PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR THE SUSTAINABLE REHABILITATION
PROJECT PROPOSAL OF STREET CHILDREN THROUGH SHELTER PROVISION,
1.0. Introduction :-
Mercy Ministries is a grass roots
voluntary organization working among the most vulnerable and oppressed groups
in Coastal Andhra Pradesh, with the focus on street and working children. The organization has been launched in the
year 2007, by a group of development professionals, with a view to facilitate
the socio-economic and political mainstreaming of the neglected and oppressed
vulnerable groups in society.
Location : Tenali area of Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh.
2.0. Socio Economic
Conditions in the Target Area :-
The socio economic conditions compel
the rural poor to migrate to the urban areas in search of a basic
livelihood. The migrants ultimately end
up in the slums and are locked up in the vicious circle of poverty, which
manifests into poor and inadequate diet, congested and inferior housing, recurrent
ill health, chronic indebtedness and alcoholism. These conditions result in desperation, irresponsibility, ill
health, improper care, vices,
abandonment and orphanage of children.
It is in this context, the Rural Reconstruction Society has envisaged
the programme of rehabilitation and development of the abandoned and street
children.
3.0. The Back Drop :-
India ha been referred to as a nation
of the young. In that 40% of its
population belongs to the age bracket of 0-15 years : out of them, infants and pre school children are nearly a 110
million. The rest of 187 million
children are affected by iron deficiency (anemia). 40,000 children are turning blind, every year, due to vitamin A
deficiency. There are 4.2 million
infant and child deaths, annually.
There are 44 million children working in the unorganized sector. It is pity that every second child has to
work in India. The greatest
concentration of child labour is found in India today.
Some figures from DPEP Office, Guntur
says like this (2005-2006)
|
|
5-10 years |
10-14 years |
Total |
|||
|
|
Boys |
Girls |
Boys |
Girls |
Boys |
Girls |
|
Child
population |
214556 |
206119 |
165716 |
156256 |
380272 |
362375 |
|
Drop outs |
4021 |
4206 |
4926 |
6263 |
8947 |
10469 |
|
Never enrolled |
970 |
963 |
493 |
562 |
1463 |
1525 |
In the past, the welfare of the
destitute and abandoned children was taken care of by the socio cultural
institutions such as the joint family or caste group in the community to which
the child belonged. But due to rapid
changes in the Indian social system, most of the traditional institutions have
erobed and many of their
responsibilities are not taken care of by any one. The estimated number of orphaned children in
India is 37.6 million. The working group on policy and programme for destitute
children set up by the planning commission of India estimated that about 14.85
million children are destitute. Of
these, forty percent are either institutionalized or looked after by relatives.
The rest are totally uncared for and most of them are becoming street
children and juvenile delinquents.
4.0. Abandoned street
children - situation analysis :-
India has made gigantic strides in
both industrial and agricultural technology since
independence and considerable development has taken place both in the
agricultural and industrial sectors.
However, the ancient saying that India is a land of princes and paupers
unfortunately holds true even in the present day, despite the great deal of
rhetoric
concerning India’s advancement and the hyped up planned progress. The advancement and the benefits of
development simply failed to percolate down the social strata. Further, India has not only the largest
number of the poor in the third world but indeed, the poverty of the Indians
has no parallel both in its intensity and extensity.
Due to these above factors, the most
common feature of a public place in these coastal towns is the children begging
for alms, cleaning utensils in hotels, carrying head loads and sleeping on the
pavements, railway platforms, etc. The
most agonizing feature is the sexual exploitation of the vulnerable girl
children. It is estimated that 20% of
the sex workers in India are these street children below the age of 15 years.
The living conditions of the street
children are worse than that of stray cattle’ found on the roads. The people and their culture in India gives
a lot of care and affection (fruits,
vegetables and other food) to the stray cattle, which are better cared and
provided for. But the hungry, begging and unwanted child is neglected and not
cared even with alms, which the cattle usually get. Hence, the situation of
these abandoned children is in deep despair.
Most of these children represent the broken families, irresponsible
parents, orphans and semi orphans. A large section of these deprived children
come from the scheduled castes and tribes, who represent the sections of
society living in dire poverty. The
children mostly deprived of their fathers and accompanying social support
systems, become uncared for and unwanted.
More number of children at the railway stations, parks and other public
places is increasing day by day. They
are engaged in petty occupations including rag picking, shoe shining, sweeping
railway compartments, sex work, etc.
Most of them are idle and vagrant. When ever in need of food they beg
and live on. Often they tend to involve
in delinquency for the benefit of food.
