CHILDLINE India Foundation

Vision A child-friendly nation that guarantees the rights and protection of all children. Mission CHILDLINE will reach out to every child in need and ensure their rights and protection through the Four Cs.

CONNECT through technology to reach the 'last mile'.

CATALYSE systems through active advocacy.

COLLABORATE through integrated efforts between children, the state, civil society, corporates and community to build a child friendly social order.

COMMUNICATE to make child protection everybody's priority.

CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) is the nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development acting as the parent organisation for setting up, managing and monitoring the CHILDLINE 1098 service all over the country. CIF is the sole agency/body responsible for establishing the CHILDLINE service in the cities/districts of the country, monitoring of service delivery and finance, training, research and documentation, creating awareness, advocacy as well as resource generation for the service. CHILDLINE 1098 service is a 24 hour free emergency phone outreach service for children in need of care and protection. CIF undertakes replication of CHILDLINE, networking and facilitation, training, research and documentation, and Communications and Strategic Initiatives both at the national and international level.

This is a project supported by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and linking state Governments, NGOs, bilateral /multilateral agencies and corporate sector . CIF is responsible for the establishment of CHILDLINE centres across the country. CIF also functions as a national centre for awareness, advocacy and training on issues related to child protection. PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ABUSE According to UNICEF violence against children can be "physical and mental abuse and injury, neglect or negligent treatment, exploitation and sexual abuse. Violence may take place in homes, schools, orphanages, residential care facilities, on the streets, in the workplace, in prisons and in places of detention." Such violence can affect the normal development of a child impairing their mental, physical and social being. In extreme cases abuse of a child can result in death. Child abuse has many forms: physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, and exploitation. Any of these that are potentially or actually harmful to a child's health, survival, dignity and development are abuse. This definition is derived from the W.H.O.

Physical abuse is when a child has been physically harmed due to some interaction or lack of interaction by another person, which could have been prevented by any person in a position of responsibility, trust or power. Emotional abuse can be seen as a failure to provide a supportive environment and primary attachment figure for a child so that they may develop a full and healthy range of emotional abilities. Emotional abuse is also the act of causing harm to a child's development, when they could have been within reasonable control of a person responsible for the child. Examples of these acts are restricting movement, threatening, scaring, discriminating, ridiculing, belittling, etc. In India a rising concern is the pressure children feel to perform well in school and college examinations, which can be seen as a form of emotional stress and abuse. Sexual abuse is engaging a child in any sexual activity that he/she does not understand or cannot give informed consent for or is not physically, mentally or emotionally prepared for. Abuse can be conducted by an adult or another child who is developmentally superior to the victim. This includes using a child for pornography, sexual materials, prostitution and unlawful sexual practises. Read more on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Neglect or negligent treatment is purposeful omission of some or all developmental needs of the child by a caregiver with the intention of harming the child. This includes the failure of protecting the child from a harmful situation or environment when feasible. Exploitation can be commercial or otherwise, where by the child is used for some form of labour, or other activity that is beneficial for others. Example: child labour or child prostitution.

In 2007, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) released a study report on child abuse. The report discusses incidence of child abuse nationwide. It is estimated that 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence. In 2002 there were 53,000 reported cases of child homicide. A

