Caritas India, best known for its commitment to alleviating human suffering, launched the multi-state Child Rights Programme ‘Surokshit Shaishav – Promoting Safe Childhood’ for the promotion and protection of children’s rights.

On January 31, 2023, the second phase of the programme was launched at Seva Kendra Calcutta. The new phase is supported by Caritas Germany/BMZ for West Bengal, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh to improve access to education and protection against exploitative child labour and child trafficking.

The programme launch was accompanied by the Diamond Jubilee celebration of Caritas India and a learning-sharing meeting on the Surokhit Shaishav Programme. An impact assessment study report by the Jayaprakash Institute of Social Change was also released during the event.

The inaugural session started with the Holy Eucharist graced by Archbishop of Calcutta, Most Rev. Thomas D Souza, Fr. Dr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director, Caritas India, Fr. Felix Pinto, Director, Seva Kendra, Siliguri, Fr. Antony Rodrick, Director, Seva Kendra, Calcutta, Fr. Dr. Samuel Lepcha, Director, ADDSSS, Darjeeling, and Fr. Jaison Manuel, Director, PGSS, Gorakhpur.

In his speech, the archbishop thanked Caritas India for taking such an initiative to work for our country’s assets, the children. He added that the children need special protection from the greed around them. He also thanked the new partners from Assam and Uttar Pradesh for joining hands in this noble work.

Welcoming all the participants, Fr. Felix, Director of Seva Kendra, Siliguri, shared his experience of the last three years. He expressed his excitement and expectations for the second phase of the programme. He shared about the children’s empowerment brought about through the programme in the operational areas. He congratulated Caritas India for completing 60 years of service.

Fr. Dr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director, Caritas India, shared the vision and thoughts behind the programme in his keynote address. He informed us about the deplorable situation of children in our country and proposed ways to address these issues. He discussed the roles of policymakers in accepting issues and taking corrective actions to address them. He expressed his concern over the number of children being trafficked every day and why it is important to include such issues in the current phase of the child rights programme. Fr. Paul also discussed the achievements of the first phase and how important it is to work for the holistic development of the children. He concluded his speech by congratulating the entire Child Rights team for their efforts in making the programme successful.

Smt. Manisha Bhattacharya, Director of the State Labour Institute, Kolkata, and the honourable guest of the event, shared her thoughts about being associated with Phase One of this programme and how she can directly connect with it. She congratulated Caritas India for standing by victims of child abuse along with the government.

In the next phase of the program, the official programme launching and celebration of 60 years of Caritas India’s journey was done symbolically by inaugurating a banner and a clay plaque designed with the 60-year logo of Caritas India by His Grace Archbishop, Fr. Dr. Paul, Smt. Bhattacharya, and participants from selected child club members.

Government dignitaries, Smt. Shaon Sen, Additional Secretary, Department of Labour, Government of West Bengal; Shri. Supriyo Sarkar, Joint Director, Department of Women and Child Development, Govt. of WB; and Shri. Dibyendu Sarkar, IAS and Former Secretary, Govt. of WB, delivered their speeches. All those dignitaries emphasised strong collaboration between government departments and civil society organisations to fight against social evils. They also talked about various government schemes, that could be availed of by the children under various departments. They all emphasised the government’s intent to collaborate extensively with the CSOs to roll out the child-centric government schemes successfully in the best interest of the children.

After the completion of the speech by the eminent guests, Prof. Jaydev Mazumdar, Executive Director, Jayaprakash Institute of Social Change, and his team presented their findings of the impact assessment study report of the concluded Child Rights Programme, Surokhito Shaishav, which was followed by the release of the study report by Fr. Paul, Prof. Jaydeb Mazumdar, and Shri. Dibyendu Sarkar.

To set the programme rolling, Caritas India organised two days of orientation on February 1st and 2nd, 2023 in Seva Kendra Calcutta, along with the respective Partners Directors, Project Coordinators and Accountants to orient the program objectives, proposed activities, Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL framework), Child safeguarding policy and revisit child protection policy of Caritas India, as well as the reporting system for the Child Rights Project. At the end of the two-day orientation program, all the partners have developed their Detailed Implementation Plans (DIPs) for the remaining period of the current quarter.

Fr. Dr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director, Caritas India, emphatically said that it is our duty to create a suitable environment for all children in our society, so that they can get the scope to prosper. He also suggested exploring possibilities of networking with the government as well as other like-minded people and organisations for the best interest of the children.

A financial management session was organised to bring compliance, and explain the reporting mechanisms of the Caritas Germany/BMZ Program, Ms. Jancy Mathew, Lead Program Finance, Caritas India, categorically explained to partners their requirements.

All nine partners shared their experiences on key good practices from the perspective of strategies at the micro, meso, and macro levels, which can be pursued together in this child rights program. They also shared the key challenges and expectations of the program.