1PACE

CUTS Centre for Human Development (CUTS CHD)

Early Childhood &Elementary Education

l Public Hearing on QualityEducation

l Bal Mela to Promote Child Rightsl CHD Representations

I N S I D E

Participation and Action towards Community Empowerment Volume 5, No. 4, October-December 2009

PACEPACE

Bal Sammelan was organised at CUTS Centre for HumanDevelopment (CUTS CHD) on October 22, 2009 to

provide an opportunity to the members of Bal Sabhaformed under Improving Quality of Elementary EducationProject (IQEEP) to interact with children from differentvillages and exchange views on their rights,responsibilities and to have an interface with district levelofficials. In this event, 350 children from 28 IQEEP villagesparticipated.

RajeshwariMeena, Pradhan,C h i t t o r g a r hPanchayat Samiti;Narbada Bhambi,Additional DistrictEducation OfficerElementary; Dr.Girraj Meena,Superintendent ofPolice Chittorgarh;Suresh Sharma,Additional District

Project Coordinator, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA); and a teamof new inductees of Save the Children, viz. Sidharth Pande,Programme Coordinator, IPAP; Rajdeep Rao Chaudhary,

Teacher Training on SocialInclusion and Child Rights

One-day teacher�s training on �SocialInclusion and Child Rights� was held atCHD on November 24, 2009. About 36teachers from government schoolsparticipated. Meena Raghani, PrinicipalDistrict Institute of Educational Training(DIET); Chandrakanta Tripathi,Additional District Education OfficerSecondary; and Suresh Sharmafacilitated various sessions.

Life Skill ToTA four-day Life-skill education

Training of Trainers (ToT) was organisedat CHD from November 26-29, 2009 toorient the staff on life skill education.First two days of the training weredevoted to build conceptual

understanding of life skill issues. Onthird day the participants wererequested to deliver the same to BalSabha members in four differentvillages. On the fourth day the staffvisited four villages and conducted thetraining.

Animator TrainingA two day refresher training of

animators was organised at CHD onDecember 07-08, 2009 on qualitydimensions of school education, childrights, effective community mobilisation,attributes of a good employee, model ofBal Panchayat and Bal Sabha etc.Jitendra Ojha, Block ProgrammeManager, National Rural Health Mission(NRHM) discussed various schemesunder NRHM related to children.

Communications Officer; Divya Ganta, Corporate FundraisingOfficer; Tapas R Mahapatra, Grants Officer; Satish Pakki,Marketing Officer; and Amit Chowdhury, Advocacy Officerattended the programme.

Welcoming the guests and children, Ashish Tripathi, ActingCentre Coordinator said that high educational attainmentsare crucial in promoting and sustaining inclusion. Herequested the children to get out-of-school children intoschools. Rajeshwari Meena praised CUTS� efforts inempowering children through Bal Panchayats. NarbadaBhambi motivated children to continue their studies. Dr. GirrajMeena said will power is important in achieving success inlife. Children displayed their creativity through the mediumof dance, songs, play, etc. �Baatan Gyan Ri� Volume I (UsefulThings to Remember) was also released on the occasion.

Stakeholder Consultationfor Quality Education

A Stakeholder Consultation andOrientation workshop was held at CHDon October 09, 2009 to share theprogress of IQEEP and sensitise abouttheir responsibility towards ensuringquality education to their children.Ashish Tripathi welcomed all theparticipants and discussed �Qualitydimensions� under IQEEP. Suresh Sharmashared various provisions in SSA forincreasing the role of community inschool management.

2 PACE

PROGRAMMES & INTERVENTIONS

Public Hearing on Quality EducationJan Sunvaai(Public hearing)was held under theIQEEP at CHD onDecember 16,2009. The purposeof Jan Sunvaai wasto bring thec o m m u n i t ymembers of allproject villages on

a common platform to share issues and problems related toensuring quality education in their villages. The main issuesemerged out were lack of Anganwari in Haapawas, liquorshops located near schools, lack of separate toilet facilitiesfor girls, lack of water facility in some schools, poor qualityof mid-day meal, etc.

