Deviance is Good When It's "Positive"
Manikai, a 30-year-old homemaker, lives with her husband, a farmer, and their two children, Rohit and Sadhana, in a small village in the district of Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu. After her daughter Sadhana turned one, Manikai noticed that she was constantly falling ill. This affected her appetite and, consequently, her weight. No matter how much she fed her children, her infant daughter in particular never seemed to gain the weight appropriate for her age.
Unaware that her baby girl was lacking vital nutrients essential for an infant’s growth and good health, Manikai continued feeding her regular food that she and her husband ate.
Fortunately, Manikai regularly attended World Vision India’s (WV India) awareness programmes. A volunteer named Silambu, with whom she was in touch, assessed her daughter’s condition and recommended the Positive Deviance/Hearth (PD/Hearth) programme.
After successfully completing the PD/Hearth programme, Manikai shared her joy:
“I am very happy now because my daughter has gained 600 grams in 12 days’ time after attending the PD/Hearth sessions conducted by World Vision.”
She expressed immense gratitude for the insight and support she received at the Hearth. She now encourages other mothers in her community to attend these awareness sessions so their children can benefit as hers did.
What is PD/Hearth?
In communities across the world where many young children experience poor growth, World Vision uses the Positive Deviance/Hearth (PD/Hearth) approach to sustainably rehabilitate underweight children.
‘Positive deviance’ refers to behaviours that deviate from the norm in a beneficial way. PD/Hearth targets children aged 6 to 36 months (and in some areas up to 59 months) and their families.
Despite facing poverty and food scarcity, some families succeed in raising well-nourished children using locally available resources. These families are called ‘positive deviant families’. The PD/Hearth programme supports families with undernourished children to adopt these successful practices through hands-on nutrition education and rehabilitation sessions held in the home—or ‘hearth’—of a community volunteer.
How Does PD/Hearth Work?
During hearth sessions, children are fed nutritious meals based on positive deviant foods. Caregivers prepare the meals together using ingredients they have contributed. Basic health interventions such as de-worming, updating immunisations, and providing micronutrient supplements (if needed) are also provided.
As children begin to respond to the improved nutrition, showing increased appetite, energy, and weight gain, families experience the tangible benefits of these practices. Following the hearth sessions, volunteers continue to monitor the children’s growth and support families in applying the new behaviours they have learned. Over time, the community takes full ownership of the programme, making it sustainable in the long run.
Why is PD/Hearth Successful?
- Local solutions discovered within the community: The Positive Deviance approach helps community members realise that the solutions to malnutrition already exist among them and do not require external resources.
- Participatory adult learning: From the outset, the programme involves the community, fostering ownership. Hearth sessions give caregivers the chance to actively learn and practise new child feeding and care behaviours in a supportive environment.
- Seeing is believing: Over the 12 days of the Hearth programme, previously underweight children begin to gain weight and show improvements in appetite, health, and energy. This visible transformation is powerful evidence that the PD practices are effective, motivating families to continue them at home.
The Local Context: Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu
According to the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015–16), the district factsheet for Pudukottai revealed that only 33.9% of children aged 6 to 23 months in rural areas received an adequate diet. Additionally, 24.7% of children under five were underweight (weight-for-age).
In the 2019 fiscal year, 54 moderately and severely underweight children participated in World Vision India’s PD/Hearth programme. Of these, 37.3% reached a normal weight range within three months, with an average weight gain of 888 grams.
In the following year, 89 underweight children enrolled in the programme, and 43.8% showed improvement through weight gain.
The story of Manikai and her daughter Sadhana is just one among many that show the transformative power of local solutions, community learning, and practical support. Through PD/Hearth, hope and health are being restored—one child, one family, one village at a time.
Sources:
https://www.wvi.org/nutrition/positive-deviancehearth
https://www.wvi.org/nutrition/project-models/positive-deviancehearth
http://rchiips.org/nfhs/FCTS/TN/TN_FactSheet_621_Pudukkottai.pdf
Labels: #food #pd/hearth #malnourished #child #positivedeviance #wvindia #worldvision
Kiran's Inspiring Journey to Canada
Kiran's story is pure inspiration! Growing up in Kolkata she juggled family and studies. “Having to raise three children wasn’t easy for my parents, but World Vision India supported my education and helped me discover my passion for social issues.” World Vision India’s Snehadeep community project and Play for Peace programme, conducted workshops on life skills, street plays, and puppet shows which became platforms for her to find her voice.
