The orientation exercise for the Khushaal Bachpan programme was held to provide a platform to indulged team members in building rapport and foster connections to develop a broader and intricate understanding of the programme. Thus, it was imperative to impart the objectives of the programme along with its other thematic interconnections to enable the pathway towards achieving the larger goal.

Laying down the moral and spiritual foundation for the programme Fr. Dr. Jolly, Asst Executive Director, Caritas India held elaborate discussions on Catholic Social Teachings (CST). The key principles discussed in the context of the programme included solidarity, human rights, and responsibilities, promotion of peace, preferring poor and vulnerable, stewardship of creation, and more.

The team building session consisted of multiple exercises led by Mr. Kushal, Technical Advisor – Safeguarding Capacity Strengthening- Catholic Relief Services. The session was initiated by Fr. Dr. Paul, Executive Director, Caritas India who encapsulated the idea of “TEAM” in the phrase- Together Everyone Achieves More. The many interactive exercises and activities covered the “4 Cs of team building- Collaboration, Communication and Commitment.” Fr. Paul stressed that the features of team building sessions were centred around, “time management, strategic thinking active listening skills, and clarity in giving instructions.” The entire segment was summarized by Fr. Paul underscoring the concept of UBUNTU- I am because, what we are, emphasizing togetherness and team spirit.

Various thematic sessions held, including on Education, Health & Nutrition and Child Protection underlined the fundamental deliverables of the Khushaal Bachpan programme. All these sessions were held virtually and were led by experienced resource persons.

The session on education was led by Ms. Anviti from the Modern Institute of Education, who spoke about the Right to Education and the current and new National Education Policies.

This was followed by session on Health & Nutrition presided by Mr. Arvind, technical support staff and trainer in areas of Child Rights and Health & Nutrition. He discussed the importance of physical and mental growth, height, and weight measurements to detect signs of malnutrition. He also iterated the value of nutrients, a determining factor for the health of mother and the child.

The thematic session on Child Protection was carried out under the aegis of Ms. Karuna who specializes in the field with more than 25 years of experience. She has also been a member of Child Welfare Committee and Juvenile Justice Board. Ms. Karuna imparted an overarching and pragmatic understanding of child protection policies among team members including various laws governing it. In this regard she discussed, UN Convention on the rights of the child principles, JJ ACT, CWC and JJB. She also explained important aspects of POSCO that need to be understood while working with communities.

Further covering the child protection theme, a session on Child Protection Guidelines was conducted by Ms. Sween, Child Protection Specialist, Caritas India. Ms. Sween ushered the discussion on Child Protection policy and related guidelines. Important discourse was held on abuse, various legal procedures, provisions of POSCO and multifaceted impact of child abuse on physical, psychological, and social well being of the children.
The thematic sessions were marked by interactive exchanges with the resource persons and participants. Throughout the orientation, the attendees rigorously asked questions related to topics. The resource persons were equally willing to answer queries and clear concepts in order to strengthen the knowledge capacity of the team members.

The session led by the Programme Lead, Mr. Joseph Khushaal Bachpan, Caritas India, was a detailed discussion on the programme from its inception to current phase. Mr Joseph shared the findings of the baseline study with the participants to build an understanding on the way forward. He emphasized the programme objectives on education, livelihood and child protection. The vision Self Help Groups, creation and functioning were also discussed.

An interactive session dealing with the financial aspects of the programme was led by Ms. Jancy, Lead- Programme Finance, Caritas India. The session broadly covered details on settlement procedures, advances, settlement of advance payments, vouchers, GST, empanelment of vendors, per diem and travel claims, and other financial related issues.

The session on Human Resource policies was led by Fr. Sushil, Administrator, Caritas India. He spoke about the core values of the organisation and reiterated nuggets of wisdom from Catholic Social Teachings. He shared the basics of onboarding process, aligning the work with job descriptions, office timings, performance appraisals, leave structures, importance of safeguarding policies and procedures like Child Protection Policy, Prevention of Sexual Harassment, etc.

In addition to these, the team was oriented on the basics of conducting an interaction with community for the Family Development Plan, created by the programme team, by incorporating the learnings from previously held ABCD training. The state programme associates and programme finance associates, also shared quarterly updates of the programme and budget utilized for the visibility across locations.