They adopt hazardous vices like smoking, alcohol, drugs, sniffing glue
and petrol, etc. They suffer constantly
from severe malnutrition and ill health. Some of these children die due to ill
health before becoming adolescents.
The working group of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights at its 1988
meeting on the protection of the destitute children stated that it is the
state’s obligation to provide special protection for the children deprived of
their family environment and to
ensure that appropriate and alternative family care or institutional placement
is made
available to them. There are no proper
protecting homes of the state to the abandoned street children in the
entire Targeted area. Hence urgent
efforts are needed to protect these street children in the coastal towns of
Guntur district in South Andhra Pradesh.
It is in the above context - a
programme for the rehabilitation and development of the abandoned and street children has been
envisaged.
5.0.
Objectives of the Programme :-
5.1.
Goal :-
-
The
ultimate goal of the programme is to protect, reform and make the abandoned and
street children as useful and productive citizens of the country.
5.2. Objectives :-
- To
rescue the abandoned and vagrant children from the streets and public places.
-
To
foster a half way home with motherly care (night shelter, subsidized food,
clothing and medical care) to the children.
-
To
extend literacy, life skills and vocational skills in order to make them self-
reliant.
- To
place them in the social mainstream with self-employment.
6.0. Planned Measures :-
-
Rescuing
50 abandoned and street children.
-
Providing
night shelter to these children .
-
Catering
to sufficient food and clothing.
- Extending
intensive counseling and steady support through tutorials besides literacy
and life skill development.
-
Imparting
vocational training to each child in carpentry, weaving sewing,
handicrafts, radio repair, cycle
repair, etc.
- Enabling
each child to have appropriate rehabilitation in the society.
7.0. The Project :-
7.1. Identification of the
Children :-
At the outset, an in-death research
study will be made to identify the abandoned children to ascertain the causes
and factors leading to the orphanage and abandonment; to find out the
underlying socio psychological factors among these children and to elicit the
background situation of the families of
these children. This study will enable
to profile each child and to have a critical, clear understanding of each
child’s specific situation. It will be
helpful for a clear and specific planning for the development of each
child. Therefore, it is envisaged to
rescue 50 children from Tenali in
Guntur District, respectively, in South Andhra Pradesh. The project will be implemented over a
Ten-year span.
7.2. Half Way home and
Education :-
The half way home will be set up at
Tenali, a strategically important town located in Guntur District. It has been envisaged to provide a pucca
building with ample place for the over all development of these children. The children, after identification and
rescue, will be encouraged to accept the services of the half way home. This will be a cosy place for the children
to stay when every they prefer, away from police harassment and exploitation by
other groups. While performing their
daily activities like rag picking, shoe shining, etc. They will be spending as much time as possible in the half way
home. In order to create a feeling of
self-reliance and independence, food and clothing will be provided at
subsidized rates. They will also be
formed into savings groups, for the building up of capital and easy access to
fair loans, with a view to upgrade their livelihood opportunities. Totally elderly, dedicated, committed and
experienced persons will be given charge of these children to provide motherly
love and care in the process of rehabilitation from their vices, fears,
frustrations and anti social behaviors.
A systematic way of life such as self-discipline, responsibility,
creativity, aptitude development, inculcation of good habits, hobbies and life
skills are emphasized in the daily life of these children.
Constant care in strengthening the
knowledge and skill base of each child will be fostered through tutorials. Besides these educational inputs, the
children will also be imparted technical skills. So that the child will be able to master one appropriate skill /
trade in which he can be self-employed at an appropriate time / age. Further, it is viewed that the housemothers
who are the experts in child care and development will provide compassion, care
and love while interacting with the children on a daily basis.
7.3. Vocational Training
:-
While reforming and rehabilitating the
children, it is envisaged that the children will also be trained in skill and
vocations, which are job oriented. This
aspect of the project is perceived to impart at least one skill to the children
in order to make them producers of goods so that they live on their own in
their future. Hence it is envisaged to
impart technical training in carpentry, tailoring, handicrafts, radio repair,
cycle repair, etc.
7.4. Sustainability :-
The project will be sustainable with
in a period of Ten years, as with in
that time all of the children will have been rehabilitated into self-employment
and mainstreamed.
7.5. Monitoring and
Evaluation :-
The
programme will be monitored in the monthly planning and review sessions on an
outputs basis. The evaluations will be
conducted by a team of experts in the field of child development on an annual
basis. External evaluations will be
conducted as per donor norms.
