- The need for establishing a communication network among street
boys in twin cities.
- The need for developing leadership skills among the street
boys.
- Need for overall capacity building towards livelihood
empowerment.
IRDS took a decision to do something for these street
boys in twin cities, was one of the major decisions taken after the camp. That is
how our partnership with street boys evolved.
|
The
Tidy Progress: |
The initial teething problems with a mix of success &
failure in mobilizing & making them understand the need for a collective platform. The
pet programmes like the regular camps facilitated the bondage for successful
collectivization. The vocational trainings, referral trainings, location wise meetings,
leadership training etc has paved way for building up their overall capacities &
addressing their issues. The regular dialoguing with the police, Government
officials & various service organizations has impacted to reduced stigma
discrimination & harassment. Media print & electronic also played a vital
role in sensitizing the society towards treating them as human beings, & up holding
their rights.
|
 |
Participatory
Site Assessment (PSA) |
To have an update on the street boy’s estimates in
twin cities the Participatory Site Assessment has been one of the widely used techniques
by involving the primary stakeholders to assess their socio- economic status & the
prevalence of street boys in twin cities of Hyderabad. In the beginning of
January-2006 convened a meeting to discus on conducting PSA, 16 boys volunteered to
conduct this PSA in twin cities.
Further decided to focus on 3 aspects
- Estimates of street boys in twin cities
- Resource Mapping
- Desired needs
For the volunteer 2 days training programme on PSA was
organized on 17th & 18th January 2006 at VBSS the training programme was divided in to
four parts Day-1: Theory & Field, Day-2: Theory & Field.
|
The theory part of it focused on the need for PSA, establishing
a base line and how to collect information from different sources. The field part focused
on mock exercise observation & communicating with primary & secondary
stakeholders. Two members were made as one team & allocated the geographical sites.
|
- Estimated number of street boys in twin cities is 6032
- The age group ranged from 7-18 years, with majority in the age
of 9-18 years.
- Nature of work Rag picking, Hotel boys, daily labour, petty
business, Rickshaw pullers, Beggars, Black tickets selling. Majority of them were eking
their livelihood through Rag picking & hotel work
- Average earnings per day ranged from Rs 25-200.
Majority of them are habituated to smoking / whitener
spirit / alcohol / petrol sniffing / tobacco chewing etc. |
Resource Mapping: |
| Resources |
NGO
Services in Hyderabad |
| Free food availability sites |
IRDS & VBSS |
| NGO services |
Pragathi |
| Resource persons |
HCHW |
| Rags Marketing outlets |
Reddys foundation |
| Free health care services |
Divya disha |
| Referral & vocational
trainings |
Juvenile Home |
| Sleeping places |
Anurag |
| Job placements |
Pricilla mission |
| Self employment |
Ankuram |
| Sponsored food, clothing |
Sidhur |
| Donations, education, hostel
facilities |
Mont fort |
| Bathing places |
Don Bosco |
| Credit facilities for petty
business |
Child line telephone toll
free - 1098 |
| Counseling services |
CFCA |
| Children's Empowerment |
CRY |
|
Outreach |
Each peer educator is allocated 4-6 locations normally where he
goes for his work; each peer educator has to bring in a week 4 new street boys to VBSS.
The boys are given counseling and profile is documented. If the boy is interested to
go back home he will be accompanied by the social worker and hand him over to their
parents. Up to March 2006 four boys and one girl (brother & sister aged 8 & 10
years) were sent home. Brother and sister were from Doddi Thanda village in Mahboobnagar
District. Their parents were quite happy to see their children back after 11 days. One of
the boy was from nearby district around 60 Kms from Hyderabad, the other two were from the
coastal Andhra Pradesh. |
|
Each peer
educator has to conduct one hour meeting in their respective locations once in a month.
