Abstract

Background: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India for early childhood care and development. Anganwadi worker (AWW) is a frontline worker of Anganwadi centres (AWC). Training is the most crucial element in the ICDS Scheme, as the achievement of the programme goals depends upon the effectiveness of frontline workers in improved delivery of packages under ICDS. The importance of training and continuous capacity building of the ICDS functionaries in ICDS is well recognized as vital for success of the programme. Since the success of programme depends upon the knowledge and capacity of AWWs, the present study was conducted among the AWW of District Srinagar. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in district Srinagar. Training workshops were conducted by the department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Govt. Medical College in collaboration with ICDS Srinagar for three days in the month of January 2017. After seeking the verbal consent, a predesigned self-administered questionnaire was given to the participants both at the beginning (pre-test) and end of the workshop (post-test). Results: Among the 110 AWWs, 77% had experience in the range of 5-20 years with 29.1% had done graduation and post graduation. Regarding the post training assessment , there was an improvement of nearly 15% in the level of knowledge about the different components of ICDS services and others. More than 70% of the participants graded sessions of workshop as very good and none of them reported them as bad or very bad. Conclusion: Although job and refresher trainings are provided to all the Anganwadi workers under ICDS but the same is not being reflected in the knowledge assessment of anganwadi workers. It indicates the need to strengthen Integrated Child Development Services scheme training programme. Refresher courses for Anganwadi workers should be organized frequentlyalong with the timely supply of educational material.