In keeping with our policy to work with local people who provide our programmes with expertise tailored to solving development problems at the grass roots level, Childreach International has brought on board five new partners in India.

Childreach International and its five new partners – Development Action Society (DAS), New Opportunities for Women (NOW), Mahila Action Samity, Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD) and the Edith Wilkins Street Children Trust (EWSCT) – will work together towards improving children’s access to healthcare, education and human rights and protection, providing them with the opportunity to unlock their full potential.

The growth of our Childreach International family will help increase the effectiveness of our work worldwide, helping us reach out to more children fromdeveloping communities.

What our partners are saying

"Childreach International India reaches out to credible NGOs across India working with children under difficult circumstances to lend support. We focus on interventions that are innovative, low cost-high return with measurable, observable outcomes. Gender issues cut across all projects we support, ensuring active child participation at the core," says Naresh Chaudhary, Country Director, Childreach International India.

The support from Childreach International has helped EWSCT reach out to more children in the Darjeeling Hills, agrees Edith Wilkins, founder of the trust. "We offer them shelter and protection, and enable them to exercise their rights to education, nutrition and health services."

Referring to NOW’s partnership with Childreach International, director Bharti Mehrotra says: "Our partnership with Childreach International has created a target friendly and positive environment for young learners belonging to the economically challenged sector. It is enabling their growth by making them more informed, self confident and participatory."

Mahasweta Biswas of DAS said that DAS is committed to Child Protection that is integrally linked to every other right of the child. ‘With this commitment, DAS along with Childreach International have initiated a project called Muskan (smile) in 2010 which works towards empowering children, especially the girl child, through education , health and capacity building initiatives near Kolkata.’

Here’s a brief outline of the projects that Childreach International and its new partners will be working on.

Development Action Society is working on a community awareness project outside Kolkata in West
Bengal that aims to raise awareness among children about their rights as well as provide life skills education for adolescent children.

Delhi-based New Opportunities for Women is working on various projects targeted at children and women including one to raise awareness on child rights issues and another to teach women functional literacy through a non-formal education programme.

Mahila Action Samity works in the urban slums of Vishakhapatnam with child labourers, rag pickers’ children, school drop-outs and children of domestic workers. The project will provide awareness on trafficking, abuse and exploitation as well as vocational training.

The Delhi-based Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development is working to facilitate a village cadre-based focus on women empowerment. The project will also work to advocate on issues concerning girls like education, health, discrimination, atrocities, child marriage and the practice of female foeticide.

The Darjeeling-based Edith Wilkins Street Children Trust aims to provide support and care for street children. Its project will help run a drop-in centre where street children will be rehabilitated holistically through the provision of education, health care and information about their rights in the safety of the centre.

Give to our projects to help us continue reaching out to more children across India

Have a look at the slideshow below to seem some fantastic photos from the projects we already support.