Holistic development of children from families traditionally involved in prostitution/criminal activities Plan initiated a project to bring about holistic development of trafficked children from Marginalized tribes of community Rajasthan. The project is being implemented in 20 villages in Rajasthan. Under the project child care centers were set up in seven villages and mother groups were formed. The mother groups are aimed at sensitizing mothers to children's needs and rights and involving them in protecting children from prostitution. Meetings of mother groups were held where issues of nutrition, child care practices, role of children in welfare etc. were discussed in detail. Various health fairs, health camps and supplementary nutrition demonstration camps were organized in the villages to raise awareness of health issues. To enable non school going children to attain literacy skills, eight non formal education centers were established where 158 children are enrolled. Creativity centers have also been established to involve children in skills development and creative pursuits. The earlier established Samriddhi School saw increased enrolment and steps were taken to strengthen the school infrastructure. Nearly 150 children (including children in the hostel) studied at the school in the last session. With the long term aim of building social acceptance and mainstreaming the children into regular schools, visits were made to local schools and teachers' trainings were organized. Networking with district officials and NGOs was initiated to acquaint them with the project and elicit their support. Coaching classes were also initiated to help children cope with the pressure of studies. The project is benefiting nearly 6000 people.
Progress
The 7 child care centres catering to 210 children are running in the project area for the children in the age group of 3-6 years. 75 children from these centres have taken admission in primary schools and parents are also making a contribution to support the child care needs. 8 NFE classes for children between the ages of 6-14 years are running successfully and 83 students have been enrolled in primary schools and in their place 171 new drop out students have been identified and 164 have been enrolled for these classes. 21 mothers meetings have been organized on birth registration, child rights and child development as also on safe motherhood and child care practices. Nutrition demonstration camps were also organized.
Further in order to strengthen the capacity and for reaching out more effectively through the educational programs, teaching methodologies have been organized for the teachers.
Child Trafficking & HIV/AIDS Prevention
Child Trafficking and HIV/AIDS Project which is an anti trafficking and HIV prevention project being implemented in 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The project aims to reduce incidence of child trafficking and HIV/AIDS in 300 communities by 2009 through focusing on the critical areas of nutrition, health, education, testing, psychosocial counseling, vocational training and skill development of the vulnerable groups such as traditional sex workers like Dommara, Mathammas, Joginis and others , dalits, migrant laborers, women and girl child workers in tobacco processing industry, fisher folk, tribal, domestic servants, traditional handloom weavers and rural artisans. Enhancing care and support for the people living with HIV/AIDS with appropriate measures is also a key component of the project. Under the project care and support is also provided to reintegrate and rehabilitate the victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Creating conducive policy environment to address the issues of child trafficking and HIV/AIDS is another key element of this project.
A total number of 3389 school dropouts identified and of them 1137 children enrolled in to schools. More than 8000 children in all operational areas have been benefited from the project. A total number of 8210 adolescent boys and girls in the adolescent sanghas have been oriented on the issues of child trafficking and HIV/AIDS. Some i.e. 102 adolescent girls have been equipped with vocational skill training through convergence with other projects like save the children and Terre Des Homes . There are 463 vigilance committees covering 300 panchayats and the total members in the committees are 3977. The vigilance committee members comprise of different occupational groups like PRI members, SHG members, ICDS staff, health workers, youth association members, traditional and informal leaders, etc. 1160 men living with HIV and 1546 women and 238 children living with HIV have been benefiting from the project. About 700 members have been receiving medical support, 1223 have been accessing nutrition support, and 595 have been utilizing counseling services on monthly basis. 90 Children Affected with AIDS have been provided with foster care support. To coordinate and network with the paramedical staff 552 Registered Medical Practitioner, mostly men, 199 Auxiliary Nurse Midwife and 185 Anganwadi teachers (more than 75% were women) have been trained and streamlined their services for the cause of the HIV/AIDS afflicted. A total number of 1922 persons suspected to be HIV positive have been referred to care and support centres, 363 PLHIVs have availed ART treatment, 1959 persons referred to Voluntary Confidential Counseling and Testing Centres/ Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission Centres out of which 558 were men and 1401 were women. Out of which 659 persons tested as HIV positives. 395 persons referred for retesting and 262 were tested as positives on re-testing.
201 children affected with AIDS are benefiting from the project through childcare centres. There are 1554 peer counselors trained in Basic and Advanced Counseling Skills. A total number of 1156 (women between the age group 19 to 25 years) have attended the cluster level group sessions and the group sessions were centered on promotion of their human rights, coping with stress related psychosocial problems, healthy sex practices and emphasis on traditional values and cultural practices.
To enhance the awareness among the community, open forums on child rights have been organized. Nearly 5000 children have benefited through this open forum. About 200 affected and vulnerable children have been benefited through five childcare centres being run by the coalition partners. 219 women/girl victims of sexual exploitation have been identified for home-based orientation and provided with counseling support. 120 vulnerable families have been provided with market linkages in SWARD and HELP through convergence. These two coalition partners have been able to mobilize resources from national banks. While SWARD has supported VOCSET by establishing linkages with banks, HELP has supported dancers who wished to come out of that practice monetarily. In addition to that 16 groups of VOCSET that belong to red light areas (prostitution areas) in Chilakaluripet and Mangalagiri of Guntur District have received financial help through bank linkages. Apart from this, SARDS has extended financial help towards livelihood support to 24 members of Prakasam positive women network with the support of Oxfam Australia.
