Report of Work In

PRAYAS- JUVENILE AID

CENTRE




By- Manini Jaiswal
First Year (2010-2011)
Chanakya National Law University
Patna
Prayas


Living a barren life with no hopes,no restrictions, nowhere to go and no one to
turn to this is the life of millions of children living in India. They are born to live
under poor condition, who naturally fall prey to social vices, like consumption of
drugs or their childhood end up as sex slaves or as criminals. Our Constitution
talks about right to education, right to food and right to shelter to all the children.
But what about the fundamental rights of these children- who go back to sleep
hungry stomach, do not go to school because their parents cannot afford the
cost, linger round the dark lanes aimlessly. Are the fundamental rights engraved
in the pages of Constitution are not meant for them?Realizing the seriousness of
the issue Prayas today stands committed, to make heard the voices of these
children. We believe that needs and rights of children are synonymous.
Prayas today is serving around 50,000 children in 7 states of India. They do not
just provide shelter, home and clothing to the underprivileged children but also try
to find out the root causes behind their sufferings and strive for their holistic
development. Still much has to be done in order to bring smile to the faces of
these children. But we will keep our struggle go on.

Prayas protects and promotes child rights and provides a means with which men,
women and children can become economically self-sufficient.
The following are the issues which impede development in these areas and
Prayas' strategies in tackling these issues.
Child Protection
Juvenile Justice
Child Trafficking
Child Labour
Child Abuse
Empowering Children through Alternative education programme,
Mainstreaming and Vocational Skills Training
Action based Research & Documentation
Training. & Capacity Building
Awareness & Advocacy Programme
Economic Empowerment through Vocational Skills Education, Self-Help
Group, Micro Credit and Income Generation Programme (IGP)
Resource Mobilization & Social Marketing
Creating action programme on trafficking of children for commercial and
sexual exploitation and HIV/AIDS Prevention
Social Re-integration and Rehabilitation of Children
Disaster Risk Mgmt.





HOW PRAYAS WORKS?

PRAYAS believes that the mission of an egalitarian society would remain
unrealized unless every section of the society worked in coordination for
achieving the objective. To ensure the success of the initiatives undertaken
PRAYAS has worked to seek the essential support of every stakeholder of the
society. Participatory governance remains their key objective
The children served by Prayas include rag pickers; shoeshine boys, street
vendors and children trafficked for different forms of child labour including
domestic help and beggars. The needs of these children can only be
accomplished through empowerment and capacity building of their families and
communities. Prayas serves the needs of the underprivileged children by
undertaking welfare programs for the care, protection and development of
disadvantaged children, youth and women. Conducting research on issues
related to neglected children and the juvenile justice system in the country.
Initiating advocacy and awareness programmes in order to mobilize the various
sections of society. Bringing out publication on various issues dealing with
development of children, youth and women.

Child Participation
Community Participation
Public- Private Partnership
Government Voluntary Organization Partnership
International Collaborations






















THE GOALS OF PRAYAS

Prayas Objectives comprise the following:
Undertaking welfare programmes for care, protection, and development of
disadvantaged children, youth and women
Fulfilling basic needs of the destitute street and neglected children.
Promoting and organizing meaningful educational programmes,
recreational and library facilities for children
Running vocational training programmes and organizing Self Help
Groups for the economic empowerment of disadvantaged groups and the
communities
Organizing basic health, nutritional and medical services including health
awareness programmes for children along with counseling and
psychological support
Running model home under the Juvenile Justice, Act for children in need
of care and protection and correction and rehabilitation of juvenile
offenders.
Conducting research on issues related to neglected children and the
juvenile justice system in the country
Initiating advocacy to usher in policy changes to promote effective child
development programmes in the country and
Bringing out publication on various issues dealing with development of
children youth and women in deprived communities.
Working for the common cause in cooperation with similar organizations in
India and abroad and networking with NGOs, government and the
corporate sector.
Sensitizing government, communities and the civil society at large about
the needs of such children.
Promoting smaller initiatives and groups working for such children through
capacity building and offering technical expertise.















MY EXPERIENCE AS A VOLUNTEER

In Prayas I worked for its joint programme with Smile Foundation, which is the
Smile Twin e-learning Programme (STeP), under the guidance of Mr. Sanjeev
and Mr. Rajkumar, the heads of this programme.

Smile Twin E- learning Programme (STeP) is such an initiative of Smile
Foundation that aims at creating a pool of young and independent people, from
the marginalized section, through skill enhancement in tandem with market
requirements. It is an effort towards bridging the gap between demand and
supply of skilled manpower in the fast emerging services and retail sectors of
modern India.

This national level programme trains the urban underprivileged adolescent youth
in English Proficiency, Basic Computer Education and Soft Skills for enhancing
their prospects of employment in the fast expanding retail, hospitality and BPO
sectors.

Smile Foundation provides placement assistance for STeP students. In this
regard, the placement cell of the Smile Foundation has linked with corporates for
organizing placements, internships and exposure visits for the trainees. Smile
Foundation constantly strives to make its students and their families self
reliant.Exposure Visits and Alumni Meets are also organised for the students to
facilitate their direct interaction with ex-students and employers representatives
that further helps students in understanding the path ahead.

Driven by Smiles philosophy of Progress through Partnership, STeP is also
designed to be implemented in association with partner organizations, who take
the role of Implementing Partners. Smile Foundation has received support and
encouragement from around 70 odd corporates and institutions under various
welfare initiatives. Barclays, Caterpillar, IIFT, IMI, Microsoft, SAIL, TARGET,
UPS, Samsung, Asset Foundation.

The STeP centre of Jhansi and Noida received a 100% placement in the year
2010. The students have found jobs in places like Tata Indicom, Reliance Mobile,
Life Line Hospital and the Registrar Office. The various employment engagement
activities organized for the students at the centre helped to develop their soft
skills and added significantly to their personality development. The career
counselling sessions also were very helpful for the students to perform well
during the job interviews. Workshop for SteP trainers are also conducted for
better training of students. The students are taken for Exposure visits in
McDonalds, Westside, Apollo Pharmacy, Kreeda Media Solutions, etc to gain
practical knowledge what they are being trained in.



Although with these there has been an attempt for the upliftment of the society
but there is still a long way to go ahead. I am thankful to Prayas and Smile
Foundation who had given me an opportunity to work with them and help me
gain knowledge about the working of an ngo for the upliftment of the society. I
would also like to associate myself with such programmes in future if given to do
so.