Dikhyaa Mohanty 
At the State Institute for Women and Children (SIWC) campus in Bhubaneswar, the Department of Women and Child Development (W&CD) and the Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address the natural disasters in the state.
The State Institute for Women and Children will be a center of excellence thanks to the support of various national and state level organizations like Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, State Rural Development Institute (SIRD), and WASSAN, according to an official press release from Minister of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti Basanti Hembram, who joined the program as the chief guest. She went on to say that this MOU will improve Odisha’s disaster management plan and that cooperation is required if we are to combat the state’s natural disasters.
Sushmita Behera, the Executive Officer of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority, expressed her opinion during the event that the Department of Women and Child Development is now the first department to have finished training in natural disaster management at the state level. The goal of this MOU is to equip every home with a disaster management warrior by bringing disaster management training down to a local level.
According to S Gayatri, head instructress of SIWC, educating Anganwadi workers and child protection officials at the district level at each of the state’s Anganwadi Centers is a significant task for us. She continued, “Aware of this challenge, we will keep up our efforts to prevent natural disasters and to bring this training to the village level.”
The welcome speech was given by Durga Prasad Maharana, Additional Secretary to the Government for Women and Child Development. On hand for the event were Swayam Prabha Muduli, Under Secretary of Women and Child Development, along with representatives from Anganwadi, District Child Protection Officers, and Integrated Child Development Project Officers.
