What We Do

ACTION

Preventive child protection in communities

Recognizing the district as a hub where multiple systems and public services converge, Leher has incubated a 3-5 year modular program where it will work in close partnership with local administration and NGOs at the district level, in risk ridden communities. Research shows that one of the best ways to prevent child abuse and neglect before it starts is by building child-friendly communities. We believe that communities do have the capacity to find solutions to protect their children. Especially, in relation to chronic problems that include child labour and child marriage, they are willing to make a change if supported by suitable options.

Leher aims to develop a local community engagement program that prevents children from being abused or exploited. Over a 5 year period, Leher aims to incubate a program to equip communities with awareness, understanding of their situation, skills to mobilize themselves, demand and monitor child protection.

A CLOSER LOOK

Building Blocks of the program

Key building blocks of the community engagement program include

Participatory practices: The program adopts use of the participatory approach and practices to work with communities. Community participation underlies the spirit and culture of the program. The endeavor is to equip communities with skills to critically evaluate their situation, mobilize themselves, seek answers, plan, act, demand and drive the system, for the safety and protection of children.
Baseline for child protection in the district: A district level baseline is conducted in coordination with the district administration. It comprises a primary study reflecting the stories, perceptions and perspective of communities (adults and children); a secondary study comprising analysis of district level published data on children, mapping of accountability, government and nongovernment services and programs for children; consultations at the district level—at the planning stage to gain ownership of the departments to the process, their views and insights; and finally to share findings and undertake planning for work, which is to follow. The baseline study draws the district (communities and government) into a structured discussion and planning for child protection.
Building leadership and skills in adolescent girls and boys: The program invests in building capacities of adolescents, taking them through a year-long process of capacity building and experiential learning: understanding self and environment, democratic decision making, responsibility, problem-solving, collective action. The objective is to give them skills which would serve them in their own lives. It is also a strategy of the program to nurture the next generation of village level child protection leaders from among young people.
Synergy between children and adults: Children and adults come together to work for change. Children have access to information, can flag issues to parents, and speak for their rights, in many ways that adults cannot. Conversations about rights travel home to parents, who overcome resistance and work in synergy with children to make communities safe for children. The endeavour is to strike the right balance where children are not burdened with the responsibility of obtaining their rights, but have their voices heard in collaborative efforts between their communities and the government.
Organizing, capacity building and equipping communities to be ambassadors for child protection: The program shares knowledge, skills and methods with communities, which help them to think and function transparently, in a structured manner. It helps communities find and nurture a collective voice on child protection issues. The program builds leadership and ambassadors for child protection from key groups in communities, which include adolescents, youth, duty bearers, parents and civil society organizations, who would advocate for child protection in their spheres of life and work.
Meaningful partnership with government to avail entitlements: Communities are dependent on government for most service delivery for children and families.They join hands with duty bearers, and the village, block and district level, to make service delivery and access to social protection schemes more effective. The program facilitates dialogue with duty bearers, which brings about identification and resolution of issues, and more accountability from duty bearers and service providers.

Pilot project: Madhubani district, Bihar

The Leher team comes from a background of having worked several years in developing India’s emergency helpline response for children. The sheer volume and nature of calls seeking help received by the helpline, pointed to a few things: that there clearly is a lack of protection at home and in communities, where children live, allowing for them to slip into highly vulnerable situations; there is a need to look at child protection more comprehensively; there is a need for a preventive system that surrounds a child, at home, in the family, neighbourhood and community. The system for child protection under the Juvenile Justice Act had gained some strength through collaborative efforts of government and civil society. Enactment of the ICPS brought funding for child protection structures, services, and mechanisms. The time seemed right to initiate a pilot community based District preventive child protection program. In 2014, Leher, in partnership with Sarvo Prayas Santhan, began work in the district of Madhubani, in the state of Bihar.

The program draws children, families, and duty bearers together, to share responsibility for making communities capable, self-sufficient, safe spaces in which childhood thrives. It covers 63 villages in 3 blocks (Bisfi, Pandaul, Rajnagar).

We undertook a District Need Assessment at the start of the program. Today, the program nearing the fourth year, is at the half way point. The journey, though challenging, is beginning to show signs of change and possibility. Read our report Together with children - A community's journey, that shares results and learnings of our work so far.

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Stories from the field

Strengthening existing child protection systems

While comprehensive laws for child protection have been enacted, they remain lacking in implementation. Services for children are limited, inaccessible and lack quality. Leher builds on the existing by assessing laws and services for loopholes, and looks for feasible solutions to tackle issues. We do this by undertaking research, training and evaluation.

A CLOSER LOOK

Research

Child Protection Baseline Survey

Leher in collaboration with PRAXIS Institute of Participatory Research has developed a research methodology to conduct a child protection baseline survey at the district level. The strength of this methodology is that it recognizes communities as researchers in pursuit of answers to child protection concerns and it begins the process of change. Further, Leher has prepared a tool and guide for conducting this child protection baseline study. Since ICPS mandates the formulation of a district plan based on needs and vulnerabilities of children, this child protection baseline study tool lends itself to government and other agencies and such a study could form the basis for ICPS district child protection plans.

