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Be an advocate

As an advocate for Child Rights you can help amplify the voices of children. Too many millions of India's children are still denied the simple joys of childhood, love, protection and so often life itself. And for any change on a significant scale, it will require each one of us to start thinking of children, not as objects of sympathy, but as citizens with the same rights that we consider our due.

You can be a powerful partner to CRY as its communicator, without even stepping into our offices or homes. You can speak to your friends, family and colleagues to create awareness and empathy for the situation of children, mobilise support for CRY and its efforts to ensure that all children enjoy their basic rights.

Think about, Know and Understand the situation of children

What you can do:

Try looking at the world through the eyes of a child. Think giant-sized doors and shoes. Imagine having to work with your computer where you have to reach over your head. Visualise living in a gigantic world where even to quench your thirst you need to deal with a heavy, huge bottle of water.
Ask yourself what is in the long-term best interests of children around you - your own, your neighbour's, the child who works at the tea stall nearby, your domestic help's/ driver's children. Think up of opportunities you can give all of these children to play, learn, do creative things together.
Sit with your children and initiate a discussion or work on a project on the situation of children in your environment - in school, in your neighbourhood, on the streets, at traffic signals etc.

Act for child rights

What you can do:

Do not employ a child as domestic help, it's illegal. More...
Reject goods or services that employ children - search for and encourage those suppliers and agencies that employ and pay adults enough to send their children to school.
Start by taking a walk down to the municipal school or health centre in your neighbourhood and see what you can do to change the situation. Maybe you and a few of your friends from the neighbourhood could get together and make it a more child-friendly environment.
Read about CRY volunteers who have made such change possible.
You can discuss with your children on how you can contribute to the cause of child rights - by volunteering, holding exhibitions to create awareness or fund-raising drives, buying products from stores like CRY World (where proceeds go towards child rights initiatives) or simply by making a donation. Read about some of the activities by people who have supported CRY in various ways.
In the company you work in, organise an in-house campaign to involve your colleagues or the management to contribute time, money or skills.
Download this CRY presentation (PDF 2MB) and present it at forums such as your office, neighbourhood gatherings or to your family, friends, and colleagues.
Say no to sex selective abortion. Create awareness among family and friends on the evils of discriminating against girl children. More...
Download, read, print and distribute this CRY leaflet (PDF 800kb) to create awareness on CRY and the work we do. The leaflet provides information about our work, our role in the area of child rights and our progress thus far.
We also have other fun material that you could download and spread awareness about child rights - Screensavers, Posters, Wallpapers, Buttons, Banners. You could also create a pinwheel, the "Free-a-Child Chakri" a symbol of Child Rights.

Should you require any further assistance, write to us at webinfo@crymail.org or call the CRY office closest to you.