KCRO Data Collection Workshop

Report of the Data Collection and Analysis Training Workshop -conducted on behalf of KCRO

Date: 22-24, March 2011 Venue: Sagara, Shimoga district.

The development field has several dimensions... In order to understand the various issues related to development, one of the tools used is Field Research that involves collection of data. These need to be supplemented by a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the same and use of the findings for advocacy. Data and reports on many issues including child related ones are available at national and state levels, and occasionally at the district level for some indicators. However these are often outdated and do not delve into causes for shortfalls and problems. Most importantly, they are not available at lower levels and since there could be local problems and reasons, it is difficult to pinpoint the most effective remedial actions in each case.

We have so many Goals related to children (State Plan of Action for Children, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), World Fit for Children (WFFC) etc) but many times we never know whether we are going reach to these goals or not. Many NGOs who are working in the field of child rights are not aware about these goals and their importance. Some of the NGOs are doing surveys in their field but they are not following scientific methods in them. Also, they do not generally organise these data, analyse them and use them fruitfully for advocacy and their own planning and evaluation of programmes.

Hence, collection of data is very important to the organisations who are working for child rights to solve the problems that children are troubled by, and to protect child rights. Hence knowledge of research methods and of data collection is very important.

Against this background, Karnataka Child Rights Observatory (KCRO) conducted a three-day Bangalore division level workshop for representatives of voluntary organisations on data collection and analysis from 22-24, March 2011 at Sagara of Shimoga district. 26 members of 11 voluntary organisations participated in this workshop. The resource persons were drawn from CRT, the secretariat of KCRO.

After briefing the participants about the objectives of the workshop Mr. Nagasimha G. Rao got the participants to introduce themselves. Mr. Sathish.G.C. explained the importance of statistics and the National and State Action Plans for children, the Millennium Development Goals and the World Fit for Children and other such major targets that India and the State have accepted as well. Further, he continued that the progress of these goals can only be possible by collecting, analysing and utilizing the data on child related issues periodically in their working area. Only can one compare these data with the given goals at all levels.

The participants were then briefed about data collection and its methods like observation, interview, questionnaire, focus group discursion, case studies etc.

The afternoon session dealt with types of surveys and sampling methods using a participatory method. Participants were told about household questionnaires as well as secondary data collection schedules. At the end of the day the participants were divided into 4 groups for the planned field visits.

On 23-3-2011, all groups visited Shivappa Nayaka Nagara which is in Sagara city and nearby villages Shreedhara Nagara, Karikatte Nagara and Manve Village to collect primary data from households as well as secondary data from the Anganawadi, PHC,School and Panchayats. The households were selected by systematic random sampling method to collect information.

The last day of training participants submitted their analytical reports. Dr. Padmini made some suggestions about those reports and explained to them how to write reports more effectively. In the afternoon session participants heard about methods of tabulation; after which participants were asked to tabulate the collected data.

At the end of the training programme, participants learnt about focus groups discussions, collecting case studies, individual interview etc. At the end of the program, representatives of four organisations said that they are going to use these methodologies in their upcoming surveys. Some of them asked for KCRO help in developing the questionnaire and choice and other aspects of correct methodologies. This was agreed to by KCRO.

STRATEGIC MEETING ON NATIONAL POLICY FOR CHILDREN

Date: 26 April, 2010

 Venue: Jain College, Bangalore

 A strategy meeting to discuss revisions required to the National Policy for Children was held in Bangalore. 44 participants were present at the meeting. The participants invited to the meeting were mostly those familiar with the policy and its history with a vision for how the policy needs to be revised or taken forward.

The meeting started with clarifying the distinctions between policies, charter, plan of action etc and stating the objectives of the meeting against the background of previous discussions held at the national level.

The policy was then looked through by the participants, line by line, and corresponding suggestions were recorded. The rich experience of the participants provided many insights and dimensions to the changes needed in the policy.

