Children hit by Lack of Protection

Child Protection

Educational session with Street children and Child Labourers at Amherst Street, Kolkata

Large number or children in India were extremely vulnerable in pre-covid situation which has been further worsen due to pandemic and subsequent lock down. The number of child labour, child trafficking and child marriage is increasing at a tremendous rate. SPAN directly working with the child labour living on street and railway stations in Kolkata at Dum Dum raiway station area (KMC ward 4), Tala Park area (KMC ward 5) and Amherst Street area (KMC ward 38) with more than 100 child labourers to bring them in learning sessions and also ensuring their protection and rehabilitation. Along with this SPAN is also in a process of identifying child labourer, who are recently engaged in labour sector due crisis of pandemic, in the rural area of Purulia, Jalpaiguri and South 24 parganas.

SPAN also working in 15 tea estates of 3 blocks (Mal, Meteli and Nagarakata of Jalpaiguri Districts with 100 girls who were either victim of trafficking or vulnerable to trafficking and child labour. SPAN is engaging them with education (Jeevan-Path), providing them emergency support of food, shelter and medical aid and linking their families with government entitlement to prevent possibilities of trafficking.

SPAN has been leading a National campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) till 2014 and is also an executive member of NACG – National Action Coordination Group, which is a civil society counterpart of Inter Governmental Body e.g. South Asian Initiative against Violence against Children (SAIVAC), A SAARC Body. Presently is the Joint State convener of Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) in West Bengal.

Such an in depth assessment will certainly provide an overview of the situation of children, their continuation of education and posing vulnerabilities that appear as new challenges.

Child Budget analysis and Budget based Advocacy on Child Rights

SPAN opened a new avenue of policy advocacy on child rights in the state through budget based advocacy. The organisation is  during the last 6 years regularly analysing the state government budget on the perspective of the child rights and publishing reports which helped the civil society in many ways to take forward their advocacy effort on the basis of budget data. The analytical report on the budget of the government of West Bengal in the perspective of child rights were shared with the government department, MPs, MLAa, Media and civil society organisations regularly. Pamphlets and leaflets on the findings of budget analysis were produced for the public to understand the government budget allocation and expenditure on child heath, child Education, child protection. Budget data was also analysed at the level of allocation and expenditure of different schemes such as SSA, ICDS, ICPS, Mid-day meal scheme, etc.

Besides analysing and reporting on the government budget SPAN also conducted three studies on the grassroot level implementation of three most important program for children. Those are Sarba Shiksha Aviyan, Juvenile justice System and ICPS and ICDS. All the studies tacked the fund flow in the implementation of these programes from state to district level and also tracked the allocation and expenditure pattern. It also try to study the impact of those scheme on children at grassroot level.