Child Rights Trust

FCW received a proposal from Child Rights Trust (CRT), Bangalore, India, for support for embarking on a systematic production and translation of its key documents. The proposal was approved in end 2008 for two year period with a total budget of Indian Rs. 604,000 [about 12,000 $ approximately].

CRT has been working on children's issues or over six years. Its slogan is “Every Right for every child”. Conceived as an advocacy, training, research, and monitoring child rights implementation as well as violations of these rights in India, it focuses its intensive activities in its home state of Karnataka, while it participates in regional and national efforts on many child rights issues. As the southern chapter of the India Alliance for Child Rights [IACR], iy also coordinates the southern network.

CRT uses individual discussions, training and sensitisation courses, campaigns, inputs into the media, and production and dissemination of materials for its advocacy efforts. As part of these strategies, it has been producing publications to advocate and disseminate Child Rights concepts, guides to implementation, and documentation of its research and monitoring. Many of these have been, from the very start, very popular with NGOS, Government and the public. There was a crying need to go ahead on many fronts with these and some other documents/materials for wider circulation within Karnataka as also support to NGOs, academics and Governments in other states.

The materials are mostly in Kannada, the local language. These it had not been able to disseminate widely as needed due to financial constraints for printing and for translating materials into other Indian languages and/or English [from Kannada]. A few are in English, and these needed both printing in larger quantities for use in other states and translation and printing in Kannada for wider use in Karnataka.

The publications are of three types. Some are targeted at children, some at trainers from NGOs, government and training institutions, and some others at the general public. Some of the items are priced at Rs.10/- each, which makes them easily affordable by most people. The more detailed documents [training manuals or reports of key projects or meetings] can run up to Rs.250/-. The sale proceeds of these items were planned to be ploughed back into financing further editions after the project period is over.

Earlier in 2008, FCW supported CRT's fund-raising efforts at AKKA's [Association of Kannada Kootas in America] world conference in Chicago, providing the booth space at the venue. Donations were funnelled through FCW.

Please see http:www.childrightstrust.org for details of CRT and its activities.

Total Grant so far: $ 3,500