Animator Training on Child Rights
A one-day Animator Training under the project ‘Stronger Voice to Excluded Children in Government and NGO Policies and Programmes’ was organised at CHD on December 30, 2009. The purpose of the training was to orient the Animators about child rights, model of Bal Sabha and Bal Panchayat and importance of recording minutes of the Bal Sabha and Bal Panchayat meetings. Twenty-four animators were present in this training. Ashish Tripathi, Piyush Kumar Baranwal, Parth Joshi, Rehana Parveen, Shanti Lal Dangi and Sumitra Garg facilitated different sessions in this training.
Sensitising Media on Child Rights
A one-day Media Sensitisation and Consultation workshop was held in CHD on December 27, 2009, to sensitise the media about child rights. Around 27 participants, including electronic and print media representatives, few children and their parents, participated in this workshop. Discussions were held on the problems related to making education more inclusive. Guidance of media was sought in taking up sensitive issues such as child trafficking and child sexual harassment and abuse. The media interacted with Pushpa, Devilal, Ajay and their parents. These children have joined mainstream education because of the efforts of CUTS under Save the Children-supported project ‘Stronger Voice to Excluded Children in Government and NGO Policies and Programmes’. The media praised the efforts of CUTS in getting socially excluded children mainstreamed, as every child who is out of school is a potential child labour.
SHG Leaders Interact with Media
Interaction of SHG office-bearers with media was organised at the Circuit House in Bhilwara on December 25. SHG office-bearers from Banera, Suwana and Mandalgarh block participated in this interaction. The SHG office-bearers shared their experience of being a part of SHG movement with the media persons from Punjab Kesari, Lokjeevan, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, Lovani, TV99, ETV Rajasthan, Sbn News, etc. Ashish Tripathi thanked the media and the bankers for building a very conducive environment in Bhilwara for SHG promotion. He said that CUTS is planning to promote a Federation of SHGs in Bhilwara in partnership with Nabard.
Consultation on National Consumer Day
To mark the National Consumer Day, a consultation workshop was organised by CUTS-CHD on December 24 with the logistic support from District Supply Office, Chittorgarh. The theme for this year was “Sajag Upbhokta, Surakshit Nivesh”. S.R. Gander, President, District Consumer Forum, was the Chief Guest and D.C. Jain, Additional District Collector, was special invitee. Shyam Sundar Sharma, DSO, Col. Randhir Singh, Chairman, Petrol Association Chittorgarh, S.C. Gupta, Managing Director Chittorgarh Dairy, Meena Sharma Additional Director Department of Social Justice and Empowerment Advocates – Chandmal Garg & Rajnish Pitliya, Social worker – Gangadhar Solanki, Dinesh Joshi, Roshan Mewari and, Kalyani Dixit, Principal Govt. Girls Intercollege, Shabbir-ud-din, Child Development Project Officer attended the workshop. S.R. Gander lauded the efforts of CUTS in empowering consumers. 68 participants attended this workshop.
CSO’s Learn Fine Points of Research Concerning Children
A one-day training was organised at CHD on December 20 to orient the staff of NGOs working on the issues of child rights on research, documentation and sharing of learning. The staff of NGOs shared their experience of working on the issues of child rights and child protection. Chandmal Garg, Advocate, discussed the Juvenile Justice Act in detail. Anil Vyas, Arunoday Sansthan Bari Sadri, discussed the provisions of Child Labour Prevention and Regulation Act (CLPRA). Dinesh Joshi, President DNGO, emphasised on the need of a discussion forum on child rights in Chittorgarh. He pointed out that there are many NGOs working on Child Rights in Chittorgarh, but there is a lack of capacity in them. Their regular capacity building should be done by means of this discussion forum. Ashish Tripathi (CUTS-CHD) discussed the basics of dos and don’ts of any research concerning children.