 The necessity for a complete section on participation, which is absent in the policy in its current form, was decided upon by all present at the meeting. The need to ensure that participation of children in this process of policy revision was also stressed upon. The suggestions were made keeping in mind existing laws, acts, policies and international treaties that could be viewed in conjunction to this policy (E.g.: Juvenile Justice Act, Millennium Development Goals etc).

With a limited amount of time to reach consensus, wherever discussions could not be speedily resolved, the responsibility to provide a write-up on the section was taken up by a participant.

The meeting ended with chalking out plans for follow-up meetings and some participants deciding to hold smaller thematic meetings at various places. To ensure representation from districts within the state, a state consultation was decided to be held tentatively around the 3rd week of May.

The draft from the strategic meeting with inputs received from thematic discussions will form the basis for the state-wide consultation. It was decided that an appropriate format, keeping in mind the audience for this state consultation, needs to be developed to ensure effective outcomes.

The highly motivated, articulate and experienced group made for lively discussions throughout the meeting and set the tone for further input sessions/meetings planned.

Please contact us for the detailed report highlighting all suggestions/changes that emerged from the meeting

20 YEARS OF UNCRC AND CHILDREN OF KARNATAKA

Organised by: Karnataka Child Rights Observatory (KCRO) with the support of UNICEF

Date: 20th and 21st November, 2009
Venue: Hotel Bell and Hotel Atria

Twenty years ago the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Within a short period country after country committed itself to uphold the rights of children. India also became a signatory to the CRC in the year 1992 and the Convention became an instrument of support to everyone - Government, legislators, NGOs, media, judiciary, etc., to advocate for the cause of children.
In the last two decades in spite of several shortcomings, various stake holders have taken positive measures towards the implementation of CRC.

Against this background, KCRO held a state level meet to commemorate the 20 years of CRC and to take a deeper look at the situation of children in Karnataka in the presence of representatives from all the major sectors – legislative, judiciary, administration, media, NGOs and the private sector.

November 20th began with an inaugural address by Ms. Nina Nayak, Chairperson of Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR). This was followed by presentations on Survival, Protection, Development and Participatory Rights of the child by Dr. Roopa Devadasan, Mr. Lakshapathi, Dr. Vasavi and Mr. Renni D’Souza respectively.

November 21st saw the release of the State of the World’s Children- Special Edition by Mr. Narendra Swamy, Minister for Department of Women and Child Development, along with Mr. Michel Saint-Lot, UNICEF State Representative for Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Dr. D.S. Ashwath, Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Women and Child Development and Ms. Nina. P.Nayak, Chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

This was followed by a panel discussion between Manohar Maski, Member of Legislative Council, Dr. D.S. Ashwath, Secretary, DWCD, Prof. Gandhi Doss, Retd Professor of Social work, BU, Dr. Kshithij Urs, Regional Director, Action Aid and Mr. Veeranna Thigadi, Member Secretary, Legal Aid Cell, Karnataka. The panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Suchitra Rao, Child Protection Unit-UNICEF.

The event saw the participation of 179 people from NGOs, Government, individuals and media.

Many recommendations and suggestions emerged from the diverse group on effectively working towards child rights and strengthening the partnerships between all stakeholders.
 
About Karnataka Child Rights Observatory: KCRO is a resource centre and an advocate for child rights with partners from across the state. In the recent past KCRO has conducted several independent studies with active participation of its member organizations about the situation of children in the state. The alliance has also worked with legislators, NGOs, media and the private sector to raise awareness about children. KCRO is supported by UNICEF for its various ventures.

For a detailed report on the event or to join the KCRO network, please contact us at 080-41138285 or email us on kcronodalcrt@gmail.com

LEGISLATORS' FORUM- a Major Initiative

In 2007, state legislators who were honored by CRT as Child Friendly Legislators of Karnataka, came forward to form a Forum of Legislators for Children. A meeting to brief this forum was also held shortly after. However, it was only in 2009 that the next two meetings took place in quick succesion, under the aegis of the Karnataka Child Rights Observatory [KCRO], a consortium of NGOs, of which CRT is the secretariat.