The District Need Assessment (DNA) study has been conducted in the district of Morigaon, Assam in collaboration with UNICEF and the State Child Protection Society. Leher has used the same participatory methodology to conduct the DNA in Leh, Budgam, and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, and Mumbai Suburban in collaboration with the respective state governments and UNICEF.

The District Need Assessment (DNA) study has also been conducted in Madhubani Bihar, where Leher is developing a model for community based preventive child protection (To read more on the model and the DNA conducted in Madhubani refer to the section above titled - Pilot project: Madhubani district, Bihar.) For more details on a step by step guide to conducting a DNA and preparing a DCPP in a district

View the template used to collate secondary data from the various block level departments to gather information with specific focus to the child

View the Primary data village level tool used to collect data from children, adult community members and duty bearers at the village level through a set of participatory activities. In each village FGDs are conducted with adult community members(AGs) and children (CGs). The evidence from CGs and AGs is presented to duty-bearers-teacher/AWW/ASHA and IDI are conducted with each duty bearer to obtain their feedback. The process is open, interactive and the duty bearers’ evidence and comments are recorded against that of the AGs .This forms Part I of the tool kit

View the tool used to compile evidence from all villages which is presented to the duty bearer at the block level. This Block level duty bearers’ tool forms Part II of the tool kit.

View the template used to collate the data collected from Part I & II - Village Level Data Collation Template

Participatory review and audit of a residential care facility

Leher director was part of a core group that facilitated assessment of quality of care services in a children’s home in Delhi, providing residential care to over 300 children. Leher developed a methodology for the review, which involved preparing the frame, benchmarks against which care services provided by the Homes were assessed.

Capacity Building

Facilitation of State level Consultation- End Violence against Children, Assam

Facilitated State level Consultation – End Violence against Children organized by Assam State Child Protection Commission & UNICEF that brought together all state and district level officials to work on convergence of child protection services in the state

Child protection training for IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA)

Introduced concepts of protection and safety of children, and equipping them with knowledge on how they can play an enabling role in the protection of children in their capacity of administrators.

Training of District Child Protection Officers under ICPS in collaboration with Save the Children and Government of West Bengal

Sensitized the DCPOs on child protection, understanding child protection systems, discussed their roles, the challenges they faced and how they can be overcome.

Child Protection Policy orientation for Going to School (GTS)

Orientation to concepts of child protection, the organization child protection policy and implementation of the same.

Evaluation

Evaluation of Meljols Aflatoun & Aflateen program, India

Evaluation of Meljol’s Aflatoun and Aflateen programs implemented in collaboration with the Citibank Foundation. The evaluation covered Aflateen programs in schools, and Aflatoun and Aflateen programs in communities and in institutions.

Leher Director as Jury Member at AGFUND

Under the Chairpersonship of Prof. Muhammad Yunus assessed projects nominated for the AGFUND International Prize 2013, in the field of “Fighting the phenomenon of street children”, looking at innovation, scalability and replicability in other geographies.

Mid-project cycle evaluation of community based child marriage prevention program in 2 districts of AP and WB

A project of HAQ Centre for Child Rights in collaboration with JABALA, and MV Foundation, supported by Ford Foundation and McArthur Foundation to look at the issue of child marriage and the programmatic intervention through a child protection lens.

Evaluation of Child Helpline Bangladesh for UNICEF Bangladesh

Assessment on the relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness of CHL as a protection mechanism for children; the capacity of the management and implementing partners; the potential to scale-up CHL to be the national emergency helpline for children in Bangladesh.

Building a culture of child protection

The ability to protect children goes hand in hand with changes in policies, social structures, public dialogue and cultural norms that cause and reinforce various forms of child abuse, exploitation and violations. It is important to demonstrate that violation of children’s right to protection is not about oppression and violence in distant rural India or restricted to urban fringes but is intrinsic to how children are treated at home, in school, institutions and in the community.

Leher therefore believes that the State is not the one responsible for child rights – everybody is. Therefore while our programs are geographically focused, our messages are targeted at multiple constituencies- communities in our program areas, parents, young people, who are tomorrow’s decision makers, community-based groups, civil society organizations, state agencies and private corporations.

Our messages are geared towards creating greater knowledge and understanding of children’s issues, towards nurturing alert and responsive communities. Our strategy is to catalyze changes in social norms and attitudes towards the protection and safety of children by encouraging collective thinking, interpersonal and public dialogue.

Leher aims to make child protection everybody’s business.

A CLOSER LOOK

Initiating dialogue on child protection

Leher actively initiates and engages in dialogue on social media platforms like facebook, twitter, instagram and through blogs and campaigns on children’s issues. We aim to develop an intellectual community across various sectors who would take forward conversations and question matters that affect children, thus raising the profile of children’s issues, increasing public support and positively influencing the political will to invest in the care and protection of children.

