Progress Report Child and Woman Friendly Communities - Pilot Project Project start date: October 2007 Period covered by report: October 2008 - March 2009

Aims of the project:

• Increase primary education enrolment and retention
• Increase the number of children receiving early years education and care
• Improve the quality of primary and early years education
• Reduce gender disparity in primary education
• Reduce abuse, exploitation and violence against children and women
• Increase access and utilisation of health and nutrition services, in order to reduce illness and mortality amongst children and women

Section I: Rural Site

The rural site is located in Patra village, in a rural area of South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, covering approximately 8,000 people. The majority of households are dependent on agricultural labour; many are part-time or casual workers. The community's access to fundamental human rights is constrained by poverty and a lack of awareness of available services.

A series of participatory rural appraisals were conducted in Patra involving representatives of the local community, key service providers, such as school teachers and police officers, and local government representatives. For many of the women participants, this was the first time they had been given an opportunity to assess their community's situation and voice their opinions. Meetings revealed that the community felt that priority areas for improvement were education, maternal health and sanitation.

• Educational coaching centres: Coaching centres are particularly important in Patra, as most children who   do go to school are first generation learners and require extra academic support, as their parents are unable to help them with homework. As of March 2009, there was one coaching centre open providing support to 29 children, and plans were in place for another two. CINI is providing teacher training and basic logistical support, and the local government has donated the space for the centre.
  
  
• Providing local government with information about out-of-school children: A list of names of out-of-school children was collated and given to a local government representative for them to conduct essential outreach work, and encourage parents to send their children to school.
  
  
• Formation of support groups: CINI has facilitated the formation of student groups which are encouraging peer learning and retention. They have been trained to help spread the word amongst other children about their basic rights to education and its importance in helping secure a happy future. Parent groups have also been formed to provide support to student groups, and monitor the children's performance. Parents are also being made aware of children's rights and entitlements, so they encourage their children to regularly go to school. These groups are open to all students and parents.
  

As a result of the above interventions, the number of children not attending school as fallen by 42% from 456 at the beginning of the project to 262 at present.

Mabiba Khatoon, 15 reads out the words on a poster about   domestic violence to her little brother Manjra at the child   rights protection rally in December

ii) Protection South 24 Parganas has been identified as a source point and channel for national and international child trafficking and has one of the highest numbers of missing children in the state. Children are trafficked as labourers, particularly as domestic servants, and into prostitution. A high prevalence of domestic violence in Patra was identified in a survey carried out by local woman's self-help groups. In light of this, activities were initiated aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence, trafficking, abuse, missing children, and children's rights. These included:

• Children's rights and protection awareness-raising rally: A rally was organised to raise awareness in the community about the rights and entitlements of children. 500 people from different sections of the community took part. This proved to be a successful platform for advocacy of children's rights and had the great result of causing one of the primary schools in Patra to ban corporal punishment.
  
  
• Workshops to help address domestic violence: Two sensitisation meetings were organised with 65 members of the community (most of whom were male), followed by two full day orientation workshops, in collaboration with SWAYAM, an established women's rights organisation based in Kolkata. Workshops included discussions of what actually constitutes violence against woman and children and the importance of involving men at the household and community level in raising awareness of the rights of women and children to live without the threat of domestic violence. Changing attitudes takes time, but raising awareness is the first step. A club called 'Agnibeena Club' has been set-up which has initiated meetings with women and also intervenes in cases of child labour and violence against woman.
  
  
• Community based monitoring of children at-risk: CINI is in the process of establishing a community-based identification and tracking mechanism, to be run through the village level working group (Gran Unnayan Samiti), for missing children and those at-risk of being trafficked. The group includes elected representatives from the village, such as government employees, school teachers and self-help group members. Further work is needed to put systems in place to ensure that rescued children are successfully rehabilitated.
  
  
• Informing community members about CHILDLINE: Awareness raising activities have been conducted to inform the community about CHILDLINE, a free telephone service for distressed, neglected or abused children to call for confidential advice and support.
  
  

Tools are used to raise awareness about how HIV/AIDS is and is not spread

iii) Health and Nutrition HIV/AIDS, poor sanitation and the birth of infants at home were highlighted as key community health concerns. In order to address this, the following activities have been conducted: Raising awareness of HIV/AIDS and related services: South 24 Parganas has been identified as one of the most vulnerable districts to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). During a two-day workshop, CINI trained local government members on HIV/AIDS and related issues. Training addressed: identifying risk factors, methods of preventing the spread of infection, referral services available, and how to consider these when planning health initiatives. Through sensitisation meetings, CINI have also been making local people aware of the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre at the local hospital, where people can have a STD check free of charge

• Promoting sanitation: Effective sanitation reduces the transmission of infectious diseases, and thus reduces morbidity and mortality. In the previous 6 month period, CINI facilitated the building of 378 toilets at a household and community level. In the current reporting period, these toilets have continued to function well and a further 26 new latrines have been built , although there is an ongoing need for public education on the health benefits of using toilets as opposed to defecating in the streets or fields. The panchayat has now declared Patra as 'Nirmal Gram' - a pollution free village.
  
