Create a Safe Space for Children and Youth

Shaishav, as a Child Rights organisation, is committed to protect all the rights recognised by United Nation Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC) declared in 1989. The convention changed the way children are being viewed and treated as human beings with distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity. The unprecedented acceptance of the Convention globally clearly shows a serious commitment to protect and spread children’s rights world over. There is much to celebrate as we mark the 25th anniversary of the Convention, from declining infant mortality to rising school enrolment, but this historic milestone must also serve as an urgent reminder that much remains to be done. Too many children still do not enjoy their full rights on par with their peers.

Shaishav has always been committed to celebrate child rights week that falls in November each year. 14th November is a National Children’s Day in India and 20th November is International Child Rights Day. So the organizations working with CRBA celebrate it as a Child Rights Week every year. This year is especially important as this year the whole world is celebrating the 25th years of UNCRC. With initiative of Shaishav, Child Rights Collective – Gujarat (CRC-G) also organized a special state level event. CRC-G is a network of Voluntary Organizations and individuals who are committed to the rights of children. From 12th to 20th Nov 2014, about 75 member team participated in CRC-G's Child Rights Yatra (Expedition) with support of UNICEF Gujarat, in 19 district of Gujarat comprising 3 different routes. On 12th and 13th November, training was given to the participant team members from different organizations of Gujarat. The Yatra began from 14th to 19th November. We reached out to more than 10,000 children and adults directly and many more indirectly from more than 180 organizations and schools. Yatra was concluded on 20th Nov 2014 in Ahmedabad with state level convention, where many leading educationists, journalists, activists & intellectuals were present. The yatra team gathered a very critical data during yatra about Child Friendly communities and Child Friendly schools from children, parents, teachers, community workers, child rights activists etc. We have adapted the Child Friendly toolkit that is designed by Prof. Roger Harts of Children Environment Research Group, City University New York. It gave us the real ground reality in situation of children's rights in the area of education, protection, participation, gender inequality and social status. It was really fulfilling, satisfying & learning experience for all the team members participated in the event. The local organisation's participation and encouragement has given a hope in organising similar events in future as well. Many organisations were highly impressed and invited Team Shaishav to give training on Child Rights to their staff members & community children in their respective area. We are currently compiling the data & outcomes for enable us to publish a learning document in about 2 to 3 months from now.

Shaishav continued its’ partnership with UNICEF Gujarat for extending training on child rights, child protection, education and eradication of child marriages, to their six partner organizations in Gujarat who are working in grassroots with community and children. We are holding workshop on Capacity Building of the team members of these partner organizations in December end at Bhavnagar through our CRTRC (Child Rights Training and Resource Centre) initiative. CRTRC serves to support and strengthen many educational and empowerment training programs that Shaishav has designed and created on Teaching & Learning Materials (TLMs) and to share the same with organisations working in similar fields.

The vision of Shaishav is to create a safe, supportive and responsive society that upholds the protection, rights and dignity of every child in India (as defined by the law). This is to be achieved by establishing effective prevention and early intervention measures, strengthening treatment support services and building partnerships. We do this by engaging with all sectors of society upon whom the wellbeing of children depends, in initiatives that will bring about these changes.                 In our last report, we have mentioned about launch of Child Protection Policy (CPP) on 2nd August 2014 in the Bhavnagar district which is the first district in the state of Gujarat. This policy is designed as outlined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) under Article 19 and various legal statutes of the prevailing law in India. We are happy that this policy was widely recognised, accepted and signed by Teachers’ Union, Principals’ Union, School Management, various government departments, etc. In the due course of time, we expect this policy may widely spread and accepted across the state.

In association with Dream-A-Dream (an organisation based in Bangaluru), Shaishav held 4 day residential training on Life Skills with Balsena’s council and active members in October end at an outskirts of Bhavnagar. Many workshops, cultural program, group discussions and plays were conducted to enlighten the children on various life skills such as Leadership, Creativity, Effective Communication, Relationship Building and Decision Making. Children actively participated and independently conducted many workshops, activities and instant plays. They also went through the activity of “River of Life” and “Dream Tree”, where they could responsively react and expressed their challenges in life and their aspiration to fulfil their dreams.

