By Bhaswati K Goswami
“The new centre has transformed our community—enrollment has grown as the space is safe, attractive, and welcoming. It also supports vaccination drives, health check-ups, and awareness sessions with strong community participation. Bright interiors and the veranda create a comfortable learning and play environment…Remaining needs include fencing for safety in outdoor areas, a dedicated storeroom for bulk rations, and an LPG connection to enable on-site cooking of meals” Sukmon Tangsang,Supervisor, Mawpun Kshaid A, Bhoirymbong Block
This testimonial from Sukmon, an Anganwadi staff in Ri Bhoi district reflects a deeper transformation in how early childhood infrastructure is being imagined and delivered in Meghalaya. What was once seen as a basic service facility is now being redefined as a holistic, child-centric, and climate-responsive space, enabled through design innovation and strong government partnerships.
The Anganwadi Centre, is often the first place beyond home for a child where care is shared. For women and adolescent girls, it is often the first consistent point of contact with formal health and nutrition systems. These centres are a frontline pillar of community health, nutrition security, and social support aligned with the goals of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme.
What often remains invisible is how deeply these experiences are affected by the built space itself. Whether a room is unbearably hot by noon, whether light filters in or leaves corners dark, whether the floor welcomes play or restricts it, whether a mother feels comfortable enough to sit, talk, and stay for a while—these factors silently influence care, learning, and dignity. The built infrastructure integrates health, nutrition, learning, and character-building, playing an active role in shaping a child’s growth from ages 3-6.
SELCO Foundation’s (SF) work in early childhood infrastructure is rooted in this understanding. Over the years, the organisation’s engagement has evolved from improving individual Anganwadi Centres to supporting a much larger ecosystem. Today, the work is about strengthening systems—bringing together government missions, district administrations, engineers, frontline workers, and communities—to ensure that Anganwadi and Early Child Development (ECD) spaces are designed, built, and sustained with real needs in mind. The journey to this transformation has been gradual and layered—beginning with individual projects across India, evolving through district-level innovation, and culminating in a statewide ecosystem partnership
Much of SF’s approach has been shaped by learning from the ground, particularly through earlier work in the Garo Hills and East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. Across these contexts, Anganwadi Centre infrastructure reflects common challenges that directly affect the effectiveness of ICDS delivery—ranging from environmental stresses to poorly designed interiors. Many centres struggle with inadequate ventilation, low daylight, inefficient layouts, and materials unsuited to local conditions, limiting how children learn and play while reducing the comfort and efficiency of workers. Addressing these issues does not always require large-scale interventions; small, context-sensitive corrections—such as improving airflow, enhancing natural light, and reorganising spaces—can significantly improve usability.
A significant shift occurred in 2023 with the formal partnership between SF and the Deputy Commissioner of Ri Bhoi district. This collaboration, to implement 8 new model AWCs across selected site, marked a move away from isolated pilot projects towards a district-led, systemic approach to reimagining Anganwadi Centres as ECD spaces. The partnership was rooted in co-creation, bringing together administrators, engineers, and communities to identify real needs and develop context-specific solutions.
Through participatory workshops, design templates, and continuous capacity building, the initiative enabled local stakeholders to engage with concepts of thermal comfort, energy efficiency, and inclusivity. Engineers, who traditionally focused on estimation, were introduced to design thinking and began to understand how spatial planning influences both cost and outcomes. This shift in capacity was as important as the physical infrastructure itself.
The model Anganwadi Centres developed in Ri Bhoi translated these ideas into tangible design strategies. Spaces were planned to accommodate multiple functions—education, nutrition, healthcare and maternal services. Design strategies such as cross ventilation, high ceilings, and ventilated roofing reduced indoor heat and improved thermal comfort. Large windows and verandas enhanced natural light and created flexible indoor-outdoor learning environments. Child-friendly features, such as accessible windowsills and interactive wall openings, made the spaces more engaging, while ramps ensured universal accessibility.
Central to this child‑centred approach is the integration of Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) principles, which view the built environment itself as a learning tool. Everyday elements—walls, steps, windows, and open spaces—are designed to spark curiosity, support play, and encourage exploration, from counting steps and story‑telling murals to shaded outdoor areas usable even during rains.
The Ri Bhoi model demonstrated that when district administrations lead and partnerships are structured around co-creation, scalable change becomes possible. The MoU with the Deputy Commissioner in 2023 created a replicable template. At the same time, the integration of energy-conscious design reduced dependence on external energy inputs, making the centres more sustainable in the long term.
As the initiative moved from design to implementation, some practical challenges began to surface. Site visits in 2025 pointed to variations in construction quality, minor inconsistencies in execution, and gaps such as incomplete sanitation systems or finishing. In a few instances, small departures from design drawings led to features that were less functional than intended, such as kitchen counters at unsuitable heights or ramps that were not fully accessible.
These findings underscored an important lesson: design innovation alone is not sufficient without strong implementation systems. Issues of financing, contractor capacity, and monitoring mechanisms needed to be addressed to ensure that the intended benefits of design were fully realised on the ground. This reinforced SF’s evolving role as not just a design expert, but an ecosystem builder working across policy, finance, and execution.
Building on the learnings from Ri Bhoi, SF’s work expanded significantly in 2024 through a partnership with the Meghalaya Early Childhood Development Mission (MECDM). This marked the transition from district-level innovation to a statewide systems approach.
Today, the work in Meghalaya represents more than an infrastructure programme—it is an emerging model for how design, energy, policy, and community engagement can converge to enable human development at scale.
