Community Empowerment

Youth Forum

Objective:
Youth Forum for promotion of child rights has four objectives— to offer creative opportunities for youth in the slums to develop their potential, to build up leadership, to generate social awareness among youth and encourage them to take up social action in their community, to provide guidance to enable the youth to develop into responsible citizens.
Youth forum consist of youngsters who form a group and work together on different topics:

  • Identify the problems in their area and to find the solutions (for example: to deal with the problems of electricity, water, sanitary…)

  • Find a solution in family disputes or to help them in their financial or material needs (for example to finance the parents to buy school books, uniforms, bags for the children to go to school)

  • Help the people in the area in going through the administrative procedures to obtain some basic certificates like birth certificate, community certificate, death certificate, etc..

  • Organize various events in their area along with Children Sangam and Self Help Groups.

Community Empowerment

Working along with Children Sangam and Self Help Groups help them to have a unified and powerful voice when addressing the problems of their area to the municipality. Youngsters become aware of the importance of having a society without child labour. The program creates a unity among the people in the area and helps prevent youngsters taking wrong path such as drug addictions. This helps them to develop their personalities, leadership qualities, improve their skills and talents and exhibit. They understand the necessity to take a responsible part in the society and to be able to equip themselves to become future leaders. They take up the issues of community problems and take actions by approaching corporation and municipality.

History:
The child labourers were given counselling and admitted in the Child Labourers Centre and were mainstreamed to formal education. After their education, they need support from Arunodhaya for their self development. Hence, boys groups were initiated in the year 1996 and the girls groups were initiated in the year 2002.

Target of the Program:
Unmarried youngsters between 18 and 25 years old who live in the area.

Impacts:

  • There are less of problems and more of unity among the people in the area

  • The members of the Youth Forum are well known in the area and they make their presence felt. This adds up to give efficacy to the project

  • There are less of families that support child labourers

  • They also become members of SHG Men

  • They also do volunteering work for the other projects of Arunodhaya

  • They participate in the factories visits with Arunodhaya’s staffs to identify child labourers

  • Prevent early marriages and dowry system

  • Social recognition

  • Restrict suicide attempts in the area