PARTNERSHIPS FOR CHANGE
Our advocacy simultaneously includes advocating for the rights of the child on the construction site amongst the communities in which work, various government departments as well as the construction industry in general, as well as training other NGOs and organisations to set up and run crèches which promote Early Childhood Development.
Within the government system, we work with four major departments:
- Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) implemented under each state´s Women and Children´s Department is a national programme which mandates preschool as well as supplementary nutrition for children under six, pregnant and lactating mothers. We have recently partnered with the ICDS to include - for the first time - the migrant child in their focus and work. Please see the report on this pilot project.
- Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan - implemented by the Education Department of each city municipality, this is a national government campaign to ensure that all children from six to fourteen are integrated into municipal schools. We run SSA classes in all our centres and integrate these children into local schools.
- Public Health System - we link with local municipal health posts to organise immunizations, health check ups and subsidized hospitalization and treatment for children and their families.
- Labour Department - which is mandated to implement the Construction Workers and Other Building Workers Act that provides many social services to construction workers. This is yet to be implemented in Maharashtra.
As of mid 2010, 40% of our teachers are women from construction sites who have been through our training programme. Every year, we hope to encourage more women from sites to become teachers and run centres themselves. They are our biggest champions of change.