At the first of these two meetings, the legislators present expressed their various concerns regarding the situation of the children of the state. These included child marriage, child labour, education for

children, migration, girl child education, school conditions, the health sector, welfare schemes announced by the Government and the role of NGOs in implementation and monitoring of the

programmes.

The legislators further made the following points:

• In the interest of children, there should be measures to plug failures and loopholes that exist in some of the programmes.
• Instead of initiating new schemes, policies and so on, the Forum needs to look out to reinforce the existing ones.
• Support is expected from NGOs for data and factual details, as also recommendations to take action to uphold rights of the children.
• Mere law may not help every child to come to school - concerted efforts should be done to develop at the grassroots level with poverty alleviation and economic development.
• The Forum can strengthen local governance so that the problems can be subsequently tackled.
• The Forum should be motivating NGOs to take children’s issues to the Gram Panchayats and prepare them to tackle children’s issues at that level with the support of the Government.

Other suggestions from participants:

• Bring in children from various parts of the state for a face-to-face discussion with legislators to highlight their priorities and demands.
• Link women’s issues and other poverty alleviation programmes with child development.
• Make the child an agenda point of the local governments in their monthly meetings.
• Commit the government to take on the SPAC review at the earliest and start planning for the next decade by 2010. Form the review team with legislators, bureaucrats, NGOs and children to look at the effectiveness of SPAC [State Plan of Action for Children, 2003-2007].
• The UN head can be invited to address legislators on children’s issues particularly
• keeping the MDG – Millennium Development Goals with respect to Karnataka.

Decisions and Action Point:

1. Periodical meetings need to be held to understand the status of children of Karnataka. KCRO and NGOs to help the legislators to get a clear picture.

2. The Forum members should strive to urge the Chairmen of both the Houses to devote one special day during the sessions to discuss child-related issues exclusively when it should be mandatory for the officers of the concerned departments to present and give reports on the status and progress of children in the state.

3. The UN head to be invited for a presentation on status of children on a Friday

afternoon during sessions.

4. The Forum will take responsibility of writing letters to concerned departments for

status and progress with respect to children.

5. The Forum to press upon the Grama Panchayats to take affirmative action to uphold

rights of the children and the reports from these GPs to be called from various

divisions.

6. The Forum members would raise questions and calling attention notices in both the Houses on

the status report on the Karnataka SPAC 2003- 2010.

7. The next meeting will be held on the Friday, 17th July 09 to pipeline the activities of

the forum.

On the 17th July, after discussion, the Forum came up with the following action points:

• Develop an action plan on child labour and health in one constituency as a pilot programme                                                                                                                                           - Mr. Narendra Babu's constituency, Mahalakshmi Layout. NGOs to help, after discussion.
• A pilot study on Child Labour and Health status to to be done by KCRO for facilitate further action from Forum.
• Share the status of children in Karnataka prepared by KCRO with all the concerned legislators and call for the status report from concerned districts.
• Review the situation of children in every district against the status of children with the various departments in the Karnataka Development Programme.
• A special day will be dedicated in both the Houses to discuss about children in the current session.
• Enforcement review and CRC report for the state.
• Launch the Forum's Taskforce on 14th Nov 09- On Children’s day. The Forum will ensure the betterment of the Karnataka State children.

Consultation on children of construction workers

Children of construction workers have to get a fair chance to develop.

Workers within the unorganized sector constitute over 92 percent of the total workforce in India, or about 370 million in number. These workers are paid poorly and have to cope on their own when there is any interruption in their working income due to recession, non-availability of work, sickness, accident or death.

In Karnataka, the number of unorganized workers increased from 9.7 million in 1981 to 13 million in 1991, and to 17.3 million in 2001. Most of these labourers were migrants moving from one state to another and from rural areas to cities. The state government has been taking some initiatives to provide these workers with social security. However, much remains to be done in the direction of designing a comprehensive social security package for all unorganized workers. The existing provisions are not enforced either, leading to immense suffering for the workers and their families.