Giving Stronger Voice to Excluded Children�Bal Adhikaar Samvaad� (Interface of excluded children withstructures of local governance) under the project entitled,Stronger Voice to Excluded Children in Government and NGOPolicies and Programmes was organised at CHD, on December08, 2009. The purpose of this workshop was to raise theawareness level of children about various governmentschemes and programmes meant for children and howchildren can participate in order to make it more accessible. 

Jitendra Ojha, Block Programme Manager, NRHM; ShyamSundar Sharma, Additional Block Education Officer; andPradeep Dixit, Project Assistant, SSA Chittorgarh briefed thechildren about the schemes related to their project. Initiativesshould aim at empowering children by promoting theirparticipation.

CSO�s Orientation on Child ProtectionA one-day training to orient NGOs working in the area ofchild rights on research, documentation and sharing oflearning was held at CHD on December 20, 2009. The staff ofNGOs shared their experiences of working on child rightsand protection. Chandmal Garg, Advocate, discussed theJuvenile Justice Act in detail. Anil Vyas, Arunoday SansthanBari Sadri discussed the provisions of Child Labour Preventionand Regulation Act (CLPRA). Dinesh Joshi, President DNGO,emphasised on the need of a discussion forum on child rightsin Chittorgarh.

Sensitising Media on Child RightsA one-day media sensitisation and consultation workshop wasorganised at CHD on December 27, 2009, to sensitise the mediaabout child rights. Around 27 participants includingrepresentatives form electronic and print media, few childrenand their parents attended the workshop. Media applaudedCUTS� efforts in getting socially excluded childrenmainstreamed, as every child who is out of school is a potentialchild labour.

SHG Leaders Interact With MediaInteraction of Self-Help Group (SHG) office-bearers with mediawas held in Bhilwara, on December 25, 2009. SHG office-bearers from Banera, Suwana and Mandalgarh blockparticipated. The SHG office-bearers shared their experienceof being a part of SHG movement with the media persons fromPunjab Kesari, Lokjeevan, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika,Lovani, TV99, ETV Rajasthan, Sbn News, etc.

Stakeholder Consultation on Social ExclusionStakeholder�s consultation and sensitisation meeting underthe IPAP project was organised at CHD on December 15, 2009to orient the parents of excluded children on various schemesand programmes meant for children and child rights.Discussions were also held on the importance of educatingthe girl child, child labour and child marriage under theframework of child rights.

Orientation on Child Related SchemesA meeting of keystakeholders underthe IPAP project washeld at CHD onDecember 18, 2009 toraise awareness ofkey stakeholders,such as sarpanch,ward panch,secretary, communityvolunteers, opinionleaders, etc. on schemes directly or indirectly related toexcluded children. Key stakeholders discussed the schemesrelated to their department and urged the opinion leaders tocooperate in the implementation of schemes by coming upwith innovative solutions to the problems.

Role of Micro Credit in Poverty AlleviationCUTS CHD is implementing two projects in Bhilwara and Chittorgarh districts on micro credit for poverty alleviation to ensuresocio-economic development and enhance livelihood security in rural areas. The projects are being funded by the NationalBank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Bhilwara NABARD PIMC MeetingBhilwara NABARD Project Implementation &Monitoring Committee (PIMC) meeting was held atBhilwara on November 16, 2009. The committee afterreviewing the progress approved the release of nextinstallment and suggested to encourage women forinter-loaning.

Chittorgarh NABARD PIMC MeetingChittorgarh NABARD PIMC meeting was held at CHD on November17, 2009, which was attended by five members of the committee.The committee after reviewing the progress approved the release ofnext installment. The members also requested bankers to cooperatein opening bank accounts and asked CUTS to start thinking on thelines of federating the groups so as to make this effort sustainable.

