Monday, April 19, 2010

WORLD HEALTH DAY

Dr. Shridi Prasad Tekoor with the participants in a small community hall on 'World Health Day'

A program was organized on the occasion of World Health day in Srirampuram on 7th April, 2010 between 2.00 pm to 5 .00 pm. The session was facilitated by Dr.Shridi Prasad Tekoor, a renowned paediatrist.

Participants: Children, SHG members, NGO representatives and the team of Radio Active and CRT.

Aim of the seminar: To discuss several health issues related to children in the community. The facilitator focused on issues such as intake of food by children, malnutrition, balanced diet, and the various factors that lead to good health of children such as the cleanliness in their respective houses, schools, community and the city.

The session was concluded by focusing on the importance of immunization, parenting skills, breast feeding and hygiene that has to be maintained in order to keep the family healthy.

Organizers: This was jointly organized and sponsored by Radio Active 90.4 F.M and Child Rights Trust. Observance of World Health Day was the first of a series of ten seminars to be organized by Radio Active and CRT.

Future Plans: Our future plan for the upcoming month is to organize the observance of Mother’s Day and Family day in which we have planned to focus on Parenting Skills and Child Rights sessions. 

CHILD RIGHTS WORKSHOP at CHAMRAJANAGAR


Kalpaneinda Saadyateyedege” in collaboration with Vidyaranya Kannada Kooata,  Mobility India and CRT was held at Chamarajnagara, Mysore District.
The workshop was held on 18th and 19th of March at Krushi Samshodhana Kendra, Chamarajnagara. 



Participants at the workshop


Objective: The workshop was designed and conducted for two days with the objective of spreading awareness on child rights related issues to the people of the community.

Participants: Twenty-six participants from various sections of the society (NGO, Anganwadi, Community Teachers and Tutors, Media representatives etc).





Participants playing a game (disable-friendly) to be implemented in their community
Language: Kannada.

Facilitators: Mr. Nagasimha.G.Rao and Ms. Rashmi GM from Child Rights Trust.

The programme was inaugurated by Ms.Radha, Deputy Director of Department of Women and Child Development. The workshop dealt with the situation of children in India, analysis through statistical representations, the rights of children, vulnerable children in the society and the various laws in place for protecting the rights of children.

The positive response from the participants provided an impetus to take these workshops ahead. The participants found the workshop to be unique and appreciated the methodology and modules. The participants promised to take forward the issues that they have learned in the workshop and translate it to practice in their day-to-day life.

A group presentation on situation of children

They also suggested that these workshops be conducted to all sections of society with a special focus on rural youth.

Future plans: Follow-up for this workshop will be held on 27 and 28 April 2010.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

MIGRATION!

April 8th was the day when CRT migrated...... to Free and Open Source Software!

As an NGO, with budget constraints, migrating to open source has been on the agenda for a long time.

We would like to thank the folks at IT for Change for helping with this transition and allaying our fears patiently (the biggest being Kannada font and printing).

As a first phase we have both Ubuntu and Microsoft platforms, in case of any initial hitches. We hope to make the transition completely in due course of time. The only exception being our accountant's computer since a Tally equivalent is apparently not fully developed yet.

CRT team has taken to it quite enthusiastically with many now wanting to install this on their home PCs.

It is indeed refreshing to be able to pass around the CD with the Ubuntu software installation with no worries of breach of license!

CRT TEAM VISIT TO SVYM

CRT team members visited a few projects run by Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement in H.D.Kote, Mysore District, Karnataka on March 29th and 30th.

CRT team at H.D. Kote

As an organisation mainly involved in advocacy, research, training and lobbying activities; exposure field visits of this kind helps to infuse enthusiasm and energy in our work.


SVYM works mainly towards the upliftment of the tribal communities in that area and it was a very informative visit to learn about the different tribal groups and the work being done by SVYM.

Tribal school being run by SVYM

We had a chance to visit their multi-speciality hospital, tribal school, 100% sanitation village, health center and a tribal community (haadi). On the way back to Bangalore, we also visited V-Lead (Vivekananda Institute of Leadership Development) in Mysore.


Each classroom's name in the tribal school has a local flavour to it

It was also a great opportunity to spend time together as a team, a rarity in the CRT world!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Psychological First Aid for Children affected by North Karnataka Floods

The devastating flood that hit North Karnataka in October 2009 exposed yet again how unprepared society is to tackle calamities/disasters of this scale. After the first few days of numbed disbelief, relief in terms of money, clothes, food etc poured in from many individuals and organizations towards rehabilitation of those affected by the floods. 

But help for the psychological trauma felt as a result of the devastation has gone unaddressed. This issue is of special concern in relation to children whose needs and fears take a backseat whilst families are busy trying to get their lives back to normalcy.

Sadly, while these floods are now long forgotten by most, those affected by the floods still continue to struggle to cope with the effects of the disaster. With the struggles of children, as always, being the least addressed. 