Orientation on Child-related Schemes
A meeting of Key Stakeholders under the project ‘Stronger Voice to Excluded Children in Government and NGO Policies and Programmes’ from the project area was organised on December 18 at CHD premises to raise the awareness of key stakeholders such as Sarpanch, Ward Panch, Secretary, community volunteers, opinion leaders, etc., on schemes directly or indirectly related to excluded children. 86 such key stakeholders participated in this event, including Shyam Lal Regar, Sarpanch Ghatiywali; Khoob Chand Khateek, Secretary Netawalgarh pachali; ANMs, ASHA, etc. Jitendra Ojha, Block Programme Manager NRHM; Bhanwar Singh Sisodia, Deputy Additional District Education Officer (Elementary) and MDM Incharge Chittorgarh, Shabbir-ud-din Child Development Project Officer (Chittorgarh rural), participated in this training and discussed the schemes related to their department in detail. They also made an appeal to the opinion leaders to positively co-operate in the implementation of schemes by coming up with innovative solutions to the problems and not just remain engaged in fault-finding.
Public Hearing on Quality Education
One Jan Sunvaai (Public hearing) was organised under the project Improving Quality of Elementary Education on December 16, 2009 at CHD. The purpose of the Jan Sunvaai was to bring the community members of all the project villages on a common platform to share the issues and problems related to ensuring quality education in their villages. Stayanarayan Inani, Additional Block Education Officer; Pradeep Kumar, Block Resource Centre Facilitator; Seeta Ram Sadhu, Cluster Resource Centre Bojunda Facilitator; Krishna Sharma ,Cluster Resource Centre Sawa Facilitator; Bheema Bheel, Sarpanch Devri; and Ramlal, Sarpanch Jalampura were among the 245 persons who attended the Public Hearing. The main issues that came out were lack of Anganwari in Haapawas, closeness of liquor shop to school, lack of separate toilet facility for girls, lack of water facility in some schools, poor quality of MDM, etc. Ashish Tripathi, Acting Centre Co-cordinator, CHD, raised the issue of GUARANTEE being demanded from CHD staff by School teachers during the re-admission of dropout children and said that there is need to sensitise teachers as they perceive the dropout girls and boys as a burden and do not think what change they can make in the life of such excluded children. Sanjay Moud, Madan Keer, Neetu Joshi, Vandan Chouhan and Chanda Jaat were also present in this hearing.
Stakeholder Consultation on Social Exclusion
Stakeholder consultation and sensitisation meeting under the project ‘Stronger Voice to Excluded Children in Government and NGO Policies and Programmes’ was organised at CHD on December 15 to orient the parents of excluded children about various schemes and programmes meant for children and child rights. Chandrakanta Tripathi (Additional District Education Officer Secondary) and Meena Raghani (Prinicipal DIET) were the key speakers on this occasion. Discussions were also held on the importance of educating the girl child, child labour and child marriage under the framework of Child Rights.
Animator Training
A two-day refresher training of animators under the IQEEP was organised at CHD on December 7 and 8 on topics like quality dimensions of school education, child rights, effective community mobilisation, attributes of a good employee, model of Bal Panchayat and Bal Sabha, etc. Jitendra Ojha, Block Programme Manager, NRHM, discussed about various schemes under NRHM related to children with the animators. Twenty-four animators participated in this training. Sanjay Moud, Madan Lal Keer, Neetu Joshi and Chanda Jaat conducted various sessions.
Giving Stronger Voice to Excluded Children
‘Bal Adhikaar Samvaad’ (Interface of excluded children with structures of local governance) under the project Stronger Voice to Excluded Children in Government and NGO Policies and Programmes was organized on December 8, 2009 at CHD. The purpose of this workshop was to raise the awareness level of children about various Government schemes and programmes meant for children and how children can participate in making it more accessible. Jitendra Ojha (Block Programme Manager, NRHM), Shyam Sundar Sharma (Additional Block Education Officer) and Pradeep Dixit (Project Assistant SSA Chittorgarh) briefed the children about the schemes related to their department/Project. Ashish Tripathi, Acting Centre Coordinator, CHD on this occasion said that children are more vulnerable than any other group as they are more affected by actions or inactions of governments and society. Our initiatives must aim at empowering children by promoting their participation. 52 Children and 24 Animators were present in this interface.