Global School-Based Student Health Survey found that 20% and 65% of school going children reported having been verbally and physically bullied in the last 30 days. ILO estimates show there were 218 million child labourers in 2004, out of which 126 million were engaged in hazardous work. UNICEF estimated 3 million girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and Sudan are subjected to female genital mutilation every year. W.H.O. estimates that 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence. In 2002 there were 53,000 reported cases of child homicide. A Global School-Based Student Health Survey found that 20% and 65% of school going children reported having been verbally and physically bullied in the last 30 days. ILO estimates show there were 218 million child labourers in 2004, out of which 126 million were engaged in hazardous work. UNICEF estimated 3 million girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and Sudan are subjected to female genital mutilation every year. In 2007, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) released a study report on child abuse. The report discusses incidence of child abuse nationwide. The study of the MWCD found a wide spread incidence of child abuse. Children between the ages of 5-12 are at the highest risk for abuse and exploitation. The study found that 69% of children reported to have been physically abused. Out of these 54.68% were boys. 52.91% of boys and 47.09 % of girls reported having been abused in their family environment. Of the children who were abused in family situations 88.6% were abused by their parents. Every two out of three school children reported facing corporal punishment. In juvenile justice institutions 70.21 % of children in conflict with law and 52.86% of children in need of care and protection reported having been physically abused. With regard to child labour 50.2% of children work all seven days of the week. 81.16% of the girl child labourers work in domestic households, while 84% of the boy child labourers worked in tea stalls or kiosks. 65.99 % of boys and 67.92% of girls living on the street reported being physically abused by their family members and other people. Lastly the study examined emotional abuse and girl child neglect. The study examined two forms of emotional abuse: humiliation and comparison. Half the children reported facing emotional abuse with 83% of that abuse begin conducted by parents. Girl child neglect was assessed girls comparing themselves to their brothers on factors like attention, food, recreation time, household work, taking care of siblings, etc. 70.57% of girls reported having been neglected by family members. 48.4% of girls wished they were boys. 27.33% of girls reported getting less food then their brothers. Of the young adults (ages 18-24) interviewed, almost half of them reported having been physically or sexually abused as children. Child abuse in India is often a hidden phenomenon especially when it happens in the home or by family members. Focus with regards to abuse has generally been in the more public domain such as child labour, prostitution, marriage, etc. Intra-family abuse or abuse that takes place in institutions such as schools or government homes has received minimal attention. This may be due to the structure of family in India and the role children have in this structure. Children in India are often highly dependent on their parents and elders; they continue to have submissive and obedient roles towards their parents even after they have moved out of their parental home. This belief that parents and family are the sole caretaker of the child has proved to have negative effects on child protection laws and strategies. Numbers of cases of child abuse in the home are

hard to attain because most of these crimes go unreported. Societal abuses that are a result of poverty such as malnutrition, lack of education, poor health, neglect, etc are recognised in various forms by the Indian legal system. But India does not have a law that protects children against abuse in the home. Mal-treatment of care givers has the potential to emotionally and mentally harm children to a very different degree. Studies in intra-familial child abuse in the US have shown correlation to delinquency, crime, teenage pregnancy, and other psychosocial problems.
Child traficcing

"Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders annually, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the United States each year. More than half of these victims worldwide are children!" - Child Victims of Human Trafficking, Department of Health and Human Services, USA and the U.S. Department of State Human trafficking is the third largest profitable industry in the world. Child trafficking unlike many other issues is found in both developed and developing nations. Trafficked children are used for prostitution, forced into marriage, illegally adopted, used as cheap or unpaid labour, used for sport and organ harvesting. Some children are recruited into armed groups. Trafficking exposes children to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. According to UNICEF a child victim of trafficking is "any person under 18 who is recruited, transported, transferred, harboured or received for the purpose of exploitation, either within or outside a country". Trafficking is one of the hardest crimes to track and investigate hence data is hard to obtain. The latest figures estimate that 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide every year. Child prostitution has the highest supply of trafficked children. India is a source, destination, and transit country for trafficking for many purposes such as commercial sexual exploitation. Majority of the trafficking is within the country but there are also a large number trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh. Children are trafficked to Middle Eastern countries for sport such as camel racing. There are no national or regional estimates for the number of children trafficked every year. But 40% of prostitutes are children, and there is a growing demand for young girls in the industry. NGOs estimate that 12,000 - 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the country annually from neighbouring states for the sex trade. Thousands of girls are trafficked from Bangladesh and Nepal. 200,000 Nepalese girls under 16 years are in prostitution in India. An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Indian children are smuggled out of the country every year to Saudi Arabia for begging during the Hajj. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have the largest number of people trafficked. Intra state/inter district trafficking is high in Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Delhi and Goa are the major receiver states. Trafficking from north eastern states is high but often over looked. In 2008, 529 girls were trafficked from Assam alone. There is a rising demand for live-in maids in urban areas. This has resulted in trafficking of girls from villages in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to live under extremely poor conditions first in "placement agencies" and later in the employers homes. Placement agents keep the girls in small unhygienic rooms packed together. They are often made to do the