Mr. Nagasimha G Rao, Associate Director-CRT, who had surveyed the flood affected areas with the specific aim of engaging children and bringing them back to normalcy, observed that most children were still finding it difficult to come to terms with the disaster and its effects on their homes and lives. Many children said that they still had nightmares about it. Most children confided that they had no one to talk to about their feelings or fears since their parents were themselves struggling to move forward.


On November 16, 2009, an one day orientation programme was organized on psychosocial support, in which a number of NGOs reported on the psychological trauma experienced by the population in general and children in particular (sleeplessness, fear of being alone, nightmares, lack of interest in studies, irritability, clinging attitude etc). 

During the last one decade, systematic efforts by agencies like the WHO-SEARO, National Institute of Mental health and Neurosciences, Bangalore(NIMHANS) and American Red Cross, India have resulted in the development of practical models of providing ‘psychological first aid’ to children. The chief focus of these interventions are to use the existing infrastructure like the schools, anganwadis, relief camps to provide children an opportunity to (i) ventilate their feelings; (ii) face their personal feeling; and (iii) enhance self-esteem.



Against this background, Child Rights Trust, in association with an expert in this field, developed a plan to conduct training in 4 phases on ‘Psychological First Aid’ for children through NGOs, schoolteachers and anganwadi workers from the 12 affected districts. 

Resource Persons: Dr. R. Srinivas Murthy (who has worked extensively on developing psychosocial interventions for survivors of disasters nationally and internationally) and Mr. Nagasimha.G.Rao (trained counsellor and child rights activist), supported by Mr. Girish (worked extensively in the field of children’s issues using theatre, drama and extra curricular activities as tools) 

Methodology of the Interventions

The specific interventions at the level of classes in schools, the Anganwadi centres and groups of children in relief camps, are to provide a safe, supportive and activity oriented environment for children to understand the experience of the floods that they have had and to develop measures to master the experiences through (i) ventilation of their feelings; (ii) facing their personal feelings; and (iii) enhancing of self-esteem. The practical session are about 3 hours duration and the chief methods will be play activities.

The entire programme will be conducted at four levels:

1. Training of trainers workshop of 4 days;

2. Training of teachers and/or NGOs of 2 days

3. Classroom/angawadi/relief camp level practical session of 3 hours;

4. Follow up evaluation to document and plan for future interventions.

The first phase has been initiated and one workshop completed in January. It was received very well by the trainers from the flood affected districts who attended the workshop. A detailed report on Phase I of the program is available for more information.




CRT is now trying to mobilise funds for the remaining phases which is proving to be a difficult task with the issue not in focus anymore. It is not apparent to most people who are not in direct contact with the affected children that their trauma continues, and if it is not alleviated, will damage their potential and their very personalities. Another important point is that with North Karnataka being susceptible to disasters of one type or another, this project will help prepare the teachers, NGOs and Anganwadi workers to help children face any that might occur in the future and thus avert fresh trauma.

Please contact us if you are interested in donating towards the project or would like the detailed proposal for the project

Friday, April 2, 2010

WORKSHOP ON CHILD PARTICIPATION AND CHILD-LED PROJECTS

CRT facilitated a workshop on child participation and child-led projects on 6th & 7th March at the CEO centre, Kottanoor, Bangalore.

The workshop was organized by Child Fund India to train their partners implementing child-led projects on child participation in the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Child-led projects have immense potential to bring about change and empower children. Hence, building the capacity of those involved in these projects and ensuring they have a clear understanding of child participation is extremely important for the realization of child rights.

The workshop, designed to be interactive and participatory through group discussions, activities and games, was attended by twenty-five participants from various districts in Karnataka.

The participants found the workshop to be helpful, especially since they are involved in child-led projects.

Many participants shared that they had thought participation to mean children dancing or singing and the children were never involved in decision making. They appreciated the clarity they got through the workshop on effective child participation and its impact and were extremely enthusiastic to incorporate what they learnt in their projects.

For the detailed report on the workshop, please contact CRT

PEOPLE'S APPRAISAL ON UNCRC IMPLEMENTATION

CACL-Karnataka has undertaken a study on UNCRC implementation in all the 14 districts of North Karnataka with the support of UNICEF. With the North Karnataka districts being the most backward in the state, the aim of the study is to understand and analyse the situation of children and the reach of implementation of various government schemes, and their effectiveness in these districts.

Process:
1. Developing questionnaires and methodology for collection of data.

2. Partner NGOs to collect the data using the questionnaires.

3. Compilation, analysis and report of the data.

4. Consultation on the findings.

CRT is responsible, along with CDF, for developing and finalizing an individual questionnaire, village level questionnaire and guidelines for 3 focus group discussions with women’s group, children, and village leaders to get opinions on the situation of children in their village from varied perspectives.

CRT has pre-tested the above methodology in ChikkaSonne village, 40 kms from Bangalore. The questionnaires were finalized incorporating observations/difficulties encountered during this pre-test.

During the first week of March, CRT members traveled to Belgaum and explained the questionnaires and methodology to all partner NGOs to collect data effectively.

Once data has been collected and analysed, CRT in partnership with CDF will be putting together the report on the study.