Manav Seva Sansthan

Vision and Goal

The vision of the initiative is to enable the street children to organise and assert their rights. The goal is to protect rights of the children by facilitating their access to opportunities and basic services and ensuring their right to participation through child friendly convergent planning and actions.

Objectives

The key objectives of the initiative for year 2009 are as follows:

• To provide a child friendly environment to street children by providing the need based support through the drop-in-shelters
• To work with Government Children's Homes in making them a better place with congenial atmosphere for children
• To institutionalise a surveillance-cum-support system at railway stations with the support of relevant stakeholder for actions to redress the exploitations faced by the children
• To sensitise and develop effective linkages with different stakeholders for proper implementation of child protection provisions

Approaches

The broad are (i) Protective (ii) Rehabilitative/restorative, (iii) Policy influencing measures to cater to the needs of the children without care and protection.

Protective measures are directed towards providing protection from violence, exploitation of any kind, ill health, stress, etc. Safe space/shelter and support system at platforms are the core interventions of the project.

Rehabilitative and restorative measures are focused on providing opportunities for a child's development. Reintegrating with families, providing counselling, de-addiction, education and vocational training based on the interest of the child are core interventions in this regard. These measures will also be extended to the government homes in a non-threatening manner and in order to top up the facilities to fill the gaps in services in these homes.

Policy influencing measures aim to give a strong voice to these children to bring their issues into the open, building a civil society collective voice is aimed at facilitating public opinion and bringing policy changes in favour of children in vulnerable conditions.

Expected Outcomes

• Establishment and strengthening of functional peer groups
• Linkage and relation with children
• Surveillance-cum-support systems in place
• Well capacitated cadre of peer educators
• Functional drop-in-shelter serving at least 100 children
• Building good rapport with the Government Children's Homes and making a permanent place in them
• Number of children counselled and de-addicted
• Number of children provided medical facilities including positive children
• Number of children provided with non-formal education who started back their studies
• Number of children continuing their studies in mainstream formal schools
• Number of senior children getting vocational training and taking dignified livelihood
• Number of children repatriated and reunited with their families
• Evolution of strong city-based network and the network having continuous direct dialogue with relevant authority on implementation of child protection provisions
• Strong working relationship with all relevant stakeholders
• Stronger consortium taking up child protection issues to civil society, media and more importantly to the government
• Instances of advocacy efforts by the initiative and the consortium for better child protection policies, programmes and practices by the government
• Children voicing concerns and opinions through child reporters and newsletter

Funder

Action Aid