Few of our major donors such as Child Reach International (UK), Paul Hamlyn Foundation (UK) and Stitching Charity Fund Rijsholt (The Netherlands) visited Shaishav and reviewed our activities and performance during first half of the year April 2014 to September 2014. The reviews were very exhaustive and satisfying. It highlighted our commitments and suggested guidelines to strengthen our efforts in future.

Thank You

Shaishav spent the last three months organizing trainings on human rights and life skills for Bhavnagar’s children and youth. Here we are sharing some of our memorable moments with you.

 Vacation camp

 May and June is the most exciting time for children in India – summer vacation! I am sure you all remember this joyful time, when after months of studying you could finally forget about your books and homework… it’s the time to play with your friends and to enjoy life… every child deserves times like these! However, for children living in slums such as the ones where Shaishav operates, the realities of summer vacation differs. Summer vacation becomes time when these children take on financial responsibilities, engaging in child labor to support their family. Frequently, after the family and child sees the short term financial benefits of this added income, children do not return to school. Child labor deprives children from their basic rights to education and play (as found in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), and limits prospects of social and economic mobility.

Since 1995, aiming to reduce the number of children engaging in labor over summer vacation, Shaishav organizes “vacation camp” for children to engage them in fun development and life skills activities. These camps target “at risk” children, and are complimented by enrolment drives to enroll children back into school. This year, from May 11^th to June 9^th, about 300 children participate in vacation camp. Children engaged in various educational and leisure activities: outdoors sports, yoga, cooking classes, playing music, etc. They went to park and beach, participated in various life skills activities and listened to lectures on children rights. On the last day of the camp, children organized a closing ceremony, full of music, dance and laughter!

Celebrating International workers day

 To celebrate International workers day and to motivate child laborers to leave child labor and to continue education, on May 1^st, Shaishav organized a children’s camp specifically for child laborers. 53 children gathered in Shaishav’s training center, beginning the day with ‘Play for Peace’ activities and ending it with stories about the importance of education and shortcomings of child labor. All the children enjoyed the camp and showed improved understanding about the importance of education. Shaishav hopes to make laborer camp an annual activity attracting more child laborers and reducing child labor.

How does a camp for child laborers reduces child labor? By pulling child laborers out of their jobs for an extended period of time, families adjust to the lack of daily help from their child (often in a situation of manual labor), as well as the lack of daily income (which is often miniscule in relation to their family’s overall income). Shaishav’s social workers are able to intervene and explain the importance of education to parents. Typically, Shaishav’s social workers are able to convince families to send their children back to school by explaining the long term harm child labor does to the body and the opportunities school will provide, in combination with some financial planning.

Tarunsena Human rights Camp

Shaishav continuously works with youth through our youth collective ‘Tarunsena’. Young people periodically refresh their understanding of human rights in various trainings organized by Shaishav, but the human rights camp organized on 20-23 May was the first in-depth human rights training for Tarunsena youth. 22 members participated in a 4 -day training, which aimed to increase knowledge about human rights, the Indian constitution and democracy. Young people told Shaishav staff that the training provided insightful knowledge about the complexity of human rights, and allowed them to critically define their goals in life in relation to human rights, and plan the steps to reach these goals. At Shaishav we believe that young people, with their extensive knowledge and well developed life skills, can drastically contribute to themselves children and community development.

'Youth for Change'

Shaishav is in the process of launching a new program, ‘Youth For Change’. This program will provide youth credible vocational training in combination with extensive life skills and human rights training to enable economic prosperity and social mobility. More information about this project will follow soon.

Last year we successfully enrolled 584 children, preventing them from entering child labor, we have motivated 25 child laborer to continue education and 21 child labor to do vocational training. Through various trainings and activities, children developed interpersonal skills and critical thinking, allowing them to take charge of their lives. This all would not be possible without your continued support. A sincere thank you from Shaishav’s children, youth and staff!

Thank you!!!

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