placement agent's household work and subjected to sexual abuse. Smita a sixteen year old girl was taken from her village in Jharkhand and subjected to various forms of sexual abuse and exploitation at the hand of her employers including rape. When rescued her parents refused to take her back since she had been tainted by rape. Falling sex ratios in Haryana and Punjab has led to a need for trafficking of brides from villages in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, who have been sold off by the parents. Jyoti, age fourteen, was sold and married to a 40year old man for Rs 15,000 in order to produce a mail heir. India has legal provisions to counter trafficking as per the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1986. The MWCD has taken a number of Initiatives to combat trafficking of Women and Children.
LABOUR

"Out of school children comprise the workers and non workers. In our view they together signify a measure of deprivation among children and can be considered as a potential labour pool always being at the risk of entering the labour force" - NCEUS, 2007 India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers in the world. The census found an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001. M.V. Foundation in Andhra Pradesh found nearly 400,000 children, mostly girls between seven and 14 years of age, toiling for 14-16 hours a day in cottonseed production across the country of which 90% are employed in Andhra Pradesh. 40% of the labour in a precious stone cutting sector is children. NGOs have discovered the use of child labourers in mining industry in Bellary District in Karnataka in spite of a harsh ban on the same. In urban areas there is a high employment of children in the zari and embroidery industry. Poverty and lack of social security are the main causes of child labour. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor, privatization of basic services and the neo-liberal economic policies are causes major sections of the population out of employment and without basic needs. This adversely affects children more than any other group. Entry of multi-national corporations into industry without proper mechanisms to hold them accountable has lead to the use of child labour. Lack of quality universal education has also contributed to children dropping out of school and entering the labour force. A major concern is that the actual number of child labourers goes un-detected. Laws that are meant to protect children from hazardous labour are ineffective and not implemented correctly. A growing phenomenon is using children as domestic workers in urban areas. The conditions in which children work is completely unregulated and they are often made to work without food, and very low wages, resembling situations of slavery. There are cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of child domestic workers. The argument for domestic work is often that families have placed their children in these homes for care and employment. There has been a recent notification by the Ministry of Labour making child domestic work as well as employment of children in dhabas, tea stalls and restaurants "hazardous" occupations.

According to HAQ: Centre for child rights, child labour is highest among schedules tribes, Muslims, schedule castes and OBC children. The persistence of child labour is due to the inefficiency of the law, administrative system and because it benefits employers who can reduce general wage levels. HAQ argues that distinguishing between hazardous and non hazardous employment is counter-productive to the elimination of child labour. Various growing concerns have pushed children out of school and into employment such as forced displacement due to development projects, Special Economic Zones; loss of jobs of parents in a slowdown, farmers' suicide; armed conflict and high costs of health care. Girl children are often used in domestic labour within their own homes. There is a lack of political will to actually see to the complete ban of child labour. Bonded child labour is a hidden phenomenon as a majority of them are found in the informal sector. Bonded labour means the employment of a person against a loan or debt or social obligation by the family of the child or the family as a whole. It is a form of slavery. Children who are bonded with their family or inherit a debt from their parents are often found in agricultural sector or assisting their families in brick kilns, and stone quarries. Individual pledging of children is a growing occurrence that usually leads to trafficking of children to urban areas for employment and have children working in small production houses versus factories. Bonded labourers in India are mostly migrant workers, which opens them up to more exploitation. Also they mostly come from low caste groups such as dalits or marginalised tribal groups. Bonded child labourers are at very high risk for physical and sexual abuse and neglect sometimes leading to death. They often are psychologically and mentally disturbed and have not learnt many social skills or survival skills. In 2000 the ILO estimated 5.5 million children had been forced in labour in Asia, while the Bonded Labour Liberation Front placed 10 million bonded children in India alone. In 1998 the government of India labelled bonded child labour as a marginal problem with only 3000 or so cases. A survey in Tamil Nadu in 1995 found 125,000 bonded child labourers in the state alone. Child bonded labour in India is mostly in the agricultural sector but has in recent times been moving into other sectors as well such as beedi-rolling, brick kilns, carpet weaving, commercial sexual exploitation, construction, fireworks and matches factories, hotels, hybrid cottonseed production, leather, mines, quarries, silk, synthetic gems, etc.
WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE

