Planned Launc on 12th June 2009 "Svapn Parivartan Kaa"

CRY Volunteers Stand Against Child Labour

Photo Signature Campaign

For the past year, CRY volunteers in Thane have been campaigning on the issue of Child Labour. Their learning from interacting with families where children work, with children who go to school as well as children who are pushed out of school, with government officials, NGOs and concerned citizens, is that unless we understand the causes of Child Labour we will be unable to address the issue itself.

Till date there is no comprehensive Rehabilitation policy for Child Labour. It is our duty as democratic citizens to use our voices and our learning to stand up for the rights of children who are forced to work and whose childhood is lost on the construction site, in looking after siblings, in illegal factory settings and in hotels and restaurants.

We believe that knowledge is power. Through a series of campaign and on ground activities the volunteers are looking to make citizens aware of the many schemes available to children and their families that help enroll children in school.

Our campaign kicks of on 12 June 2009 – World Anti Child Labour Day – and continues till 12 June 2010. Through the year the citizens of Maharashtra will use various events to build a voice for Child Rights – ‘Send children to school, not work’.

One event at a time. One person at a time. This movement will not stop till children are assured of their right to a present AND a future.


Event 1 – Photo Signature Campaign
Launch 12 June. End date August 15

1. CRY Volunteers take this placard to various public places so that people can stand for child rights by getting their photo- signatures taken
2. CRY sends out to volunteers/ donors/ on website/ facebook etc a placard that says “Children should go to school, not work”. This is uploaded by June 12 onto various online forums
3. The invite is to print out the placard and find people who believe in the statement and who want to stand up for what is right. Every time we find someone like this, we want to get them to ‘sign on’- and the way to do this is to pose with the placard in as creative a manner as possible and get a photograph taken. This is your photo signature that says that you believe in education for all children. People can get as many photographs like this from those in their neighbourhood, school, college, work space….and send them in to us
4. In addition to this CRY volunteers will go to bookshops, colleges, schools, communities, through the months of June and July to encourage people to stand for the right of all children to go to school, not work
5. At the end of July, we take all the photo-signatures we’ve received and make them into a short film ready for upload on youtube/CRY website etc, on August 15th
6. Once the film is uploaded we encourage people to share it with as many people as possible


Objective:

1. To enable greater numbers to participate in the Anti Child Labour Campaign, in their own spaces
2. To build pressure to address the root causes of Child Labour and to implement holistic rehabilitation policies
3. To encourage people to move beyond this to improve their own understanding of why children do not go to school by participating in other campaign activities as well