The Sweet Delight of Working for a Child Rights NGO

My first brush with the world of child rights and its sorry state of the neglect, came one afternoon in college, when a tall, burly man walked in to talk to us about his organization, and how he had pledged to work towards upliftment of this cause.

Mr. Nitin Wadhwani addressing the CACR interns.

Soon after, almost all of my friends began to get involved with this organization. ‘CACR’ would be mentioned in almost all of our conversations and I would be bombarded with stories of the successful initiatives it had undertaken, and achievements that had accrued to it. And now, here I am, a little more than half a year later. The organization, the Citizens Association for Child Rights, that had taken HR College by storm is a place where I can proudly say I am a blogger and intern. That man, Mr. Nitin Wadhwani is now my boss. This is my story of how I got involved with a cause that deserves a lot of attention, but gets only a little.

The "sweet delight" of CACR (pun intended.)

I do have a history of being involved with NGOs and social issues in the past; I was in charge of the marketing operations of SevaConnect, an NGO which seeked to provide a platform for other organizations to interact, and also tried my hand at teaching underprivileged children, among other similar activities.

Sadly, all of these endeavors, while successful, were short lived. Poor coordination, waning enthusiasm, and a myriad number of other factors caused these to go south.

But after having completed one internship period at CACR, and on the brink of my second, I am proud to say that this is far from what is happening here.

It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that is gifted with a team of dedicated, and experienced individuals, that swear by its cause. It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that has successfully managed to create for itself a network of student interns, and a network of tie ups with respectable organizations such as the BMC, social service cells of other colleges etc. It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that has strived not only to sermonize about the cause they are working for, but has strived to actually make a difference.

The MustRun Marathon

Whether it is holding talks with the BMC, checking the quality of mid-day meals, or hosting marathons, dance sessions and organizing computer literacy sessions and other activities for underprivileged children, I am proud to say, CACR has the unique distinction of being an NGO that not only preaches a cause, but actually works extensively to support it.

My personal experience too has been one providing few matters to complain about. Being active in various spheres of academics and extracurriculars, I wasn’t fortunate enough to dedicate myself completely as a volunteer, but could only find it in myself to contribute to this organization through helping in handling the blog of CACR.

This has provided me with a wealth of knowledge on many issues, and has helped me hone my writing and content creation skills. Having a relatively free reign in choosing of topics to write upon, I discovered a number of topics and issues that I previously knew nothing about, and this strengthened my desire to be more involved.

I am truly proud to be a part of this organization. Not only am I gaining invaluable experience and honing my skills, but I also feel I am able to contribute, no matter in how small a quantum, to a cause that deserves the attention of every person who has a heart.

-By Anand Banerjee

Anand is a creative intern at the +Citizens Association For Child Rights , handling the CACR blog.

Website :www.ngocacr.com
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Social media : The double-edged sword

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

      Earlier almost everyone  eagerly waited  to get his/her hands on the daily morning paper and few depended only on the radio to convey the important news of the day but today the news is delivered instantly as it happens, wherever it happens, whenever it happens. All thanks to  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube and the whole social media gamut. Social media has not only shrunk the globe but also has connected people, companies, groups,and families in ways we had never thought possible.



With the huge growth in the mobile penetration and especially the smartphone market the memberships of various social media platforms has gown exponentially. Now you can share your life in pictures, tweets, status message and updates each day every minute. Though this convenient communication makes us happy but there is a dark side to it too....Day to day we see different types of posts and tweets. Each of these has a direct or indirect impact in today’s society. This impact can be huge or minuscule.It has become very important for us to manage and filter the content that is to be posted on these enormous platform. If the needful is not done, as we have seen in the past, it can cause some serious consequences to an individual, group or company.We have seen various hate groups posting foolhardy posts or tweets and creating riots among the masses. These platforms have been used to cause mayhem or conflicts among people. Thus it has become a must that we have to educate ourselves and the citizens around us to make a great and positive use of these revolutionary platforms.