ccording to UNICEF, children worldwide lose their parents in conflict, or due to poverty, disability, HIV/AIDS. Hence there is a large population of children that grow up without one or both of their parents. Children without parental care are at a high risk of abuse, exploitation and neglect. Large numbers of children end up in institutional care. Inadequate individual care of institutions can socially and emotional impair children. About 1.5 million children in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States live in public care institutions. In Europe and Central Asia, over 1 million children live in residential institutions. In 2003 there were an estimated 143 million orphans in 93 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Asia has the highest number of orphans due to all causes, with 87.6 million children.

Children may be destitute, for the interim or permanently of parental care for many reasons including the illness, death or imprisonment of parents, separation due to migration or armed conflict, the removal by child welfare authorities and/or the courts based on the child's best interests, detention of the child, or following the child's own initiative to leave home. In India the child parent relationship is often seen as one of obedience of a social order more so than a right of the child. Hence when a child is separated from his/her parent it is not viewed as the duty of the state to provide that child with a family environment. None the less adoption is supervised by the state, but India does not have a long term foster care or alternate care system outside of institutionalisation. UNICEF estimates that there are 25 million orphaned children in India in 2007. Another study estimates there are about 44 million destitute children and over 12 million orphan and abandoned children in India, yet there are only 5000 (0.04%) adoptions every year. The institutions for children in conflict with the law host about 40,000 children. The wide gap that exists in the knowledge of and attitude towards child adoption and intention to adopt a child between people from different socio-economic backgrounds exposes the need of the state to initiate promotion of child adoption and creating a system of non-institutional care for children above the adoption age. Adoption in India comes under the provisions of three acts and is carried out centrally by CARA

Children Living with HIV/AIDS

Children are not only personally affected by HIV/AIDS but it is also affecting their families and their right to a parental care and affection. UNICEF finds that infection can lead children to drop out of school; infection of parents can lead children to engage in child labour in order to survive. Many children are orphaned and highly exposed to abuse, exploitation and neglect because of a loss of a parent(s) or guardian. It is estimated that a child looses a parent to AIDS-related infections every 14 seconds, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many situations also put children at higher risk of getting infected such as recruitment into armed conflict, trafficking, displacement, etc. In 2005 UNICEF estimated the number of children below 15 infected with HIV to be 2.3 million. Approximately 570,000 children were found to have died from AIDS at the time of the study. 80% of children orphaned by AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008 Avert found that there are 2.1 million children in the world living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately 430,000 children were infected with HIV in 2008. Every hour, 31 children around the world die because of AIDS. Beyond the direct impact of being infected by AIDS, children are impacted by their parent's infection. Many children end up being the sole breadwinners of the family and head of their households. Children infected often don't receive the correct medicine since it is mostly available in tablet form and especially younger children

