The Jeeva Jyothi mission is to promote, protect, and advance the rights and lives of indigent section people, adult, youth and children, in North Chennai and Thiruvallur District especially in the fishing hamlets of Pulicat with a primary focus on child labour and street children. These poor and ignorant sections of people – – tens of thousands in Chennai alone – – are devoid of their basic human rights. With 10+ hour workdays, sleeping on streets, illiteracy, inadequate nutrition, and regular abuse and exploitation, these sections of people lack awareness of their social and legal entitlements and their children see childhood literally end before it begins.
Founded in 1994, Jeeva Jyothi (JJ) is unique among NGOs and effective in its mission because it tackles this problem in a comprehensive and holistic manner, treating the symptoms as well as the underlying disease. Jeeva Jyothi envisions a holistic Development of the Childhood of these children and all the other oppressed for a just and equitable society.
From its 3200 square foot building, located in the heart of the community it serves, and 2 rural satellite offices in Pulicat, Red hills JJ carries out an array of programs for children, women and youth including:
Finding runaway children at places such as train/bus stations;
Providing counseling services;
Providing shelter and home stays;
Providing informal education for children who cannot withdraw from their work responsibilities (NFE)
Holding massive school enrollment drives, followed by supplemental education programs and tutoring
Providing nutritious meal programs; Children Development Bank
Strengthening Village Watch Dog Committee
Women’s Cooperative
Construction of Community Toilets
Holding community health care ‘camps’, and sex awareness/education
Building ‘manimandrams’ boys clubs, a forum for leadership development and life skills, parliament, movement
Mobilizing funds and human resources locally through its Local Monitoring Committee(LMC)
Conducting Vocational training programmes for the youth
Conducting Income Generation Programmes for the entire families (especially Women)
Holding awareness camps and programmes on Gender equity, Social awareness, Finance Management, etc.
Providing Job Placements
The dedicated and talented staffs of 120 social workers manage and track over 1700 children and their families, and cover the entire area, totaling more than 15 communities from urban to suburban to rural. Over the 14 years of operations, JJ points to many successes: reuniting tens of runaway children with their parents; successfully contributing to the lower rate of street children experienced in North Chennai; successfully enrolling close to 1500 children in schools, including several hundred children from displaced tribal community in which children had no previous school experience; successfully converting one slum area into a child labour-free zone where previously child labour was prevalent; and more.
In tackling child issues, JJ recognizes the role of the family unit. JJ initiatives for parents, often single mothers, includes: forming self-help groups for mothers; providing skills training and leadership development; helping them manage their finances to cope without the children’s extra income; providing health education and healthcare services with medical centers; providing programs about starting businesses. Recent successes include creating 150 woman’s sangam groups, overseeing progress in woman’s literacy, assisting in development of woman’s group savings accounts and self-lending programs; directly contributing to progress in personal and family health; and more. JJ direct service and empowerment programs have reached more than 2500 people. This along with its leadership role in advocacy on child rights has won awards and has been recognized by schools, NGOs and government bodies. This has helped JJ in tackling various social, legal and economic problems faced by a few communities and tribes in the area.