The situation of the children of migrant labourers is especially pathetic. These children do not get the services they require – health, education, protection, etc., from the existing systems, as the rights of children demand.

KCRO [Karnataka Child Rights Observatory] along with various other organisations and networks in Karnataka including Bridge Network, Samtha Sainika Dala, Karnataka Construction Workers Welfare Action Group, Construction and other Building Workers Welfare Board, Forum of NGOs working with Street and Working Children, Campaign against Child Labour, Bangalore Unit, etc. began trying to find solutions to ensure the rights of the children of construction workers. To this end, an one-day consultation was organised with the involvement of other NGOs and government departments also at Bangalore on 16th Dec. 2008 with the following objectives:

Objectives:

i.To enhance social security for construction workers.

ii.To develop a comprehensive programme of education, protection and development for the children of construction workers.

iii.To establish delivery structures for utlising the resources available for migrant workers and their families efficiently and effectively.

The day-long consultation deliberated on various issues pertaining to construction workers and their children and came out with a list of recommendations. The consultation was attended by representatives of Government (Education, Women and Child Development Department, Labour Department), NGOs, UNICEF, labour unions, construction workers and the media. Freedom fighter Shri Doreswamy gave the keynote address; senior government officials and NGOs also addressed the meet. These speakers made several valuable suggestions.

Many groups working with construction labourers and their children shared their experiences on various problems faced by these children and their families. A documentary film on the situation was presented by Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA), which also mounted a photography exhibition on the issue. A few construction workers shared their first hand experiences and views.

Participants were then divided into groups to discuss problems related to health, protection and development of the children of construction workers and to list their conclusions. These were then ratified in the plenary and recommended for further follow-up by Government.

Recommendations

1. Basic Amenities:

There should be a policy for improving basic amenities like toilets, drinking water, housing, ration card, voter ID cards .

The procedure of giving identity cards to the construction workers should be more simplified, easily accessible and rapid.

NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) should ensure strengthening of rural employment program and stipulate better wages for the rural people [to deter migration].

The Board Of Construction Workers Act should be suitabily amended so as to extend the benefit of health coverage not only to beneficiaries but also to their families.

2. Health:

Awareness on pre -and post natal care should be provided by the Health dept.

ANMs/ Health Visitors should visit the place where construction workers live.

Like ASHA (Accrediated Social Health Activist) in the National Rural health Mission, even USHA (Urban Social Health Activist) should be introduced very shortly.

Health services like clinics, mobile health vans, etc. should be made available near dwelling places of construction workers.

Awareness on immunization should be provided.

3. Anganawadis:

1.Anganawadis should have balsevika teachers and trained helpers; the timings of anganawadis should be extended till 4pm.

4. Education:

Govt. schools should be located in migrant colonies/clusters.

There should be equal treatment of migrant and other children in schools.

Two percent of their income should be set aside by builders for the education of the workers' children.

5. Protection:

Shelter with elementary facilities should be provided for construction labourers.

Strict protection policy should be formulated to combat girl child abuse.

Two-Day Consultation on Child Marriage

The KCRO and Partners' Consultation on Child Marriage was held on November 6 -7, 2008, at Bijapur. NGOs from the seven Uttara Karnataka districts most affected by this problem attended in strength as did the students of the Mahila University. which collaborated in the event. Several presentations on various aspects of the issue held the rapt attention of all on the first day, while the second was mostly focussed on action plans for each of the districts involved. the working groups that drew up the plans were composed of officials from various departments at the district level, NGOs and some academics.

The day prior to the meeting began with field visits by the KCRO teams in both rural areas around Bijapur and in the slums of the town itself. Issues revealed during these visits were aired at the meeting. In the afternoon, drawing and elocution competitions on the subject of child marriage were held. There were a gratifying number of good entries. Moreover, the children enjoyed the competitions.

The Mahila University Social Work department expressed keen interest in following this initiative with focus on other aspects of child rights, especially those related to the problems of girl children.

Launch of the Karnataka Child Rights Observatory

Karnataka Child Rights Observatory [KCRO] Launch.