Social media web 

 We also live in a time where the credibility of news publications and channels  is going down, so people in-turn have focused their trust and attention towards social media platforms for getting the real and true news. Taking advantage of this development many fringe elements,and trouble makers use these platforms to spread hate, false rumors and panic among people. Before you know it the 'news' snowballs and situation spirals out of control so much so that the government sometimes has to ask the social media platforms to take down such misleading and inflammatory content.  Filtering posts and tweets is not practically possible and not advocated to preserve freedom of speech but  such incidents reveal that it is becoming necessary. 

use social media responsibly 

If we do not want  the state to regulate this platform which has been given to us; it is up to us as individuals or groups  to take care of it consciously by making sure sensitive data of an individual is not posted for personal gains, abstaining ourselves from posting or tweeting content which may bring misery to the society. 
Posts and tweets which will unite motivate and uplift the society needs to be posted.All in all social media and its boom has been excellent for individuals, countries ,companies and start-ups like us to reach and connect with our audience but unless we learn to use it with responsibility we can't take advantage of these enormously useful platforms to the fullest. 

-by +Dilmohan Nidharak is a software engineer by profession and +Citizens Association For Child Rights team member handling the IT operations. 

-Edited by +Richa Singh

Images from :

http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com/2012/09/before-you-fb-instagram-text-tweet-or.html
www.alps411.com

Be the change you want to see : Time to end the gender bias

A group of my friends and I were having a discussion on the women of today. One of my acquaintances, a woman herself, felt very strongly about how a woman will be considered disgraceful and ‘impure’ if she was in an affair before marriage. According to her any man would never accept such a woman, on account of her prior dispositions. When asked whether it was okay for a man to be involved in any such relationships the answer was yes. Women are dependent on men, she said. I was a little taken aback by such a mindset. But after careful deliberation and introspection I realized that maybe it wasn’t her fault. It was the society we lived in. Ours is a patriarchal one, which is internalized by women who watch the world through the prism of this patriarchy. At that point it dawned upon me that people, educated or otherwise need to get rid of the asymmetrical power equation rampant in this male dominated world. It is necessary to change the belief that women are a weaker gender. There is a need for a new school of thought to arise that states that men and women are equals and nothing less than that.

The different stereotypes for women

My colleague characterized women in a certain way. This led me to think about the various gender stereotypes existing in the society I live in. The society needs women to be elegant, soft-spoken, well dressed, accepting, flexible and unambitious among the several other qualities. Everywhere I look I am made well aware of the fact that I am a woman. My friends often complain of the gender stereotypes forced upon them- ‘No late nights. No wearing shorts. No cussing. No being loud. Don’t be so strong headed. You need to be adaptable. What will you do once you go to your husband’s house? Don’t ever forget you are a girl. Fortunately for me my parents have never made any distinction between my older brother and me, nor did my mentors at school make me feel less competent just because I was a girl. Just like me there are several others who share similar thoughts and uphold similar beliefs. I understand that there is no automatic solution to transform the orthodox realm of thought process that encompasses us. I believe that the change is slow, but already in action.

As my views on the state of women in my own country and the world, crystallized I became aware of how strongly I felt against any gender discrimination prevalent in my society.

 There is a need to end gender inequality. By overcoming this disparity we can take the first step towards solving several other social problems faced by the world. 

Boko Haram kidnapped 300 Nigerian girls from their school

Issues borne from gender bias have grim consequences on the lives of the victims. For instance, the United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are ‘missing’ in the world today. In India and Pakistan, thousands of women are victims of dowry deaths. In India alone, there were almost 7,000 dowry deaths in 2005, with the majority of victims aged 15-34 years. In a study of female deaths in Egypt, 47 per cent of female rape victims were then killed because of the dishonour the rape was thought to bring to the family. In Nigeria, a treatment centre reported that 15 percent of female patients requiring treatment for sexually transmitted infections were under the age of five. An additional six percent were between the ages of six and fifteen. In Nepal, 40 percent of girls are married by the age of 15. 31 million girls of primary school age are not enrolled in school.

