Orientation Programme with CRY

On 29th September 2011, An orientation programme about CRY was conducted in the Campus Law Centre under the aegis of the CLC Legal Aid Society.

                  

The programme with scores of students showing inclination to join the movement either as volunteers or as interns. The orientation programme was conducted by volunteers from ACR (Advocates for Child Rights), who are also members of the CLC Legal Aid Society one of the many groups under the umbrella of CRY. It started with a general information about CRY, its work and it’s main focus i.e., child rights.

CRY, as of present, has developed into a mass movement that does not confine itself merely to talking children’s problems but takes a holistic approach to peek and try to redress the problems in the families of the children and general environment in which these children live.

CRY is an inclusive movement encompassing general spheres from volunteer, internship or job programme to problems relating to the rights of the girl child, education diseases, child labour and child marriages. Its basic focus is on child rights and has the name, Child Rights & You. What makes it distinct from other NGOs is its emphasis on the background of children's problems.

Making the audience aware about Child Rights, the volunteers classified the rights into four categories, namely, protection; survival; development and participation. CRY adopts a right based approach in trying to value children’s problems. Fixing its vision on grass root problems, CRY has an established participation programme for students. Students and youth can join CRY either as a volunteer or as interns.

The internship programme is a more formal form with a basic 6 weeks period of internship. To join CRY as an intern, a copy of resume with a write up on child rights must be sent to the Legal Aid Society. Thereafter, an interview is conducted to finally select a candidate.

There are several rights for children either expressly or in a covert from in the Indian constitution, as well as in UNCRC but they have not implemented in reality. CRY tries to bridge this gap focusing on the underlying root causes of deprivation. To achieve this task CRY has several action groups classified into:

1. Geographically defined action groups
2. Specific Interest (Theme Based) groups
3. College study groups

The geographically defined action groups take up area specific projects and try to address issues of food, water and sanitation, hereby providing incentives to the deprived children.

The Specific Interest groups organize child rights programmes like talk shows, street plays, music, movie screening etc. While the college study group carries out various studies in the field of child rights gathering relevant data for assessment as well as future use.

One may join any of the groups related to his area of interest. He may choose a place to work near his residence to start looking at child rights issues directly. One may do anything he feels he can; be a CR spokesperson, he may contribute by organising a CR talk show, or through music, writing online, activism, etc.

The interactive session ended with a volley of questions from the audience, who were duly satisfied. Many of the particiapnts showed their keenness to be associated with the organisation and were duly assisted by the volunteers in the same.

Ashay Anand
Nicy Paulson