread consumption of nutrient-rich foods through the Kitchen Garden initiative can lead to improved community health. Many marginalised households are receiving seeds to grow high-quality vegetables and fruits, enhancing family and community health while empowering women with greater agency and economic savings for education, healthcare, and other essential needs.

The initiative revealed that about 78.2% of women from six districts belong to formal or informal self-help groups or mahila mandals, with organisations like Jeevika and Plan India playing prominent roles. This high level of participation reflects a robust social network that can be leveraged to promote the Kitchen Garden initiative. These groups help maximise engagement, share information, provide support, and ensure success in spreading knowledge, particularly among women, thereby enriching the overall kitchen garden effort.

The baseline survey, however, found that while 60% of participants understood their families’ nutritional and dietary needs, a significant 39.2% of women lacked this knowledge. Socio-economic challenges can obstruct food production and consumption processes, affecting nutritional security. To address this, the project team developed a training schedule where multiple members from each household could participate in sessions focused on training and orientation. This helps establish sustainable kitchen gardening practices in every household. By offering tailored support through awareness, education, training, and orientation, the initiative can bridge existing knowledge gaps, ensuring all households benefit from the health and economic advantages of kitchen gardening.

Harit Se Poshan (Poshan Vatika), the Kitchen Garden initiative, aims to promote sustainable, nutrition-oriented consumption patterns in low-income households by conducting capacity-building programmes focused on nutritional security and kitchen gardening. Case studies in the report highlight the programme’s commitment to recognising women as equal stakeholders rather than mere beneficiaries. For example, Soni Devi, a 24-year-old mother, faced challenges in accessing organic fertilisers and financial constraints that limited her ability to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. She suggested providing access to organic fertilisers. As participants actively engage with the project, maintaining a responsive environment through positive feedback mechanisms is crucial to further strengthening and improving the programme.

The project holds significant potential to promote equal decision-making roles for women, thereby enhancing gender equality within conventional household structures. This comprehensive plan seeks to address the individual needs of women, particularly those from marginalised sections, and incorporates the concerns of various communities, making it truly transformative and inclusive. This campaign views women as active agents of change. Women are not only growing food in kitchen gardens but also transforming their communities and paving the way for healthier and more sustainable future.