The context and the target population
The study area was a hard-to-reach rural setting, remotely located in two Blocks of the Wardha and the Nagpur districts in central India. The study villages were in the Forest Buffer Zone, a Tiger Sanctuary. People in the study area had an average annual per-capita income below the state average and worked as unskilled daily wage laborers in forests, farms, or cattle rearing. The traditional socio-cultural customs greatly influence childcare practices in these regions. Availability and accessibility of education, health, and social services for people from these villages are challenging, and access worsens during the rains and summer. Women in these villages are overburdened; as they are traditionally responsible for childcare, they work for income and face gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities. Wages for women are lower than for men. This social and economic distress contributes to challenges to adequate nutrition and caregiving.