ndia
has the distinction of having the largest child population
in the world with more than one third of its population
below the age of 18 years.
The Constitution of India provided for the well being of
children way back in 1950. The National Policy of Children
formulated by the Government of India (GoI) in 1974
described children as “supremely important asset”. The
United Nations announced the Convention on the Rights of the
Child in 1989, which was ratified by GoI in 1992.
Despite these
efforts, the current data about the status of children in
India indicates a huge gap between policies and practice.
Some facts that showcase the violation of rights of children…
v
One
out of 16 children dies before attaining one year of age,
and one out of 11 dies before attaining five years of age
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35% of
the developing world’s low birth weight babies are born in
India
v
One
out of every three malnourished child in the world lives in
India
v
Out of
every 100 children, 19 continue to be out of school. Of
those who enroll, almost 53 drop out before completing class
VIII
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Of
every 100 children who drop out from school, 66 are girls
v
65% of
girls in India are married by the age of 18 and become
mothers soon after
v
Fall
in the number of girls in the 0-6 age group causes alarm.
For every 1000 boys there are only 927 girls, even lesser
in some areas.
(Source: Status of Children in India, HAQ; CENTRE for Child
Rights 2005)
The Child Resource
Centre of CHETNA focuses its efforts to ensure holistic
health of children and adolescents (0-18 years) from a
rights perspective so that they are
empowered and enabled to participate and contribute to their
own, their families’, communities’ and nations’ health and
development.
Capacity building of key stake holders, evidence based
advocacy through strengthening networks for collective
action and development and dissemination of need based
Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) material are the key
strategies for bringing Child Rights to the forefront.
Khushal Balpan anno arth shu chhe, didi?
(Can you tell me the meaning of a happy childhood, sister?)
This reader friendly study report highlights the perception
of parents, teachers, medical fraternity and children from
urban and rural areas in and around Ahmedabad city of
Gujarat state. The study was conducted by CHETNA during 2004
and 2006 to design relevant interventions for promoting and
enhancing community awareness on child rights.
Enabling field based organizations for promoting Child Rights
CHETNA built
capacities of about 50 NGOs in the last three years for
actualizing and advocating rights for children. As a result,
26 partner NGOs reported to have focused their efforts
towards creating awareness among key stakeholders such as
Parents, Self Help Groups, Village Education
Committees/Village Development Committees, Peer groups,
NGOs, Kisan Manch (Farmers’ forum), as well as Children: street,
destitute, school going, out of school, school dropouts,
differently able, child labourers, from the slum children,
children whose parents have been affected by HIV/AIDS and
children affected by natural disasters such as floods and
earthquake.
The partners sensitized the Teachers, Policy makers –Block, District,
State, Government Departments- Panchayat (local self
governance), Department of Women and Child Development,
Education, Health, Social Justice and Empowerment, Police,
Social Defense, Railway/Urban Community Development
/District Rural Development Agency/Labour Department &
Children’s Observation Homes. They also documented their
efforts and experiences in the form of Press Clippings,
Photo and Process Documentation.
A
participatory and joyful learning programme on Child
Rights helped us to undertake a variety of activities
with key stake holders across the society -Partner NGO,
Rajasthan
Child Rights
Booklets
CHETNA has developed a set of
eight booklets to enhance awareness among diverse
stakeholders. Equipped with comprehensive information on
four basic rights of children including the right to
survival, protection, development and participation, the
booklets focus on highlighting the significant role of
parents, government, academic institutions, NGOs/CBOs/VOs,
media, law enforcement officers, judicial and medical
professionals and the corporate sector in ensuring Every
Right for Every Child.
Training modules on Child Rights (CR)
CHETNA has
documented the capacity building experiences and processes
in the form of seven Training Modules on Child Rights. The
modules in English, Hindi and Gujarati languages
contain basic information about Child Rights which would be
useful to those who work with children.
Other Material for awareness and advocacy on Child Rights
v
A
brochure on “Child Friendly Police”
v
A
range of Child Rights promotional material (Greeting cards,
paper cap, lamp shades, T-shirts etc) on Child Rights with
messages in in English, Hindi and Gujarati languages
Advocacy with policy makers
CHETNA advocates for
the comprehensive health of children, young
people and women at all levels by organising dialogues with
policy and decision makers and implementers using evidence
generated through field based action, research and analysis. Field based
evidence was used to advocate CR in the development of National Plan of
Action for Children and State Plan of Action for children in
Gujarat and Rajasthan states.
For Integration of
Child Rights in the XI Five Year Plan of the GOI, CHETNA contributed as a member of the thematic
subgroup of Girl Child constituted by the Ministry of Women
and Child Development and Youth Affairs. The Chair of the
‘Sub-group on Integrating Nutrition in Health’. CHETNA
facilitated consultations with children in Gujarat state and
ensured inclusion of children’s voices in the XI five year
plans.
Measuring Progress for Children
The Government of
India (GOI), as a signatory to the UNCRC,
is currently in the process of preparing a periodic report on status
of children for the period 2003-2007 to be submitted to the
UN committee in July 2008. Invited by the UN, NGOs in India
are also preparing an alternate report on the status of
children. CHETNA is actively contributing at the national as
well as state level by sharing field based experiences,
organizing district and state level consultations with NGOs,
CBOs and children along with Child Rights Collective
(Gujarat), to facilitate preparation of alternate report for
Gujarat State.
For further details please contact: Ms.Minaxi Shukla,
CHETNA
o have focused their efforts
towards creating awareness among key stakeholders such as
Parents, Self Help Groups, Village Education
Committees/Village Development Committees, Peer groups,
NGOs, Kisan Manch (Farmers’ forum), as well as Children: street,
destitute, school going, out of school, school dropouts,
differently able, child labourers, from the slum children,
children whose parents have been affected by HIV/AIDS and
children affected by natural disasters such as floods and
earthquake.