KCRO is a consortium of NGOs, academic institutions, network organisations, with Child Right Trust as the coordinating organization. UNICEF is supporting this initiative to monitor the situation of children in Karnataka and to support various advocacy and lobbying activities to uphold rights of the child.

The project was launched in Bangalore on June 30th 2008.

Mr. Vasudeva Sharma, Director, CRT welcomed all the participants from different places and started briefing them with scope and functioning of KCRO. ”Karnataka Child Rights Observatory is an omnibus project with a number of sub-projects that together converge to provide data, analysis, publicity and pressure (as needed) for both Government and civil society to act in the best interest of the child. KCRO will be run by a consortium of NGOs and academic institutions/individuals with Child Rights Trust as the coordinating organisation”.

Dr. Shalini, IAS, DWCD, GoK thanked all the NGOs and wished this programme a grand success. She stressed the point that the best outcomes rest on team work. Government’s action plans have been initiated up to 2010 for realizing the MDGs jointly with the health and education department. New steps that have been initiated through anganwadis are Programme for Anaemic children; Child Tracking, Awareness on Child Marriages, Immunization, and Disability program to set right their disabilities in the children by conducting required surgeries. She also added that training is being conducted for anganwadi workers to recognise disabilities and report the same to the health department. Steps are being taken with regard to abandoned children by training youths through a massive awareness campaign for community participation on this issue.

Ms. Sudha Murali, Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF Hyderabad, commented that the rights of children are fundamental and CRC has mandated that their rights should be considered as a legal obligation, moral imperative and development priority. She also added that Karnataka as a state has showcased and pioneered many innovative initiatives like Nali-Kali, School Sanitation; programmes for combating Child Labour etc. These are done in coordination with NGOs for the development of women and children. She also stated that DWCD and UNICEF are setting up a Child Protection Unit basically to implement various initiatives related to children and ensure convergence. Training, capacity building and networking are the key elements that will enrich the work of the Observatory.

Dr.Padmini, Trustee, CRT, presented slides on the status of Karnataka’s Children, as well as their progress on some key Child right Indicators including infant and child mortality, health and nutrition, sex ratio, school dropouts, literacy, water and sanitation, poverty etc. She pointed out that nationally collected data often do not agree with departmental or state level data, thus making comparisons across all levels difficult. The latter presented a more positive picture of the situation of children in the state, but the former were generally accepted as solid and accurate.
Despite these technical and conceptual problems, it was clear that Karnataka has a long way to go before it can reach the U.N. goals [MDGs and WFFC goals] or even catch up with its neighbouring states. Within Karnataka itself, the northern region was lagging behind the rest in most of the indicators. She further highlighted the analysis of the implications of the data presented, and possible causes for poor status or inadequate progress.

Ms. Suchitra Rao, UNICEF Project Officer, chaired the Q&A and open forum discussions. She commented that KCRO is concentrating on many special issues representing children. She questioned the gathering as to its ideas on how to go about it. What are the scientific and technical approaches that are needed so as to affect advocacy? And how to reach the new heights which will have impact on the children?

A series of responses came regarding the priorities among the themes to take up in the Observatory - requirement of a good database, lack of awareness on child rights, poverty, globalization etc and also to concentrate on the issues like:

• Birth Registration
• ECCD
• Reasons for the infant and child death
• NFH survey which is not matching with the sate government response
• Female infanticide/sex ratio level
• Gender disparity imbalance
• To know about sufficient number of anganwadi schools for the children
• The effect of primary education
• Malnutrition & over-nutrition
• Child sexual abuse and impact of the electronic media
• Budget tracking in Karnataka
• Is Quality education available for the children and how is it effective?
• State response towards street children, HIV victims children, child labour, and to a deinstitutionalized approach.
• School dropouts after 14 years of age, consequences, situations pertaining to it.

