Importance of Developing Guidelines for Built Environment of Anganwadis and Its Influence Towards Meeting Sustainable Development Goals

The Indian government has the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) with a vision to improve the health and nutrition of children. In this connection the Anganwadi centers (AWC) were established with one such center for 800 population for the purpose of immunization, health check-ups, nutrition, health education and informal preschool education. According to a status report from 2015, there are totally 1.4 million (14 lakh) AWCs that are sanctioned and are operational and recently some negative observations were made towards the built environment of these centers relating to the poor lighting quality, thermal comfort, natural ventilation and construction methods adopted in these centers. The government has announced the upgradation of these centers, but in wake of inadequate guidelines for their design and construction, the built environment of these Anganwadis continues to be compromised. Due to the sheer scale of these projects and the impact with relation to UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) towards sustainable Cities and communities, it is essential to develop the guidelines by streamlining the design and construction processes of these centers. The design of built environment need to vary greatly depending on the regional climate. As a pilot project this research paper aims to highlight the importance of developing guidelines and policies towards the design and construction of the Anganwadi centers in the warm and humid climate of Karnataka and towards implementation of policies related to these centers at the national level.