India
Country Overview
India is home to one sixth of the world's population. Since gaining independence in 1947, the country has established strong institutions of justice, media and bureaucracy and is now the largest democracy in the world. India is agriculturally self-sufficient and becoming rapidly industralised. Despite these advances, however, India is home to nearly a third of the world's absolute poor. Over 350 million people live below the official poverty line of less than $1 (about 70p) a day.
India has almost two and a half times more illiterate people than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, and approximately 62 million children under the age of five are malnourished. The high cost of schooling and the need to supplement low family incomes is a major cause of child labour - nearly a third of children under the age of 16 are forced to work to survive.
What are the key issues?
- Child trafficking
- Child labour
- Poor access to basic services, e.g. healthcare and education
- Caste discrimination
- Street and railway children
What is EveryChild's main focus?
- Improving access to education
- Protecting children against violence and abuse
- Care and rehabilitation of street and railway children
- Reintegrating street and railway children back into families
How is EveryChild helping?
We seek to improve access to education for all ages - from pre-school education, to adult literacy programmes, to non-formal education for working children. We have invested in teacher training and also helped to reduce school drop-out rates.
In Bangalore, we help the many children who have run away from home and are living and begging on railway platforms. The children roam the platforms, spending their days begging, sweeping, picking up rubbish and doing other menial jobs. They try to protect one another as best they can, but they are at risk of exploitation, trafficking and drugs. We partner with SATHI, a local organisation, to find, rehabilitate and re-home these children. Wherever appropriate we try to reunite them with their parents or extended family.
To create more sustainable livelihoods for families living in poverty, we also oversee the creation of self-help groups for women. These schemes enable women to earn small amounts of extra money to help keep their families afloat. It is a vital opportunity to start saving money, thus creating a safety net should a crisis occur.
When the Asian tsunami hit in December 2004, EveryChild's expertise meant that we were best placed to focus on long-term care. Working alongside organisations that specialise in direct emergency aid, we focused on the security and protection of children whose lives had been affected. In Nagapattinam, where children were particularly exposed and vulnerable to abuse, we established a database to track children who were separated from their families and helped reunite them with relatives. In the long-term, activity centres in four affected districts will help traumatised children continue their education, as well as provide them with nutritious meals.