Kanal Innovations, a charitable organisation that works for the empowerment of children, has launched Resilience, a campaign that takes a holistic approach to equipping children to face the struggles of life through right attitude and perception.
Paradigm shift
The Resilience campaign assumes significance against the backdrop of COVID-19 that has created new challenges and led to a paradigm shift in educational system, digital involvement, and social life.
As part of Resilience, Kanal intends to give a new thrust to its ‘Vayanaidam’ initiative that is an amalgam of library and social space whose administration is fully in the hands of children. This increases the self-confidence of children, helps develop leadership qualities, and empowers them to fight social injustice, child marriage, sexual exploitation, drug abuse, and dropping out of school.
The most recent ‘Vayanaidam’ will be started at Karimba in Palakkad in association with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) of the Women and Child Development Department by the end of the month. Karimba has been chosen as the location for Vayanaidam in order to reach out to the community to address various problems there, including the growing menace of substance abuse, says Kanal Innovations director Anson P.D. Alexander.
The main hurdle is the absence of a child-friendly reporting mechanism in the area, says Anson. Children need a safe space to report a problem, be it related to drug abuse, child abuse, or any other issue. Conducting awareness classes and expecting children to report problems during these without any assurance of privacy has not been yielding the desired results. While more outreach programmes are needed, instead of public fora, a mechanism that gives children the confidence to report problems in private is needed, says Anson.
Awareness programme
A Kanal volunteer there says there are not enough awareness programmes targeted at children and adolescents or their sustained follow-up in the panchayat.
Children’s general awareness and that of sex education is also poor despite good education levels. Drug abuse continues to be a problem, with students involved in it often dropping out of school.
Better outreach programmes targeted at children are needed to increase their confidence and equip them to make social interventions, especially in areas that concern them.
