Child day care services for Prevention of Violence against Children

RATIONALE FOR INTERVENTION

Out of the total population at Jharkhand, 5.2 million (15.8 %) are children aged less than six years (Census 2011) and 12.7 million (38.6 %) are children less than 18 years (RGI projected population 2006).  A considerable part of the population so instrumental in building of a just, peaceful, sustainable society has for long been neglected a voice, their rights, centrality in the agenda of world transformation and suffered from scattered efforts to right the wrongs done to them.  There are three principal ways in which we witness violence against children as follows:

• • Survival: About 74 % of people live in villages (Census 2011) with 50% districts which have poverty levels greater than 40% identified in the report by Tendulkar Committee. The vulnerability to poverty reflects in generation after generation and inaccessibility to basic amenities proliferates further since the economic opportunities to the tribal population don’t improve. Engagement of parents in livelihood activity will ensure children get food security. Health & Nutrition status of women and children in the state is alarming. Malnutrition is the single most important risk factor for diseases. NFHS-3 indicates that in Jharkhand, prevalence of malnutrition is the 2nd highest among states in India, IMR is still much higher than national average, child mortality below 5 years age group is 93 per 1000 births, 70% of <5 years are anemic, 70% of all women are anemic. Jharkhand ranks the lowest in IFA consumption for 90+ days i.e. 14%.  Malnutrition rate are: 54% among children under three, 49% are stunted, and 25% are wasted (source: Report published by Micronutrient and nutrition cell, Jharkhand, 2011-2012).

The proportion experiencing malnutrition is higher in rural areas and among disadvantaged groups, particularly the scheduled tribes. Based on the body mass index, 41%, of women are undernourished. Only 56% of households in Jharkhand use iodized salt at the recommended level. In Jharkhand, iron deficiency, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency and Zinc deficiency disorder are of greatest public health significance. Micronutrients are lifesaving nutrients that are needed only in small quantities for effective functioning of brain, the immune system and energy metabolism. Micronutrients malnutrition makes a considerable negative impact on health, learning abilities and cognitive development and work capacity.

• • Growth: Regular and proper immunization for children with nutritious food is not available to children because government efforts in this direction fall short of timely meeting of requirements and general lack of awareness in people. As witnessed, for economically disadvantaged families more helping hands are always considered better than thinking brains. The economically disadvantaged families with low literacy levels perceive domestic labour as a ‘safe & easy way’ for their children to earn. The child victims are recruited, trafficked using deception and coercion. They find themselves held in conditions of slavery in a variety of jobs like helpers in small shops, waiters and cleaners in small road side tea stalls and so many. Children are engaged in construction work.

States like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Chattisgarh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have the highest number of such instances. Children as young as five years are employed as child labour in homes.”[1] The situation worsens for a girl child. Statistics show that nine out of every 10 tribal girls who migrate from remote Jharkhand villages to other states as domestic helps are physically assaulted

• • Development: Lack of pre-nursery preparatory education is absent as there are small children who could not avail the government Aanganwadi facility because of distance and accessibility issues. These crèches are like second home for them. Working mothers used to keep their kids in the crèches under the supervision of teachers and helpers. As per one of the internal studies the dropout rate in rural schools is high because most of the children were unable to acclimatize themselves in formal school situation and the language followed in schools. In crèches the children get acquainted with Hindi from the very beginning and follow a very generous routine which later on helps them in getting adjusted in formal school situation.

At the tribal areas, gender discrimination, domestic violence, trafficking, conflict of the left-wing extremists. The child grows in a constant state of influx of violence in a multifarious manner. Be it at home where domestic violence is prevalent, be it the community wherein gender-based violence is prevalent, be it the village wherein armed violence is prevalent; the child hardly knows what peace would mean to her/him.

An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. More recently, children have begun to be inducted into left-wing extremist cadres where harassment comes as a package and trained to take up arms unleashing violence on others and provided lucrative salaries that families find difficult to resist. Since these cadres are from the same tribal communities, tribal families are not unsympathetic to sending their children to be enlisted. This compounds the problems, arrests the child’s motivation to grow, learn and contribute through mainstream economic activities and distorts role model perspectives for poverty-stricken families and young children.

IMPACT

• • Lives of the children: By building the socio-economic capacities of families we hope that the vulnerabilities of the tribal families reduce and each small or big success for us is a step towards constructing a child friendly locale. Crèches are meant to provide a safe environment for growing children, to ensure their healthy growth, sanitation, nutrition, play materials, and a supervisor who can provide a stimulating environment to the children in the absence of their parents.

 Parents and more particularly rural parents often prefer family, friend or neighbor care for several reasons, including trust, culture, cost and proximity. Parents do not like the idea of having to send their child to a “city” center where their rural culture and values may not be represented in the program.

Rural work is more likely to be part-time, seasonal or temporary and making child care a major obstacle. The lack of formal child care options, distances to work site, lack of transportation and irregularities in work schedule reduces the child care options. Although rural Aanganwadi or Palna Ghar children spend more time in child care than their urban counterparts the quality of their experience is questionable.

