LoA signed to strengthen maternal, child services in eastern districts

In a major push to improve grassroots service delivery, a Letter of Agreement (LoA) was signed among key stakeholders to strengthen maternal and child health, nutrition, and early childhood development across selected districts in Nagaland.
According to a DIPR report, the LoA signed at the commissioner’s office, Kohima on April 24, 2026 brought together the department of school education (DoSE), health & family welfare (H&FW) department, the Eleutheros Christian Society (ECS), and the district administration under a unified convergence framework.
According to the preamble of the agreement, the initiative aims to ensure that every mother and child in the identified districts had access to integrated and quality services related to education, nutrition, and health.
The pilot phase would cover 60 villages across six eastern districts—Mon, Longleng, Tuensang, Shamator, Kiphire, and Noklak—identified due to high malnutrition burdens.
The initiative is expected to serve as a demonstration model for scaling across the state.
The objectives of the programme include strengthening maternal and child health services through coordinated departmental efforts, ensuring access to nutrition and early childhood care, establishing robust monitoring mechanisms, and creating a scalable model of convergence.
Under the agreement, the DoSE would support early learning, facilitate school-based health activities, and strengthen infrastructure and teacher accountability. H&FW department would ensure the delivery of essential maternal and child health services, including immunization, antenatal and postnatal care, and the availability of medicines and diagnostics.
ECS would play a key role in community mobilization, organizing awareness campaigns, supporting supplementary feeding initiatives, and facilitating training for frontline workers. Besides, it would also assist in organizing Aadhaar registration drives to ensure the inclusion of all beneficiaries in welfare schemes.
The district administration would oversee implementation, conduct regular reviews at the block level, ensure staff attendance, and support the strengthening of village councils for effective local governance.
To ensure accountability and progress tracking, a district convergence committee would be constituted under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner. Quarterly block-level review meetings would also be conducted with the participation of all stakeholders.
The LoA was signed in the presence of commissioner of Nagaland Gregory Thejawelie; commissioner & secretary for school education and SCERT Kevileno Angami; Samagra Shiksha state mission director L. Jamithung Lotha; H&FW secretary S. Tainiu; ECS founder Rev. Dr. S. Chingmak Chang; along with other officers and NGO leaders.