As human rights organization, CSJ believes it is imperative to work on the rights of children – the most vulnerable section of our society. The organization has done some instrumental work in terms of training and capacity building of volunteers from organizations working at the grassroots level on the issues pertaining to the rights of the children.
Targeted Intervention:
The Child Rights Paralegal Training Programme- The organization’s Child Rights Paralegal Training and Capacity Building programme was initiated to develop community-based child rights paralegals with an objective of developing a cadre of paralegals who would work for children facing violations, acting as a link between the community and the machinery involved, and be responsible for protecting the rights of children. The capacity building programme was organized in two phases with about 150 volunteers whereas it reduced to 75 paralegal volunteers being trained in the second phase. The programme was supported by UNICEF and conducted in three districts of Madhya Pradesh — Bhopal, Shivpuri and Rajgarh.
Essentially, this intervention helped the volunteers gain rights based perspective on issues that involve child rights violation. The events were focused on the dissemination of information on various laws like
Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act 2012, Right to Education Act 2009, Right to Information Act, 2005, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)Act,1986 and The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
Furthermore, the Paralegal Volunteers (PLVs) were also given information on how to analyze and use these laws for the protection of the rights of the children. The inputs were also given on using different methods and tools for data collection and grassroots activism.