Transform childhoods of 300 slum children in India

Children’s Day is celebrated on November 14th in India.YUVA celebrated Child Rights Week 2016 from 14th to 20th November. The  theme for which was ‘Safe and Violence-Free Community’. YUVA campaigns to build child-friendly cities. Safe and violence-free communities and homes will enable cities to be child-friendly.  The programmes were led by children and were directed towards children in the community, parents, communities and the city as a whole. Our activities were spread across the administrative wards of P North and M East. We also had few activities with street children living in and around Kurla and Bandra railway stations. Many of the activities were conducted at our Child Resource Centres or were initiated and planned at the centres.

The focus of the week was on the following:

• Engaging with children in communities on creating an awareness on child rights: Bal Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti (BASS - Child Rights Committee) members conducted programs to raise awareness on issues of safety, publicise child helpline numbers and led discussions on child rights with children in the community.  
• Engaging with community based organisations, youth and parents: BASS members reached out to adults through a cycle rally and other activities to initiate a dialogue on safety and responsibility of adults promoting safe spaces for children in the community.

Some events conducted during the week:

• BASS members prepared greeting cards to important stakeholders which includes children, youth, people's representatives, teachers, police and Anganwadi workers. The United Nations Convention with the help of short story clippings prepared by UNICEF. They thoroughly enjoyed both these processes. Children were relating the story clips with the theme of the week during the discussions conducted after film screenings. "Hinsamukt aur surkshit basti ke liye ham baccho ke sath hai", (We are with children to create a safe and violenc-free community) was the message on each greeting card prepared by them.
• On the occasion of Children's Day, BASS members and Malvani Yuva Parishad (Malvani Youth Organisation) organised a "Khel Mohotsva" (Games Festival) at Ambujawadi. 40 girls from Ambujawadi participated in races. A Kabbadi competition was held in the evening. The objective of this Khel Mahotsava was for children to claim their right to play in the community.
• Games were conducted for girls in the event called ‘Khelenge, badlenge, dekhenge’ (Will play, will change, will watch). Girls played cricket, kho-kho and kabaddi. This was an initiative to encourage girls to play.
• Dance movement therapy conducted in the Deonar Municipal School for 42 girl students.
• Signature campaign for a safe and violence-free community was conducted that garnered over 150 signatures and initiated a discussion on the topic in the community.
• A film screening was conducted and a discussion was held on the issues addressed in the movie.
• Child Rights Week concluded with children's representatives from each community sharing their experiences and activities conducted during the week. Discussions were held on laws concerning children like on the changes made to the Child Labour Law. There were dance and song performances as well.