3PACE

ACTIVITIES AT THE GRASSROOTS

Improving Hand HygieneGlobal Hand Washing Day was celebrated in 33 project schools

under the IQEEP at CHD on October 15, 2009. The objective of theprogramme was to create awareness among children, teachers andcommunity members about the importance of washing hands before

meal and after toilet. They were shown the correct way of handwashing with soap. In one major programme organised at UpperPrimary School Raghunathpura, Head Master Giriraj Prasad Sharma,Suresh Sharma Additional District Project Coordinator, SSA andShyam Sundar Sharma, Additional Block Education Officer werepresent. A rally was flagged off by Ashish Tripathi and Giriraj PrasadSharma. On this occasion 60 soaps each were provided to 33 schools.

Assessing Learning SkillsAnnual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2009 survey training

was organised at CHD on October 23-26, 2009. The purpose of theASER survey is to assess the learning level of school going students.CHD is one of the partners in conducting the survey for PrathamRajasthan. The survey was carried out in 30 villages of Chittorgarhdistrict, in which 30 volunteers participated.

National Consumer DayTo mark the National Consumer Day, a consultation workshop

was organised by CHD with the support of District Supply Office,Chittorgarh on December 24, 2009. The theme for this year was �SajagUpbhokta, Surakshit Nivesh�. S R Gander President, District ConsumerForum was the Chief Guest and D C Jain, Additional District Collectorwas special invitee. Gander lauded the efforts of CUTS in empoweringconsumers. Around 68 participants attended this workshop.

A meeting with District non-governmental organisation (DNGO) members and media persons was organised at CHD,on November 30, 2009 to build common understanding on the issue of closure of National Child Labour Project

(NCLP) schools in Chittorgarh; and formulate an action plan by involving media, civil society organisations (CSOs) andfunding agencies. It was discussed in the meeting that on one hand, the government has passed the �Right to Education�Bill to provide free and compulsory education to the children up to the age of 14 years, but has decided to close down the37 NCLP schools in Chittorgarh due to shortage of funds on the other. This clearly reflects that vulnerable children arenot in the priority list of the government. It was decided to take up this issue for further discussion.

�Samvaad� against closure of NCLP schools in Chittorgarh was held at CHD on December 08, 2009. Participants raisedtheir voice against sudden closure of NCLP schools and demanded its re-opening with immediate effect. Due to collectivevoice of stakeholders and mounting pressure on the district administration all the NCLP schools have re-opened fromJanuary 03, 2010.

Successful Advocacy

A Society for Welfare of Child Labour

Bal Mela to Promote Child Rights

One Bal Mela was organised at Upper PrimarySchool, Kesarpura on October 06, 2009, to create

awareness in the community regarding child rights,provide children with a platform to display their skillsand sensitise the government school teachers towardschild friendly teaching and learning. This Mela waspart of the Bal Sabha strengthening campaign underthe IPAP project.

About 155 children from Kesarpura, Medi kaAmrana, Neem Ka Amrana, Bad Ka Amrana, Samri andShambhupura participated. Seema Desai, HeadTeacher UPS Kesarpura, inaugurated the Mela bycutting the ribbon.This was followed bySaraswati Vandanaby Sumitra Garg.Indu Puri Goswami,Senior teacher of UPSKesarpura whilewelcoming CUTSstaff, children andteachers thanked CUTS for giving her school anopportunity to host this event.

Children were divided in 10 groups of 15 childreneach. One teacher/CUTS staff was designated asfacilitator for each group. The facilitators thendistributed sheets of newspaper to their groups andhelped in making paper caps. It was mandatory towear the cap including teachers and other staffotherwise they will not be considered part of the BalMela. Children were also provided with drawing sheetsand colours to draw paintings. Bal Mela concludedwith distribution of snacks to children.

