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JABALA

JAAG

Jabala

Bowbazar, a red light area in North Kolkata, West Bengal wherein about 12,000 sex workers ply their trade. Here, sewage facilities are poor and child trafficking & child sexual abuse are rampant. By evening, business is in full swing - However, in one dingy room, there is activity of another kind. About 20 children of the sex workers are being transported to a world of alphabets, numbers, dance, drama and mime - made possible by Jabala, a CRY-supported organisation that rehabilitates commercial sex workers and their children.

Milestones Tapas and Rina

In-between studies, 16-year-old Tapas helped out in the family business, serving country liquor in his mother's bar. His study table was a corner of the same room, amidst the customers. To concentrate fully, he would crawl under the bed. Despite these circumstances, he scored 72% in his board exams, and today he dreams of becoming a police officer. Tapas attributes his success to Jabala.

As does Rina. Like Tapas, Rina grew up in the dingy lanes of Bowbazar. daily struggling to escape the clutches of lecherous men. Her destiny seemed to be sealed. With the help of Jabala however, Rina escaped, completed her Masters, become a teacher and role model for her community. Today, she guides children from Bowbazar along the path of education, opening up the promise of a brighter future.

The Jabala approach

Kusum Gupta and Baitali Ganguly, the founders of Jabala, realised that working with the children was important in order to prevent them from joining their mothers' profession. Hence they approached the local Youth Club for space and started Satyakam, a centre which provides the children with shelter during their mothers working hours, tries to give them confidence, a sense of self respect, prepares them for formal elementary education and protects them from sexual and psychological abuseLike all CRY-supported initiatives, Jabala also works with the community making them aware of the need for education and guides them on issues like healthcare and alternative sources of livelihood. Local school authorities are persuaded to mainstream the children - about 30 children have been so mainstreamed over the past year. Women's groups are encouraged to demand the rights of their children. Youth groups enact street plays to raise awareness about the perils of drug/sexual abuse and child trafficking, with a view to preventing these practices in the area. Many of the children from Bowbazar have become teachers in Jabala's coaching centres and are helping to permanently change the lives of hundreds of families here.

The results

• Jabala now caters to 205 children through two pre-primary and two supplementary coaching centres in Bowbazar and Barrackpore.
• Children are encouraged to borrow books from the library.
• Meetings are held regularly with mothers, to discuss their child's progress, and impress on them the importance of birth registration, immuniSation and primary education.
• Regular health check ups are organised for mothers and children.
• 6 child marriages have been prevented.

CRY's role in creating milestones

Jabala is just one of hundreds of child-development initiatives supported by CRY. For these projects, CRY does any or all of the following:

• Funding non-formal education centres and balwadis (pre-primary centres) for working children
• Funding the community organisers, giving them a perspective on their rights
• Helping NGOs, like Jabala, plan campaigns and programmes aimed at mobilising the community
• Providing training and organisational inputs that ensure the accountability and effectiveness of the programme
• Linking the child rights agenda with the macro issues of livelihood
• Developing leadership in the NGOs, and giving them inputs on how to advocate for community rights
• Linking up NGOs through the state and the country, enabling them to share experiences and learnings

At the core of all this work is the belief that each child has rights that society and the state owe her - the right to survive, to develop, to be protected against exploitation and to participate in the decisions affecting her future.

JAAG

"They were the real inheritors of the earth, until the city came along". This best describes the situation of urban tribals Jaag is fighting towards empowering.

Very little is known about urban tribals. Most of them are not on the voters list, they do not even have ration cards. They lack basic amenities - no sanitation, health and medical facilities, no doctors, no electricity, and most of all the children have no school to go to. They simply do not exist. They grow seasonal vegetables for a living, but for the better part of the year, they live on the edge.

The urban tribals in Mumbai are concentrated in and around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, where there are tribal hamlets housing more than 6000 families. Some are around Water Kingdom and the irony is that these villages have no access to water even though they are less than 5 kilometers away from this water park. The government does not care. But Vitthal Lad does.

Hailing from a small village in Kolhapur, Vitthal studied social work at Pune University after a numbing revelation about how tribals live in India. Today he is neck deep in a battle that is not his. As he puts it - "these tribals never went to the city. The city grew and came into their home. They didn't know that a day would come when they would be asked to leave their homes because they did not have proof of residence." To fight against such edicts by the government and other parties like builders, Vitthal started Jaag, a decade ago.

The project focuses on providing:

• Education and health care to the tribal children
• Comprehensive community development through peoples' participation
• Leadership among the tribal communities
• Formation of youth groups, mahila mandals, village councils
• Networking with the Maharashtra Tribal Forum, tribal activists and lawyers on the issue of tribal rights

Jaag's endeavors to work for these communities enabling them live a better life and with confidence. A 16 year old girl from one of the hamlets Jaag works with became the first to complete her school education - Std. 10. Now, she teaches young minds at Jaag's non-formal education centres. Against all odds, there is hope, an awakening.

What was CRY's role in all of this?

• Funding JAAG and its programmes towards restoring the rights to urban tribals and their children
• Helping JAAG plan campaigns and programmes aimed at mobilising the community and teaching them about the importance of education
• Providing training and organisational inputs that ensure the accountability and effectiveness of the programme
• Linking the child rights agenda with the macro issues of livelihood
• Building a leadership team at JAAG and giving them inputs on how to advocate for community rights
• Linking JAAG to other NGOs through the state and the country, thus enabling them to share experiences and learnings

This, in a nutshell, is what CRY attempts to do with each of the organisations and thousands of communities it works with. At the core of all this work is the belief that each child has rights that society and the state owe her - the right to survive, to develop, to be protected against exploitation and to participate in the decisions affecting her future.

View JAAG's presentation at the World Social Forum 2004, Mumbai, on Community Empowerment towards ensuring Child Rights.