Some of the participants suggested that a strong database is needed. It should function independently irrespective of the time period Some also suggested that KCRO work should move beyond NGOs and it should come into contact with community development organisations. Mr.Vikas Verma, UNICEF Communications Officer, commented that KCRO is the voice of children, which looks at larger issues and not just the symptoms. UNICEF will facilitate it to make this voice heard by the desired audience. He also commented that the organisation is also working towards creating the website to reach out larger people.
Dr. Padmini stated that KCRO would be a separate entity. It should neither be identified as a separate NGO nor with CRT nor with UNICEF. She suggested that the name should be the Karnataka Child Right Observatory [KCRO}. It will be the people’s voice, which will have greater impact on the children.
Ms. Nina Naik, Chairperson, KSCCW, made the final comments, summing up the consensus of the group. She stressed that KCRO belongs to all, and it will take up all the burning issues of children with collective voice.

The programme ended with a promise to meet again in other parts of Karnataka and work towards children’s rights, with everyone contributing towards KCRO.

Concept Note on the Karnataka Child Rights Observatory

Karnataka Observatory on
Children's Rights Status and Progress
[A project supported by UNICEF, Hyderabad]


I. Introduction
The UN Convention on the Rights of the (CRC) has laid the onus of ensuring that every child realizes her/his rights on parents, but in the eventuality that they cannot or do not fulfill this role adequately, the State is enjoined to support or even step in to do so.

The duty to enable child rights whether by planning and implementing suitable programmes or by education of the parents, carries with it the corresponding duties of regularly monitoring and periodically evaluating their status, the role that the state has envisaged for itself as well as for other actors such as parents, family, civil society and academics, the process of both planning and implementation, and the relationship among inputs, outputs and outcomes. It also casts upon the State the role of an advocate for the Child.

The global WFFC review (2007) as well as cross-sectional and trend data from national and state level sources reveal that the achievements in India in the last half decade have fallen far short of the WFFC goals as well as of the MDG goals [since the last decade and a half]. But there are still many gaps and contradictions in the data that need to be investigated. Moreover, the data are generally macro - or meso - level, while data at local levels, where the actions need to be specifically targeted, are often not available even if they do exist with local organisations or the authorities. Generally, too, the causes of such shortfalls are not probed into. Yet another problem is that governments are not willing to acknowledge the full extent of the shortfalls but are dismissive of civil society findings when faced with them.
The result is that on the one hand, there is some immediate hand-wringing when the data are released and some generic responses or none at all – the data are only the sensation of the moment.
This scenario is not in the least conducive to the realisation of child rights in India even while the economy is growing and talent and expertise is not wanting.
Hence a systematic attempt to examine the policies, programmes and budgets that Government as well as NGOs have put in place with the aim of helping achieve the WFFC/MDG goals is needed. It is also necessary to examine the commitments to children that various political parties and people’s representatives make at the time of elections and measure the actual performance of those in power. The findings from such efforts can feed into both monitoring the State's implementation of the Convention and lobbying for children's rights.

This type of project will have greater credibility and clout if spearheaded by some eminent persons. Such an attempt needs to be a collaborative effort of several civil society organisations, so that there is maximum coverage as well as possibilities of building on the strengths of various partners’ concerted action and advocacy. It should create space for the voice of children. Also the various activities and programmes should interlink with each other. The project will keep in touch with, and involve, Government in the process, but will be independent of it.
Overall, the Observatory will be a rich source of information, analysis of data and policy, for all stakeholders. Since it is an independent body that draws on the expertise and concern of child rights activists all over the state, it will be a strong child rights resource centre. It is expected that not only NGOs but also government departments and the proposed State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights will use it for data, analysis and policy suggestions.


II. Objectives and Scope of the Observatory

The overall objective is to set up a Child Rights Observatory in Karnataka that is run by a consortium of NGOs & academics with Child Rights Trust as the coordinating organisation. The word “Observatory” is used more in a conceptual sense than a physical one: The project will an omnibus one with a number of sub-projects that together converge to provide the data, analysis, publicity and pressure [as needed] for both Government and Civil Society to act in the best interests of the Child. It will follow and document the progress of child rights realisation in the state over time; the collaborating organisations will use the findings and materials to strengthen their advocacy and actions.

