Ranchi: Around 30 community cadre members of Save The Children, an
NGO working as a third party to help the state curb child marriages and
trafficking, met in Ranchi on Friday to attend a
workshop on the aspects of psycho social support for children at risk and prioritising mental well being of a child in the process of rehabilitation and rescue.
Jharkhand figures in the top three states plagued by child marriages according to the data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)- 4, with 38% of the total marriages in the state involving an underage spouse and over 12% of women between the age of 15 and 19 years bearing a child.
To combat the issue and threats like trafficking and abuse of children, Village Level Child Protection Committees (VLCPCs) — a nine-member body headed by the village heads, were formed across the state a few years ago. However, very few of them proved to be effective as they hardly had any connection with the district level child protection machinery.
In a pilot project to activate these VLCPCs towards child safety initiatives and increasing their accountability, the Jharkhand State Child Protection society roped in Save The Children for a third party intervention. It started its operations in two blocks — Sisai in Gumla and Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum — a year ago. Under the same, 15 different gram panchayats in the two blocks were allotted to one community cadre member each from the NGO. The members, who are social workers, were engaged in establishing a link between victims and the VLCPCs, assessing their risks, challenges and required help, and also establish a connect between the VLCPCs and the district level child protection machinery.
“Although every district had an adequate number of VLCPCs formed, they were never very active. With this year-old pilot project, we have successfully helped them become proactive in the two blocks. Apart from establishing a connect between the various levels of child protection machinery, the representatives interacting with children are now being equipped with new approaches to help identify victims and initiate the process for their safekeeping,” said Divya Tigga, programme coordinator, child protection at Save The Children.
In West Singbhum, Srijan Mahila Vikas Manch is associated with the implementation, while in Sisai, an organisation called Bal Sakha is working in tandem with the government and Save The Children on the project.
“How we engage a child rescued from risks like school dropout, family abandonment, trafficking, sexual or physical abuse and
child marriage is crucial. The first goal for anyone working with children is to ensure the child’s safekeeping and mental health forms an important aspect in the process. We included sessions on how to make the child feel safe and protected and also open up about their problems to the members of the cadre,” said Tigga.
Azizur Rehman Ansari, a community cadre member from Sisai Panchayat said, “This workshop was aimed at prioritising the needs of a child in need of protection or care. Talking to a child is important and initiating a conversation that is sensitive to his or her needs is of paramount importance.”