require syrups or powers. The tablets are often administered by breaking them and hence children are at risk of receiving too much or too little in their doses. Children living with HIV/AIDS are also more susceptible to infections of other kinds due to their weakened immune systems such as Tuberculosis and PCP. According to UNICEF India there are 220,000 children infected by HIV/AIDS in India. It is approximated that every year 55,000 to 60,000 children are born to mothers who are HIV positive. 30% of these children are likely to be infected themselves. According to a publication of NACO and MWCD there are 2-3 million people in India living with HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that 70,000 children below the age of 15 infected with 21,000 children being infected through mother-child transmission every year. HIV infection in extremely young children is especially fatal. Young children progress through the disease at a much faster rate. 33% of children with HIV die within the first 12 months, 50% by 24 months and 60% by 36 months. For young children early detection, nutritional supplements and medical treatment especially antiretroviral therapy is essential for survival. Children living with the disease experience a great deal of social stigma and discrimination. This results in children being marginalised from essential services such as education and health. An approximation for the number of children affected by AIDS varies greatly. The number of children infected with HIV/AIDS varies from 55,000 to 220,000. Roughly 1,500,000-2,500,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS and another 6,000,000-10,000,000 children have a positive parent. The highest cause of child HIV/AIDS is mother to child transmission (MTCT). Other than MTCT other ways of contracting the disease among children has been sexual contract including sexual abuse, blood transfusion, unsterile syringes, and intravenous drug use. Some areas of concern are the discrimination faced by orphaned children of HIV/AIDS parents, lack of funding or utilization of funds in giving treatments, unsafe health care practices, and lack of attention to HIV/AIDS amongst children in health policy. Child affected by AIDS need medical treatment, counselling, support from extended families, and other non-institutional care, and help with medical care for parents so as not to create debt and need for child labour. As part of an attempt to help children living with HIV/AIDS, UNICEF in collaboration with national organisations and the Government of India have put children on the agenda of the National Aids Control Plan III. The aim is to prevent parent to child transfer of the disease, and provide care and medical treatment to children infected with HIV/AIDS.

Street Children
The issue of street children is considered to be an urban problem. Children can be found in railway stations, near temples and durgahs, in markets, under bridges, near bus deports and stops, etc. Hence the definition of street is not in the literal sense, but refers to those children without a stable home or shelter. There are three major categories of street children:

1. Children who live on the street with their families and often work on the street. There may be children from migrated families, or temporarily migrated and are likely to go back to their homes. 2. Children who live on the street by themselves or in groups and have remote access or contact with their families in the villages. Some children travel to the cities for the day or periods of time to work and then return to their villages. 3. Children who have no ties to their families such as orphans, refugees and runaways. According to UNICEF street children fall under two categories: On the street and Of the street. "Children of the street" are homeless children who live and sleep on the streets in urban areas. They are on their own and do not have any parental supervision or care though some do live with other homeless adults. "Children on the street" earn a livelihood from street such as street urchins and beggars. They return home at night and have contact with their families. The distinction is an important one because children of the street lack emotional and psychological support of a family. It is the second and third category of children who are most vulnerable as they are easy victims of abuse, and inhuman treatment. They often engaged in petty theft or prostitution for economic survival. Children runaway from their homes for a variety of reasons. Some may have faced traumatic experiences in their homes. Their parents may be abusive or have problems with alcoholism, poverty and unemployment. Some children leave home drawn by the glamour of the big cities. Street children vary across cities and regions. But a majority of these children are boys. It is also important to note girl street children are often not found in visible spaces and hence hard to trace. Age wise 40% of the street children are between 11-15 years while another 33% are between 610 years age group. A study found that majority (89.8%) of children live on the street with their parents/family. There are a number of factors that lead children to living on the street. One root cause that has been identified is poverty. But poverty alone does not result in this problem. Other factors to be taken into consideration is the expansion and growth of cities, over-population, family disintegration, inadequacy of formal school institutions leading to large numbers of dropouts and failures, inability of institutions to deal with these problems, etc. Street children mostly live in open air spaces. There are few to no shelters available in the cities for homeless children. Some may live in a temporary constructed hut or the house of their employer. Majority of street children work. Almost 50% of street children are self-employed as rag-pickers, hawkers, and shoeshine boys, while others work in shops and establishments. Their work hours range between 10-13 hours a day. These children are exposed to high health hazards as population and unhygienic conditions of living. Having no shelter they are constantly exposed to environmental conditions of heat, cold and rain. Many street children also face harassment by municipal authorities and police. One -third of street children complain of persecution by such authorities. Street children also face abuse from their family members, employers and other people. The right to play of a street child is almost

