Our Supported ProjectS

Paraspara

Location: Bangalore City, Karnataka.

Objective: To work towards eradication of child labour in 10 slums of Bangalore and empower the slum people to fight for their rights.

Project Background

Paraspara was initiated by Mr K. C. Venkatesh, a former staff member of a plastic manufacturing firm in Bangalore. Company’s management displayed a poor attitude towards children’s rights and this motivated Mr Venkatesh to take up the issue within the firm. After being relatively unsuccessful, Mr Venkatesh resigned and decided to dedicate his time and energy towards social issues related to the working class. After 13 years of active involvement, he developed an intervention plan to restore protection of children’s rights in the Malleshwaran Zone of Bangalore.

The Paraspara Trust was established in 1996. ICF has been funding the trust since 2001. Child Relief & You (CRY) is ICF’s partner agency in India. CRY volunteers monitor the project on a monthly basis to ensure the project aims and goals are being met. ICF volunteers also visit the project on a yearly basis.

Community Background

• Development work is ongoing in 7 slums located in the Northern part of Bangalore city.
• The slums are characterised by dilapidated and infirm housing, a lack of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, inadequate/lack of government sponsored education and health care services; and low family incomes mainly spent on food and in meeting social obligations and festivals; thus leaving little for children’s education and health needs.
• Alcoholism is also prevalent within the community further depleting family income.
• Almost the whole of the reference community works in the unorganised sector.
• Among men, 60% - 70% work as porters; 12% are engaged in petty trades while the remaining work as contract labourers.
• Most of the women work in domestic households.
• Wage disparity is prevalent – women receive much less for the same work than their male counterparts.
• Low incomes force families to push boys into the workforce and girls married at an early age.
• Education has essentially been de-prioritised by families not only due to low family income but furthermore to poor quality of teaching, irrelevant curriculum and inadequate infrastructure in schools.
• Many schools do not have basic facilities like safe drinking water and toilets.
• There is a distinct lack of adequate attention paid to the needs of special children.
• Only 58% of children have been enrolled in schools and 23% are known child labourers. Another 18% are out of school and thus identified as potential child labourers.

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ANyAYA RAHIT zINDAGI (ARZ)

Location: Vasco da Gama, Goa

Objective: To prevent the involvement of vulnerable groups in trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, either as victims or perpetrators, at Baina Beach organised prostitution area.

Project Background:

Anyaya Rahit Zindagi, meaning a “Life without Injustice”, works with victims of commercial sexual exploitation and stigmatisation in the city of Vasco da Gama in the state of Goa in India. Goa is one of the developing states in the country as a result of the growth in tourism, both inland and foreign. The objective of the organisation is to stop trafficking in humans for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.  ARZ works through a Community Based Approach and involves key stakeholders in the process. The community groups that ARZ works with are:

• Victims of trafficking: Women and girl children
• Perpetrators of trafficking: Brothel owners, customers, bar owners, family members and traffickers
• Vulnerable groups: Persons vulnerable to becoming victims or perpetrators (Other men, women and children residing in the area where trafficking and prostitution takes place, the most vulnerable being children)

ARZ works with these groups at the different levels of prevention, protection, rescue, repatriation, rehabilitation and prosecution.

ARZ is working in the organised prostitution area of Baina Beach in Vasco da Gama city. Persons at Baina Beach are either perpetrators of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation or those not connected with either. The latter usually are engaged in daily wage or temporary employment. Baina Beach has grown into the centre for most of the trafficking coming into Goa from the neighbouring states. Girls as young as 12 years old are brought into this area.

Children are the most vulnerable to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and those growing up in this environment are subjected to many unproductive influences at a young age. In addition, the socio-economic and psychological situation of the family and community to which they belong exacerbates their vulnerability to involvement in the trafficking trade. There is an overall socialisation of the vulnerable child in a manner that the child internalises attitudes, norms and behaviour attuned to that of the fraternity of the trafficking trade and that ultimately gives the child little opportunity besides becoming a participant in trafficking.