Despite progress, girls and women continue to be discriminated against and lack access to education, political and social rights. There is a need for change. There has always been a need for change. A change for a better and sustainable tomorrow. For female empowerment and equality. I believe in a school of thought that propagates gender equality. A school of thought where girls are taught to be free and not submissive. Where men and women walk shoulder to shoulder without any bigotry faced by either. Where the struggles of women have been energised to further break the barriers set by society. 

I believe that I am a feminist. Gender equality or feminism does not mean overpowering the opposite sex or ‘anti-man’, it is in fact by definition the opposite. Emma Watson's speech on feminism to the UN defined a feminist as, “a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.” If one believes in these ideologies, she or for that matter even he is a feminist. Feminism can also be construed as a woman maintaining her sexuality, in the same way men do.If we really want equality we must all make an active decision to abandon phrases such as “You are such a girl” and the like. If we really want equality we must try our best to ignore gender and stop competing with one another. We must stop pressuring each other to fit with this stereotype, which more often than not leaves us feeling repressed and unable to express ourselves. 

International's Womens Day

These Values need to be instilled in the minds and hearts of children right from school. CACR strives to give equal opportunities to girls in school . Facilitation of 75  municipal school girls to participate in DNA iCan Marathon  was one such initiative. We hope to have many more. On the occasion on International Womens' Day its my appeal : Do join us on ur endeavour.

+Meesha Gandhi  is a intern with +Citizens Association For Child Rights  a non-profit startup striving to improve the functioning of public schools in India 
Edited by +Richa Singh 

This article first appeared on her Blog Here 

 Image courtesy : sayingimages.com ; idiva.com ; carpoolcandy.com

The good old Radio: The new educational change agent?

During my MBA induction, we were made to form a team and come up with an idea of a product or service and present it. We came up with the idea of creating our own FM radio channel.

Sadly, our idea flopped, as we had no concrete factual data to support our idea and no plan on profits and ROI (return of investment).

It was our first step in the world of management and our first lesson was to be creative.

Today I look back at this incidence and realize how important that one simple lesson is, for one to  survival in today’s world. Every generation is facing the same problem; food clothing, shelter, and poverty. And every generation is the same, only a select few wish to be creative and find a solutions, while the majority fall by the wayside and simply follow the creative ones.

Today, CACR has taken the initiative to come up with ideas to solve the problem of “access to education”. My monthly articles are focused on finding these ideas. One such idea came to my mind when I was watching the show “50 Gadgets that changed the world”.

Can you guess the top two gadgets?

They were mobile phone and radio. Radio has been an influential gadget since the early 20^th century. It had solved the problem of communications then, but has it now?

So, I started pondering as to its usefulness in the current scenario?

 I was sitting in my father’s office and listening to music when the thought struck me of creating an FM School channel.

While aspersions may be cast on the originality of my idea, how many of us have seen this idea actually come to fruition?

The next thing after television that has huge penetration in rural India is radio. Why not use it as a virtual school?

If mobile phones (the Idea Internet Network) can be used a learning tool, can’t we use radios too? The FM channel can teach the same subjects that are taught in school; history, geography, science, and languages.

Remote villages do not have access to school or teachers. Children drop out of school because it is difficult for them to travel long distances. It is also not possible to set up school in every village and there is also the issue of availability of teachers.

If we can access banks from home, communicate with people overseas, isn’t it time for Digital India to get access to basic education at home?

Go into villages, and you will see people traveling with a transistor wherever they go. They have a radio in their farms so they can listen to music while working. Can’t they learn maths or language while working?

Your notebook is your field, and your stick is your pen.

What  I have mentioned here is just a seed of an idea. I truly hope we can get together, brainstorm and help it blossom into something great.

- Author: JZ  a volunteer with +Citizens Association For Child Rights                                                                 Editor: Anand Banerjee is an intern at NGO CACR, an education startup working to improve the functioning of public schools in India.

Images are used only for representation purposes. 

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