Education Project
Three health camps were organized to cover three of our working areas in the Yadgir District. Over 1500 people including adults and children benefited from the health camp. 259 children were enrolled on different government and private schools as a result of our awareness campaign in the Yadgir District.
120 children from the migrant communities in Bangalore have been enrolled in government schools and 25 children have been enrolled on Private Schools, 40 children who were not going to school were enrolled in skill development Centers and 24 children were re-enrolled in Government schools in Yadgir and Gulbarga with SRDS's active engagement.
Due to an added awareness campaign on the issue in Yadgir 1000 children were enrolled on different government schools.
b. Child marriage:
These were conducted by SRDS. 200 children received inputs in 14 areas in the Yadgir district. In Bangalore, an awareness campaign was carried out with 100 children regarding the problems of child marriage in 14 areas.
c. Sex education sessions:
Part of the capacity-building programme carried out was to work with adolescent girls to talk to them about protecting their bodies and resisting all kinds of abuses including sexual abuse, held in Mahila Samakhya Karnataka (MSK) areas.
d. Gender sensitivity workshops:
This year we designed and conducted a two-day gender sensitivity workshop for men from 20-60 years of age. This workshop was designed to create awareness among men about the role of men folk in preventing all abuses including sexual abuse of women in their respective areas we learnt from MSK that there was a demand in the district and villages they worked in for such workshops to be conducted. Also part of the capacity-building programme carried out was working with adolescent girls to talk to them about protecting their bodies and resisting all kinds of abuses including sexual abuse, held in MSK areas.
3. Shanthi care centre: Urban Programme with Children from Migrant Communities To reach the most marginalized children within urban spaces, those who are part of migrant groups, we undertook a mapping exercise in the city of Bangalore to locate the largest migrant populations and to then understand the nature of their situation. Through this process, we have narrowed down our field areas and are looking forward to the formation of new Shanthi Sanghas. The mapping has enabled the organization to gain a deeper understanding of the issues faced by children from the recently migrated communities. This is a critical input for SRDS's future strategy-building and planning. Important knowledge has also been gained for inputs given to policies focusing on issues of street and migrant children. SRDS hopes to take forward the initiative to hold further children's sambas in Bangalore post its first one in
2012. Children's participation within urban governance spaces has been a significant challenge for us. As our work proceeds, we find that it is extremely challenging for working children to get organized as unions though the number of working children is increasing. Working children in migrant communities are rendered even more vulnerable due to this. As street and working children work on unscheduled times on various days, it is a challenge to get uninterrupted periods with them. The majority of the children work in far-off places and come back to their homes late at night. This is a common challenge for organizations working with this group of children and we are negotiating with the challenge daily in a contextual manner. A significant number of children from the migrant communities live in temporary settlements and shift residence from time to time and it is difficult to keep in continuous contact with them.
Through phone communication, we were able to locate them in new areas and sustain the relationship in the case of some communities. Children in many of our working areas have faced either exploitation or negligence from people and institutions of authority including the police, NGOs and government officials. Approaching new communities also proves challenging and to establish relationships of trust even more so. With all the new communities, SRDS is taking time to invest energy in this process and has currently initiated participatory mapping exercises based on the needs prioritization of the children. In the rural migrant communities, though there is lesser resistance, children from the most marginalized communities face several constraints to get organized. The numbers of organizations have not drastically varied over the years, however, what is significant is the fact that they have continued to exist and grow and that there is a constant inflow of new members as older children grow into youth move on. In the recent past, following an internal review regarding the composition of the Sanghas, their functioning and their capacity-building needs, wherever it was noted that most backward groups were not well represented, focused action has been taken. As of now, there is a significant number of children from the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, indigenous communities etc who are active members of the Sanghas. These Sanghas have provided the forum for them from which they have been able to raise their issues to seek redressed as well as the space where they gain both respect and friendship. SRDS has also provided inputs into developing the Article 15 Handbook that aims to strengthen children’s abilities to run and manage their organizations based on their experiences. The collective strength of both the adult's and children's unions have increased their bargaining power and in gaining positive outcomes from their local governments for the issues raised by them. Some examples are:
1. Setting up tent schools: n our work with children's collectives and migrants, Shanthi Sanghas have submitted applications for and advocated continuously with the concerned authorities for setting up tent schools in their communities. So far one application has been successful and a tent school has been established for the street and migrant children in one of SRDS's working areas.
2. Lobbying for and setting up an Anganwadi: An Anganwadi (Day-Care Centre) was set up at the Bangalore SRD Suffice premises to cater to children aged 0-6 years. Through this, several Shanthi Sanghas members were able to rejoin school since they did not have to look after their younger siblings. Due to advocacy with the government department, the daycare centre was officially taken over by the state and is now being run by them. SRDS continues to provide capacity building and guidance for the running of the daycare centre. It is to be a model Anganwadi to showcase the possibilities of the space
Underprivileged communities, especially children and women. SRDS was initiated to evolve information and make the linkage between the villagers and the government. We believed that knowledge would lead to awareness, which would further lead to self-development, empowerment and action.