The project is a result of the success of the seven-year School Nutrition Programme, designed by CHS for the Government of Sindh. As the progenitor of Tawana, lessons learnt from the programme will bring invaluable know-how to the implementation and monitoring of its successor. The School Nutrition Programme engendered numerous positive outcomes. These included an increase in school enrolment and attendance, better health indicators, increased community interaction to promote the needs of the children and the mobilisation of women, who proved to be active and vocal stakeholders.

Tawana carries the School Nutrition Programme's ethos a step further by seeking to reduce social and gender inequalities in deprived areas. Its focus on girls from poor rural areas in the spheres of nutrition and education aims to provide them with an opportunity to improve not only their quality of life but also that of future generations. Malnourishment in girls can lead to stunting, which contributes to obstetric complications during pregnancy and low birth weight babies. The project endeavours to address this in each target school by providing a meal a day to each student, twice-weekly micronutrient supplements, biannual de-worming and growth monitoring every three months.

Tawana also aims to address the overall bleak picture of female literacy and primary education by increasing enrolment and sustaining attendance as well as providing access to those girls in the villages who do not attend school. Studies demonstrate that children from households in which the women are illiterate are 60 per cent more likely to be stunted and wasted, compared to households where at least one female member has passed class 10, the equivalent to grade nine in North America.

At the grass roots level, the programme will potentially give women a strong platform to implement change. Activities for planning and managing the feeding programme at the village level will be undertaken by Tawana Nutrition Committee and female Community Organisers. From this community level, 10,000 women will eventually be trained, along with around 120 female Field Workers, contributing to human resource development in Pakistan.

The goal of improving nutritional and educational status and access for the target female population underscores AKU's commitment to not only positively impacting impoverished communities but also uplifting the status of women. This collaboration between local communities, governmental and non-governmental organisations is therefore an important investment in the future of the country.