With the Child Rights Observatory as a source for information and analysis on the status of children in the state with respect to various indicators, running through the entire duration of the project, other sub-projects will be carried out in the next five years with different timelines as needed.


III. The Observatory

With its experience in the field child rights research, advocacy, lobbying with field experience, CRT is confident that it can develop and coordinate the proposed Observatory project in Karnataka. This omnibus project will have two aspects with several sub-projects as follows:

A. Child Rights Resource Centre : will have activities such as Media Analysis, Data Bank at different levels Research Studies, Budget Analysis, CRC, NPAC & SPAC Monitoring, Analysis of CWC Cases;

B. Child Rights Advocacy - Children's Parliaments, Children's Poll, Pre-election Campaigns, Post-election Follow-up; Accountability of Peoples' Representatives at all Levels – Q & A Analysis, Child-friendly legislators, Legislators' Forum, Special Grama Sabhas/ULB Sabhas.

The two sub-projects have inter-linkages and each will utilise the results and sometimes the processes of the other project.

A. Child Rights Resource Centre:
i. Media Analysis: Media Analysis and scanning of media reports on violation of child rights and initiation of corrective actions by the concerned authorities; highlighting reports on best practices and case studies on good developments. The Child Rights Observatory sends a fortnightly email news bulletin to the stake holders to highlight the situation of children as reported in various print media.
ii. Data Bank at different levels: Quantitative and qualitative studies, based on primary and secondary data, will be collected through various sources by CRT and through NGO/Academic partners. The analysis of these data will form the basis for the other sub-projects.
iii. Reports on the Status of Children: Provision of inputs into CRC Alternate Reports at various intervals as required; monitoring of NPAC and SPAC, and updates on the situation of children in South India, Karnataka and India.
iv. Budget Analysis: Analysis of the state budget allocations and expenditures on children’s issues and advocacy for higher/adequate allocations as well as their use.
v. Analysis of CWC Cases: CWCs in the state have a lot of data on violations of child rights and decisions on them. Analysis of these will yield rich dividends

B. Child Rights Advocacy

i. Election Advocacy
Post-election follow-up with the successful candidates
a. Children's Parliaments: Consultations for children to speak out freely on various issues concerning them.

b. Q & A Analysis: Analysis of the Question Hour of the Legislative Assembly and Council to bring out the importance given to children's issues by people's representatives, the quality and type of questions and also the quality, reliability and accuracy of the answers given by the Government.

c. Child-friendly Legislators: For the past three years, CRT and UNICEF have been honouring state legislators who asked the most questions about children's issues in the Legislature with the title Child-friendly Legislators. Already some pay-off has been seen in some of them asking CRT for more information and suggestions on issues to raise in the respective Houses.

d. Forum of Legislators for Children: Another dividend in the making is that some legislators have expressed interest of creating a Forum for children among them.
When the houses of legislature are again in place, this initiative will need to be followed upon and the CRT will have to service the Forum with sensitisation, information and support to their efforts to act as a caucus for children.

e. Child-Friendly Grama Sabhas/ULB Sabhas: Provision of inputs and methodology to Gram Panchayats and local NGOs for organising and conducting Grama Sabhas on children’s issues at Grama Panchayat level as per the circular issued by the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Karnataka. The government is contemplating doing this in urban areas local bodies will also be covered with that expectation.

f. Media Events and Materials: Organization of periodic media events to publicise children’s issues from various sources in order to create awareness among public, officials, parents, communities and children; and to support advocacy for child rights.

IV. Partners and Advisers
CRT will look to all its state partners as well as UNICEF and expect to also benefit from the guidance of some eminent social leaders and experienced activists [some suggested names are depicted in the chart below]. The advisory board for the observatory will meet once in three months to take stock of the developments and also to guide the team for future activities. The findings of the advisory board will be shared with media for wider reach.

Government departments concerned with the child will be periodically apprised of the progress in KCRO and its outputs will be shared. They will be also involved in discussions of the results of the project as per the need and feasibility.