Collectively demanding the protection of children

Leher works closely in alliances and partnerships, across networks and coalitions that represent a cohesive and collective voice for children at the local and national level.

Leher is member of ProChild, a coalition of 58 NGOs and several individuals academic institutions working for children in India and that have come together to discuss, pool their resources to advocate on CP issues. Leher is currently working with ProChild on its campaign for juvenile justice.

Leher participated in the preparation of a memorandeum outlining demands for safety of children. It was endorsed by more than 30,000 community members and placed before all key political parties ahead of assembly elections in Delhi
Leher contributed to a joint submission made by the ProChild Network to the Government of India with regards to the re-enactment and amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act. Leher also made a submission to the Government of India.

Leher is a part of India Alliance for Child Rights that represents a countrywide alliance of networks, NGOs, think tanks, activists, academia, working for the realization of the rights of children

Representing the issues of Indian children before the UN Committee on the rights of the child Leher was invited to be part of a special Indian NGO delegation to present the issue of children in India before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in Geneva. Leher has submitted its recommendation to the delegation.

Putting the POCSO (Protection of children from sexual offences) Act into practice

Leher is part of the task force on the implementation of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in Maharashtra and to create the rules and process of implementation.

Bringing child protection into public discourse

We work to bring child protection into public dialogue in order to influence systemic and attitudinal changes. We engage with the public through representation in media activation (print and digital) bringing children’s issues to the public sphere.

Child protection is a critical cross-cutting area of intervention towards giving young people a secure and firm footing they need for fulfilled childhoods and entry into adulthood prepared with skills to participate on equal footing in society and economy. Across the timeline of a child’s life India’s data on children discussed in this volume and in this article evidences how childhoods are increasingly being placed in peril. Status of Child Protection In India is a contribution made to HAQ: Centre for Child Rights's Volume, India's Children Continuing to Challenge our Conscience, a national status report of child rights in India.

The plight of child ragpickers in the city: Civil Society

Kajol Menon discusses the situation of a large number of children engaged in ragpicking and how they remain invisible to society.

Rescuing the child slave: Civil Society

Through case stories, Kajol Menon discusses the increasing number of children engaged in domestic labour and the lack of state commitment to the development and protection of children.

Childhood interrupted: The Hindu

Nicole Menezes discusses Leher’s viewpoint on reducing the age of a juvenile in conflict with law from 18 to 16 years

Putting security back into childhood: The Hindu

In response to repeated acts of sexual violence against children in India, in 2013, Nicole Menezes discusses the role of the state and members of society in building a culture of child protection in the country

3 years not enough: Newshour debate, Times Now

In relation to the verdict on the juvenile accused in the Delhi Gang Rape case and in support of Dr. Subramanian Swamy’s PIL seeking interpretation of the term juvenile, Kajol Menon, co-founder, Leher, argues against reduction of the threshold of juvenility from 18 to 16 years of age, even in the case of heinous crimes.

Justice for Juveniles: Open Magazine

Co-authored by the founders of Leher, this article talks about how the failure of the system for reforming a juvenile does not obliterate the need for one.

How Indian societies perceive children: Wall Street Journal

In an interview with Shanoor Seervai of WSJ, Kajol talks of the role Leher shall play in demystifying notions of child protection that exist within our society, increasing the reach of this subject through deeper engagement with the youth and opinion leaders and bringing child protection to the mainstream social agenda.

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Campaigns

Little Humans

Little Humans, inspired by Humans of New York, is a campaign meant to capture the voices of the very people Leher aims to serve. As a child rights organization, we want nothing more that to create a safer world for children. Having shifted the tide towards prevention and not just protection, collecting stories of children and teens from all walks of life and with varying degrees of privilege helps them to be seen and heard, deepening our understanding of children and their needs. This photo project is meant to be creative and journalistic in nature, with a contribution from all those who seek to bring children's stories to the fore.

More on little humans

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No Prison for Children

Leher, as a member of ProChild led the social media campaign on Juvenile Justice - No Prison for children. The primary objective was to oppose the Government's move to exclude certain children (16-18 years) from the protection they receive under the Juvenile Justice system, by re-enacting the law. Since Government and public opinion on the issue of juveniles was shaped by the Nirbhaya case, the aim of NPFC was to speak to the youth and dispel misconceptions, explain facts, and generate some positive discourse around the issue.

Learn more about the campaign

Sign the petition

What We Do

ACTION

Preventive child protection in communities

Building Blocks of the program

Pilot project: Madhubani district, Bihar

Photoessay: A Childhood left behind- Children of Madhubani

What our children's groups are upto in Madhubani

Together For Children: A Community’s Journey

Stories from the field

Daring to be ourselves- Girls of Madhubani

In and around Madhubani

Numbers don’t always do the talking

Strengthening existing child protection systems

Research

Capacity Building

Evaluation

Building a culture of child protection

Campaigns

End violence not childhood

What happened to parental responsibility in the delhi hit and run case?

Here’s why delhi police is equally to blame for mercedes hit-and-run

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