Creche Management Committee

The smooth running of a creche depends on how much the community is involved its management. Forming a Creche Management Committee is an effective way to ensure the participation of the community. The committee supports smooth functioning of creche and plays key role in addressing operational challenges in the programme.

Formation of Committee

The committee primarily comprises parents or guardians of the enrolled children and the creche caregivers. In addition, Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), ASHA workers, members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) representatives, and other interested community members may participate in the meetings. Given the dynamic nature of enrolment—with children joining and leaving periodically—the composition and size of the committee are expected to vary from month to month.

Role of Committee

It is expected to hold meeting with the Creche Management Committee on a monthly basis to review the creche operations. The agenda of the meeting should be shared with the community in advance so they can come up with their inputs and suggestions. The topics in the agenda should be discussed one-by-one and the the decisions taken during these meetings should be recorded in the minutes register so they can be referred to and followed-up later. During the meetings, the Supervisor is also expected to share updates on growth monitoring of all the enrolled children, with specific attention to those exhibiting growth faltering or malnutition or requiring additional care and support. The committee is expected to discuss the steps required to be taken to support such children at the creche level. In addition, the committee may also discuss operational challenges or any other topic related to health, nutrition, or hygiene which will also help in building everyone's understanding. The Creche Caregivers are expeceted to participate in all the meetings.

The Creche Management Committee has the following key roles -

1. Encourage parents of eligible children to enroll them in the Creche programme.
2. Resolve any operational issues related to creches through common understanding.
3. Decide creche timings, weekly holidays, and festival breaks.
4. Help gather local resources for smooth functioning of creches such as encouraging community to contribute local nutritious food, fencing of creches wherever needed, creating toys from local materials, and decorating creche buildings with traditional art.
5. Take appropriate action at community level for children who are not regularly attending creches or need additional care, or encourage a family to send their child to creche if the child has discontinued attending the creche.
6. Ensure that parents and children attend Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSND) and immunization sessions.
7. Conduct safety audit on a perioidic basis such as quarterly or seasonally, e.g.- winter, summer, monsoon.

It is advisable that the committee members should be oriented towards their roles and responsibilities before the creche starts. This way, they can give regular support to the creche caregiver, oversee daily operations, and help resolving problems whenever needed. However in case where the committee was not formed before the opening of creche, the committee should be formed within a month of start of a creche, followed by monthly meetings. Below are the suggestive topics for discussion during Creche Management Committee meetings-

1. Child wrapping/ clothes during cold
2. Complementary feeding recipe demonstration with vegetables available at household
3. Hygiene practices in the household including disposal of child faeces
4. Feeding during and after illness
5. Steps to be followed to avoid diarrhea
6. Benefit of continued breastfeeding with complementary feeding
7. Complementary feeding recipe demonstration with Vegetables available at the household
8. Process of child referral in case of illness