nonexistent as they do not have access to recreational facilities and often venture into activities available to them on the street such as drug abuse, gambling, drinking, etc. In 2003, UNICEF estimated that there were at least a 100 million street children in the world, but though this figure is commonly found it is not seen to be based on any actual studies or surveys. In 1994, UNICEF estimated that there were 11 million street children in India. This number is said to be a drastic under-estimation. The Indian embassy estimated 314,700 street children in cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Kanpur, Bangalore and Hyderabad and around 100,000 street children in Delhi. In the 2007 MWCD report on child abuse, the study found 65.9% of the street children lived with their families. Out of these children, 51.84% slept on the side-walks, 17.48% slept in shelters and 30.67% slept in other locations such as under flyovers and bridges, railway platforms, bus stops, parks, market places, etc. 66.8% of children reported being physically abused by family members and others. To download the full report please visit the Abuse and Violence section. Because of a lack of permanent shelter and the fact that the number of street children is not recorded in any national survey or study street children are often called the 'hidden children'. Being hidden, they are at a higher risk to being abuse, exploited and neglected. Another group that is at risk of ending up on the street are migrant children. Children come to cities in hope of finding new jobs and opportunities for their families. Unfortunately increasing populations in the cities, children that come to the cities face meagre incomes, poor housing and usually end up on the street. The Indian embassy estimated 314,700 street children in cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Kanpur, Bangalore and Hyderabad and around 100,000 street children in Delhi. In order to provide services to this vulnerable group of children the Government of India began the Integrated Programme for Street Children.

Integrated Programme for Street Children

The Integrated Programme for Street Children was started as initiatives to help children living on the street fulfil their rights. The programme provides for shelter, nutrition, health care, education, recreation facilities to street children, and seeks to protect them against abuse and exploitation. The programme aims at building society's awareness of the rights of the child enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. This can be achieved though capacities building of the government organisations, NGOs and the larger community these children live in.

The target group of this programme is children without homes and family ties i.e., street children and children especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation such as children of sex workers and children of pavement dwellers. This scheme does not include children who live with families and in slum areas. State Governments, Union Territory Administrations, Local Bodies, Educational Institutions and Voluntary Organisations are eligible for financial assistance under this programme. Up to 90% of the cost of the project is provided by the Government of India and remaining has to be borne by the Organisation/Institution concerned. Under this integrated programme projects can receive up to Rs 1.5 million per annum. Programmes that can receive funding under this scheme are as follows:

City level surveys; Documentation of existing facilities and preparation of city level plan of action; Contact programmes offering counselling, guidance and referral services; Establishment of 24 hours drop-in shelters; Non-formal education programmes; Programmes for reintegration of children with their families and placement of destitute children in foster care homes/hostels and residential schools; Programmes for enrolment in schools; Programme for vocational training; Programmes for occupational placement; Programmes for mobilizing preventive health services; Programmes aimed at reducing the incidence of drug and substance abuse, HIV/AIDS etc; Post ICDS/Aganwadi programmes for children beyond six years of age; Programmes for capacity building and for advocacy and awareness building on child rights;

CHILDLINE India Foundation Goals CHILDLINE India Foundation is the central agency responsible for initiating, implementing and monitoring the CHILDLINE service and undertaking research, documentation, awareness, and advocacy in the area of child protection. Extending the network based on the unique partnership 'model' and initiation of specialized, innovative need based services, based on trends emerging from analysis of calls is a part of the CHILDLINE India Foundation mandate. The Goals for CIF are:

To establish one common brand for CHILDLINE, making it the most recognized reference point in the field of Child Rights.

