AN APPEAL

BE A PARTNER IN EMPOWERING MARGINALISED CHILDREN

The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) is one of the pioneering Organisations in India to address the issue of working children and children’s rights.  It works in partnership with local governments, the community and children themselves to implement viable, comprehensive and appropriate solutions to address the various problems that children and their communities are facing. Log on to www.workingchild.org for more information about CWC 

In the past few years, the scope of our programmes has been expanding both in terms of the range of issues we cover and our geographic reach. In order to meet the requirements of our constituencies in an efficient and sustainable manner, we have embarked on a concerted mission to harness local resources. We have been exploring local fund raising options that involve our vast base of collaborators and supporters. It is in this context that we approach you to seek your support. 

There are various ways in which you could contribute to CWC’s work:

1.       Namma Bhoomi is a residential education institution for working children near Kundapur town, in Udupi district. About 100 children aged 6 of 18 years learn vocational trades with the objective finding a viable employment or setting up their own business enterprises. Most of them also take up formal education and appear for 7^th or 10^th exams. The younger ones are enrolled for full time formal education in the nearby school. Namma Bhoomi empowers children socially and politically through a comprehensive education programme. You may support the education programme in Namma Bhoomi by choosing to contribute to:

 1a. Educational scholarship: You could donate towards one or scholarships for children studying at Namma Bhoomi. The scholarship could be set up in the name of any person you wish. This could be a one time contribution for one year, or a rotating scholarship, to which you donate every year. Scholarship for one child per year amounts to Rs. 30,000.00, which includes all the expenses related to vocational as well as academic education, food, accommodation, uniforms, casual clothing, medical expenses, cultural inputs, technical too-kit, etc. of child.

 1b. Food for a Day: Hosting all the meals provided to children who live in Namma Bhoomi for the entire day. This donation is Rs 2000 for regular meals and Rs 2,500 for a special meal. You may suggest a specific day/days during which your contribution may be used in order to commemorate a special day of your choice such as birthdays, anniversaries etc.  

2.       Adopting a Gram Panchayat/Urban Centre: Currently CWC works in 56 Gram Panchayats in Udupi district, which is being expanded to cover all the Gram Panchayats of the whole district. We also work in number of Urban Areas in Bangalore city. The primary objective is to make the Panchayat/Urban Area child labour free and to enable all the children to realise their rights. Towards this, together with children’s organisations and the community, CWC negotiates for better quality education, infrastructure and facilities and provision of services. CWC facilitates the participation of children and the civil society, especially children and women in governance of the Panchayat. Through this CWC is able to bring about sustainable development of the Gram Panchayat/Urban Area in period of 3-5 years.  

You could adopt the development of a Panchayat/Urban Area by contributing Rs. 5-6 lakhs per year, for a period of 3-5 years. If you would like to contribute to the development of one or more Panchayat/Urban Area, we could send you more information. We would be very happy to meet with you for a detailed discussion in this regard.

3.       Namma Nalanda Vidyapeeta: CWC drawing from its decades of experience of working with children and developing educational initiatives is geared up to start a high quality educational institution called  Namma Nālānda Vidyapeeta which draws its inspiration from the ancient Nālānda and will contribute to the moulding of the ‘New Indian Citizen’ who truly reflects in conduct and practice the values and principles enshrined in our Constitution and embodies the ethos and culture of Democratic Participation. Children will be enabled to define cutting edge technology while celebrating traditional knowledge; strive for excellence while respecting all humanity; and be committed to nurturing, rejuvenating and protecting democracy and democratic processes. It will equip children to be constructive ambassadors of change. 

It will be an initiative that transforms the education system from the grassroots, the place where the real problems are manifested and felt by under privileged children. It will demonstrate a bias in favour of children in remote underdeveloped rural areas, especially girls, migrant and working children.  

The construction of the school campus is under way. This campus will consist of unique blocks, designed to create the best learning environment that is in harmony with the natural landscape and ecology of the region. You may choose to support the construction of one or more blocks.  

The cost of each block varies from Indian Rupees 5 - 9 Lakhs depending on the block you choose to support. If you would like to discuss this further, we could send you more information or meet with you for detailed discussion. 

4.       Contributions in kind: We also welcome contributions in kind – such as groceries, clothes, writing books, medicines, computers, stationary etc which will be used efficiently in different programme areas.

Send your responses to: cwcblr@vsnl.com