Social worker will be present during the meeting. The objective is to make aware of
VBSS an organization of street boys and issue them the identity cards, and invite them to
VBSS. This type of meetings also keeps the rapport alive and during the camps
children are invited to participate from different locations. |
In their monthly review each
peer educator makes a presentation on how many friends he has made, if any difficulties
faced and the services accessed. This has brought in a sort of competition among the peers
to make more friends and bring them to VBSS. |
Three of our
VBSS boys have successfully completed their training on printer hardware repairing and
servicing under the guidance of Mr. Ramesh who was a street boy, currently looking out for
placement. Recently Mr. Ramesh got married and leading an independent family life |
A three days
camp was organized in the victory play grounds in Hyderabad. From 15th to 17th March
2006. Around 320 boys participated and enjoyed the camp. The major highlights of the camp,
two medical Doctors and two counselors from IRDS team organized one day health checkup for
all the boys and given free medicines that needed. There were many cases referred to
government hospitals. |
Sports and
games competitions were held and prizes were given out.
Three movies of their choice were screened through the LCD.
Group discussions were held and the following were the output |
- Once in three months the respective location leaders or seniors to meet at VBSS to
discuss on the various issues and progress made.
- Explore on scope for self employment / petty business with increased outreach
- Yearly once educational tour outside Hyderabad
- To meet all the NGOs who are extending services for the street kids.
|
A half a day
session during the camp was facilitated by an NGO PRAGATHI on prevention of
HIV/AIDs. Boys were quite attentive as the subject was quite interesting like sex
& sexuality, the reproductive system, procreation, the transmission modes of
infections and the need for prevention and immediate treatment for the sexually
transmitted infections. Flash cards were used as educational aids with pictorial
explanation. |
Every day one
police officer was invited to interact with the street boys. It was quite exciting
for them to shake hands and talk to the police. All of them have reassured to support them
for their well being. |
Challenges
Ahead: |
After VBSS is being elevated to
a status where the challenge is to consolidate & sustain the movement. |
Our Future
Agenda |
As a
self-regulatory body VBSS to be positioned as one of the resource organization in twin
cities for delivering quality services for the street boys. To accomplish this
status the legal entity gaps like auditing their financial matters, registering with the
income tax authorities for exemption, registering with FCRA department. This will
enable VBSS to establish linkages & convergence with Government and Private
sectors. |
The increased number of orphan
& vulnerable children especially due to HIV/AIDS is becoming a concern. |
Documentation &
dissemination of best practices needs to be strengthened and addressing their desired
needs |
Possible
Elimination by 2016 |
As per the
International Labour Organization (ILO) child labour is on the decline for the first time
across the globe and if the downswing continues it will be possible to eliminate the surge
over the next 10 years. The reduction in child labour is due to increased political
will, awareness and concrete action, particularly in the field of poverty reduction and
mass education that has led to a world wide movement against child labor. |
|
The actual
number of child laborers world wide fell by 11 percent between 2000 and 2004, from 246
million to 218 million. What’s more, the number of children and youth aged
5-17 trapped in hazardous work decreased by 26 percent, to reach 126 million in 2004 as
opposed to 171 million in the previous estimate. Among younger child laborers aged
5-14, this drop was even more pronounced at 33 percent, says the report. |
International
programme on the Elimination of Child Labour. ILO thorough its IPECL is currently
helping 86 countries including initial partner countries India, Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya,
Turkey and Thailand. The IPECL programmes assists in building national capacity to
deal with child labor and providing policy advice. |
So far, 150 National Child
Labour Programmes have been launched in India with the help of IPECL to provide
educational and other rehabilitation services to children withdrawn from hazardous
industries. The programme is supplemented by a budgetary allocation of $131 million
by the government during the 10th Five- Year plan 2002-07 to cover 250 districts out of
total of 601 during the plan period. |
Challenges
Ahead: The report highlights important challenges, particularly in agriculture,
where seven out of 10 child labourers work, some at five years of age. Other
challenges include addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on child labour, and building
stronger links between child labour and youth employment concerns. According to the
report Latin America and the decline in child labour over the four-year period. The
number of children at work in the region has fallen tow-thirds during that time, with just
five percent of children now engaged in work. The Asia and Pacific region also
registered a significant decline in the number of economically active children. |