To set up systems and processes for existing CHILDLINE city and district teams to: 1. Enhance service excellence 2. Move from being activity-oriented to goal-oriented

To launch the CL service to the most under-represented and under-reached geographical and thematic child rights areas

To make National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP) the most comprehensive initiative in the country for mainstreaming child protection.

To optimize new technologies for upscaling CHILDLINE, reducing the cost per call and making operational systems more professional

To develop systems and processes to ensure performance excellence in CIF

To develop new roles and cross-functional leadership positions to facilitate CIF's journey to the next phase of its growth.

To integrate child participation within CIF governance through a children's advisory council

To raise local resources to deepen individual commitment and stake in CHILDLINE.

To develop an innovations funds/fellowship to spur new ideas in the sector.

Bolivia

Dona Irma Cuellar: Old Age and Guinea Pigs

The following case study takes a look at Dona Irma Cuellars work. She helps to support older peoples organisations in Bolivia, informing them of their rights and helping them to raise guinea pigs!

Dona Irma with International Service Development Worker George Truckenbrod

What is day-to-day life like for older people living in Bolivia?

A high proportion of older people in Bolivia will have built their own homes small, mud brick houses - from mud bricks that have been dried in the sun. Many rural homes comprise of one or two rooms and have no electricity, no bathroom or access to a safe drinking water supply. Bolivians tend to eat one or two meals a day. The first, eaten in the morning, usually consists of soup and the second, eaten at lunchtime, consists of potatoes, rice or noodles, sometimes vegetables and occasionally meat. There is little or no economic security for older people in Bolivia, so they need to continue to work in order to support themselves and their families. Many continue to work in small-scale farming activities or in the informal market sector, selling vegetables for example. Furthermore, older people have poor coverage of the health insurance scheme that exists in Bolivia a scheme that provides free medical attention and medicines. A high proportion of older people also take care of their grandchildren. Parents often work in other parts of Bolivia during the day, quite far away from their homes, so grandparents help by providing care and support to the younger members of the family. There is a clear need for more poverty reduction programmes for older people as there are few organisations in Bolivia tackling poverty and old age, nor addressing how older people can contribute to the countrys poverty reduction programme.
What is the project about and how does it help improve the lives of older people within the community?

The project focuses on guinea pigs raising and is supported by the Horizontes Foundation, the Food and Agricultural Organisation and a local non-government organisation in Bolivia. In the Andean regions of Ecuador and Bolivia, guinea pigs are a culinary delight. The older people raising the guinea pigs can use them either for their own consumption, or for selling,

hence contributing to the poverty reduction amongst older people through increased food security and income generation. On average, a full-grown guinea pig can be sold for about 30 Bs (1 = 12 Bolivianos approx.) This is quite a lot of money in local context the majority of older people in Bolivia earn less than 54p a day. A female guinea pig can produce approximately 50 baby guinea pigs a year. Dona Irma visits and provides technical support to nine other older people on how to raise guinea pigs, the diets for the guinea pigs and disease prevention. Dona also attends meetings with health care authorities, works to collect information about the health insurance scheme for older people and shares this information Dona Irmas guinea pigs with people she works with. It is a basic right to access information about the rights for older people in Bolivia.
Dona Irma in the white hat working with rural older men and women in her organisation

How does an initiative like the MDG campaign help to improve the lives of older people in Bolivia?

The first goal of the Millennium Development Campaign is to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger in Bolivia. Older people are often excluded from support to improve their lives. This initiative provides guinea pigs for older people to consume, thus helping to eliminate hunger. Furthermore, the project provides older people with an income source and the ability to access the older people health insurance scheme, thus contributing to the reduction of poverty in Bolivia. The government and other institutions can use this project as an example to develop other poverty reduction projects in Bolivia to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal.

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