4 PACE

l Ashish Tripathi and Madan Lal Keer attended Mother NGO(MNGO) project review meeting at Swasthya Bhawan inJaipur, on October 12, 2009.

l Ashish Tripathi, Parth Joshi and Vandana Chauhan attendedBaseline Orientation Workshop organised by Save theChildren in Bharatpur, on October 12-14, 2009.

l Madan Giri Goswami and Madan Lal Keer attended DistrictHealth Society (DHS) Meeting in Chittorgarh on October 16,2009. The meeting was organised under the Chairmanshipof MP Girija Vyas to review the progress of health relatedschemes in the district.

l Shiv Lal Prajapat and Seema Yagnik attended a workshopon Pre-Election Voter Awareness Campaign at AsthaUdaipur, on October 22-24, 2009.

l Sanjay Moud, Neetu Joshi, Chanda Jaat and two animatorsvisited Society for Sustainable Development (SSD) for anexposure visit organised under the IQEEP, in Karauli, onNovember 02-03, 2009.

CHD REPRESENTATIONSl Madan Lal Keer attended two-day Janmangal Couple ToT

at Rajasthan Family Planning Training Centre in Jaipur,on November 09-10, 2009.

l Madan Giri Goswami participated in State levelWorkshop of NGOs on �Experience Sharing in CapacityBuilding of PRIs� at Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj & GraminVikas Sansthan in Jaipur, on November 19, 2009.

l Piyush Kumar Baranwal attended a three-day workshopon Advocacy organised by Save the Children-Bal RakshaBharat in Jaipur, on November 26-28, 2009.

l Madan Lal Keer and Shiv Lal Prajapat attended a two-day refresher training for MNGOs of Rajasthan organisedby Regional Resource Centre-Voluntary HealthAssociation of India (RRC-VHAI) in Jaipur, on December17-18, 2009.

l Sanjay Moud attended State Level consultation onAdvocacy organised by Save the Children in Jaipur, onDecember 18-19, 2009.

l NK Sanadhya, Lead Bank Manager, Bank of Barodavisited villages Bari, Arnoda and Satkhanda withMadan Giri Goswami and interacted with officebearers of about 50 SHGs. The purpose of hisvisit was to assess the performance of SHGs.

l A team of 25 B.S.W. III year students fromAthawale College of Social Work, BhandaraNagpur visited CHD on a study tour on December12, 2009. Madan Giri Goswami provided briefintroduction of CUTS International and variousprojects of CHD. Neetu Joshi discussed theconcept of Bal Sabha and Bal Panchayat. OtherCHD staff also shared their experiences withstudents and responded to their queries.

VISITORSl Biswa Ranjan Patnaik, State Programme Manager, Save the

Children, Malay Kumar, State Coordinator for Advocacy and ChildProtection, Campaign Against Child Labour, Rajasthan andDirector, Prayatn Jaipur; and Rajiv Nagpal, Programme Officer,Save the Children visited CHD on December 08, 2009. The purposeof their visit was to provide momentum to the campaign againstclosure of National Child Labour Project (NCLP) schools inChittorgarh and initiate discussion on how to take up this issueat state level in consultation with Chittorgarh District Officials,DNGO members and media representatives.

l Amit Chowdhury, Advocacy Officer, Save the Children visited CHDon December 30-31, 2009. The purpose of his visit was to exploreopportunity and planning for partnership with DIET and SSA andreview the progress of Save the Children supported projects.

MEDIA

PACE, E-Newsletter: Published by CUTS Centre for Human Development (CHD), Rawala, Senti, Chittorgarh 312 025, Rajasthan, IndiaPhone: 91.1472.241 472, Fax: 91.1472.240 072, E-mail: chd@cuts.org, Website: www.cuts-international.org

Head Office: Consumer Unity & Trust Society, D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India, Phone: 91.141.228 2821, Fax: 91.141.228 2485Email: cuts@cuts.org, Website: www.cuts-international.org