Families may use informal care for a variety of reasons. The choices may reflect that there is a lack of organized child care that meets the hours needed or it may be issue of cost. It may also be based on location and transportation challenges. Finally, the choice may be based on shared family values or a desire for less formal care.

The Organization’s crèches will be playing several important roles by ensuring a safe environment for growing children, such as supplementary nutrition, health check-up and immunization, non-formal pre-school education by adopting play way methods, referral for medical services, nutrition and health education, in the supervision of crèche-teacher (Shikshika) and helper (Sahayika).

A number of crèches are situated in remote areas, where children are deprived from the services of Anganwadi (ICDS) centers due their far distance. Lots of government scheme regarding woman and children like routine immunization, pre-natal, anti-natal care, supplementary nutrition, health checkup camp and other services related to lactating and pregnant mother which will be fulfilled by the organization’s intervention to reduce malnutrition.

Economically empowered women invest in educating children, accessing healthcare, maintaining food and nutrition security.

• • Girl Child and Adolescent Girls: The men and women are involved in income generation activities, with undefined work hours. To sustain their families, both men and women work away from their houses/villages. The children are left unsupervised. In many of the cases the young girls are forced to take care of their younger siblings while her mother/family goes for work, this resulted in absenteeism at school. In agriculture season, this misery of adolescent girls is extended over months. Once out of school for so long, memory of anything that was learned earlier fails them, the motivation to attend a school gets dangerously low and the humiliation at school results in increased dropout rate amongst girl children.

As a measure to stop that Crèches play a vital role. It has been seen that the dropout rate of girl child has gradually decreased in the intervention areas as now they are not bound to stay back at home to take care of their siblings preventing perpetration of violence from one age group to another.

The doldrums because of early marriage faced by girls extends beyond growth and development affecting survival and life expectancy. In case the girls continue their education, show promise of adding to the income of the family, community and family pressure for marriage subsides buying a couple of years or few months for them. Therefore, not taking care of younger siblings breaks the stereotypes of womanhood at a level, it ensures that education is not sacrificed for household work by girls and increases the probability of healthy lives (not illness/death due to early pregnancy trouble) for them as a woman.

 PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

• • Studies to assess the following issues:
    • Need Assessment Study: Food and nutrition security, sanitation, hygiene and health issues around children (0-6 years), adolescent girls and women (also contribution of women in these issues). This would help us strengthen and design interventions around life skills services targeting nutrition, hygiene & sanitation, pre-natal and post-natal care services through Bal Panchayat and existing service providers created by the organization.
    • Feasibility Study about aspirations of children, family /household and the role of education, health and enterprise development services. This understanding will help us to identify ways and mechanisms to sensitize the community to pay for the cost of services.
    • Social Return on Investment of social security services: This will help us to create effective social service mechanism in turn, strengthen the enterprise development to empower the women.
  • Training of Crèche Supervisors on nutritional aspects: would be done by the help of BDSPs who are already engaged with them for providing Grass roots training. Each crèche teacher will take up at least 1 Parent Meeting in one month’s duration to ensure hygienic and dietary practices in the family.

Enhancing learning environment through learning material, cognition building toys for children and learning resources for crèche teachers who are already engaged in taking care of the children below 6 years. As previous study shows that the major reason for dropout from formal schools was the language difference.

Training on Fear free environment aimed to end violence against children in families, communities, educational institutions is a pre-requisite to stop VaC. The women we work with on awareness about the same are a part of the School Management Committees in the Government schools in their vicinity. It will help in changing the traditional and violence perpetuating mindset deemed fit for teaching children and achieving results encouraged by parents as well as teachers.

Distribution of necessary nutritional supplements would be done through crèches. Further on this the crèche teachers would be trained with support from external agencies and dieticians to prepare nutritional food by using available resources.

Workshops and Fairs for adolescent girls to enhance their soft skills, create awareness on VAW, provide career counseling sessions and create a forum for them to freely engage with other women and girls of their age.

Formation Bal Panchayat strengthening with media tools enabling wide spread impact with knowledge management, easy availability of audio-visual tools and set-up a mechanism to ensure sustainability.

Staff Capacity Building workshops to sensitize and equip staff to subtly handle issues of Violence against Children (VaC), create awareness not only at community level but also within self-addressing the problem at multiple levels. This will be done with prior Training Need Assessment of staff to replicate social security in other states.

EVALUATION AND MONITORING

Verifiable Indicators

• • At least 75% crèches (Palna Ghar) disseminating knowledge and skill to parents on food and nutritional aspects and monitoring the same on monthly basis through pre-defined indicators;
  • 75% crèches have increased attendance and hence have appropriate learning environment material, tools and inputs;
  • At least 1000 children will have an improved nutritional and health condition through enhanced health and nutritional practices within the community
  • A cadre of 10 women service providers built to provide business services for value chains as well as promote self-employment and employability in youth specially girls vulnerable to trafficking.

Documentation

• • Paper on ‘Prevention of Violence against Children through day care services at Rural Areas’
  • Conduct an Impact Assessment Study on Child physical and mental wellbeing.
  • Case study development on children, women supervisors and adolescent girls who could gain education by no childcare responsibilities, women who engaged in income generation activities by sending children to Crèche.