Palghar is a district in Maharashtra and is divided into seven talukas, such as Vada, Vikramgad, Jawhar, Mokhada, Dahanu, Talasari, and Vasai-Virar. Predominantly inhabited by tribal populations, their source of livelihood comes from Agricultural practices. But the yield is restricted to the monsoon season and it predisposes them to migrate for jobs.

In 2015, At the request of the Ministry of Health Maharashtra and UNICEF Maharashtra, Action Against Hunger conducted a cross sectional survey called SMART survey, which was conducted in Jawhar, Mokhada, and Vikramgad blocks of Palghar district to inspect the prevalence of undernutrition in children. The Jawhar and Mokhada survey highlighted startling figures with rates of stunting at 70.8 %, wasting at 40.4 %, and 9.1 % of children under the age of 5 being severely unhealthy. We initiated our emergency response work in 2016, starting from Mokhanda and later in Jawhar.