  
• Improving maternal health by spreading positive health messages via self-help groups: Women's self-help groups have continued to provide advice to expectant mothers on how to access ante-natal care, how to achieve a good diet on a restricted budget, and good hygiene measures to reduce the risk of falling ill. Prioritisation meetings with the local community identified home births as a key concern, because obstetric complications in the absence of a trained medical profession can lead to maternal and infant mortality. As a result, CINI has conducted meetings with trained traditional birth attendants, encouraging them to play an active role in improving maternal health in Patra, by for example, ensuring the umbilical cord is cut with a sterilised blade and that good hygiene measures are followed.
  

  As a result of the work carried out, in the 18 months since the inception of the project: the numbers of pregnant women registered at a local health centre has gone up from 76% to 83%, the rate of institutional deliveries has gone up from 33% to 44%; and the rate of home deliveries with a trained attendant has gone up from 38% to 49%.
  

Key challenges

• Organising meetings with male members of the community proved difficult, as many of them work during the day as daily wage labourers. To overcome this, meetings have been arranged in the evenings and at weekends, and it is also ensured that various meetings do not clash.
  
  
• Identifying out-of-school children and ensuring they go back to school has been challenging, as most of these children work at home or in activities that generate an additional income for the family.
  
  
• Self-help group members have shown great enthusiasm in conducting surveys, identifying out-of-school children and raising awareness about domestic violence, however many have faced resistance even from their own families.
  

i) Education

Meetings with primary school teachers from government schools revealed that low school enrolment and high incidences of school dropouts are common problems, and meetings with young people revealed the need for educational support. The following interventions have been implemented to address these concerns:

• Transition centres: There are now three transition centres running in the community. These support primary school children who are supposed to start secondary school, but have dropped out of mainstream school, or who have only received informal education. Two centres are for Hindi speaking children, and the other is for Bengali speaking children. A total of 37 children have been enrolled these centres; 30 at the Hindi speaking centres, and seven at the Bengali speaking centre. Several meetings were conducted in the local community to identify which children would benefit most from this support.
  
  
• The Urdu special guidance centre: This continues to provide academic support and tuition to children in primary and secondary school. It provides support to 16 students, and has three teachers offering classes in Hindi, English and Science.

Both the transition and Urdu special guidance centres run classes for three hours a day, five days a week and provide: academic support; home visits to parents when their children's attendance is irregular; meetings with parents to share progress and future plans; support with enrolling children in secondary school; and help with linking children from low income families to government sponsorship schemes.

• Visits to primary schools: In order to identify which children are at-risk of dropping out of school, community link workers have visited primary schools to meet with teachers to review attendance and academic performance. These visits have also sought to encourage school authorities to provide adequate toilet facilities in schools and ensure children have access to health care.

• Identification of child labour and domestic violence cases: Through sensitisation meetings, working groups comprising of community members, have been formed to identify cases of child labour and domestic violence. Several cases have been identified and appropriate interventions have been incurred accordingly, such as individual and group counselling and regular follow-up with the victims by working group members. In the cases of child labour, children are encouraged to attend the study centres, and their mothers recruited as self-group members to earn an income. The numbers of child labour and domestic violence incidences being reported are increasing because of regular home visits by working group members; at the present time, 15 incidences of child labour and five incidences of domestic violence have been reported.
  
  
• Formation of self-help groups under a government scheme for lower income groups: CINI has facilitated the formation of women's self-help groups with the support of SJSRY, a government employment and income generation scheme. Members of lower income groups can deposit 30 Rupees each month in the bank, and after six months, they are eligible to take out a loan at a low interest rate. Self-help group members are being trained to spread the word about how the income earned could be best utilised to help prevent family members from falling sick, or to ensure that children go to school so they are able to get skilled work in adult life, enabling them to help support their parents in old age.

• Adolescent health camps: Monthly adolescent health camps continue to provide medical support and counselling. Counselling is particularly important, as it allows young people to openly discuss difficult issues in confidence. Meetings with members of the Ward Health Unit revealed that one of the problems faced by the community was a lack of adequately trained healthcare staff. Representatives have contacted the Medical Officers at the Ward Health Unit and the borough's Health Supervisor to arrange for a gynaecologist to visit the health camps each Tuesday to impart information to young people about sexual health. A total of 162 adolescents have accessed the health camps since the project inception.

Key challenges

• High drop-out rates have been reported amongst working group members. The key contributing factors include a lack of time, clash of schedules amongst group members and a lack of monetary incentives.
  
  
• It is becoming difficult to recruit teachers for the special guidance centres, as most centres do not provide a high enough remuneration. It is especially difficult to recruit graduate teachers from the community.
  
  
• The adolescent health camps do not provide all the medicines required and many medicines in stock are expensive. These factors contribute to patients not completing their course of medication and reduced attendance to the camps. A report regarding these issues has been submitted to the Chief Medical Officer, who is in charge of ensuring a regular supply of medicines. Since then, he has left his post, but the report has been handed to the new officer in charge.
  

Key lessons learned

• Regular interaction, in both formal and informal settings, helps to create a greater understanding and prevents people from resigning as members of working groups.
  
  
• Involvement of all group members should be ensured, in particular, the participation of marginalised groups.
  
  
• Protection issues should be handled with sensitivity, with a greater focus on preventative measures.
  
  
• Even though CINI facilitated the formation of self-help groups, regular technical inputs in planning, coordinating and implementing various activities, as well as close follow up of all the self-help groups, is essential to ensure their smooth facilitation and to make sure the groups do not dissolve.

Thank you so much for helping to make this work possible!

See here for a printable version of this report (Word document)

top

back to What we do