WCD and CRY Organise Consultation on Child Protection in Haryana

Chandigarh, July 9, 2019: To promote collaborative and convergent efforts among the civil society, Women and Child Development Department (WCD), Child Welfare Committees (CWC) and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in ensuring safety and security of children, a state-level consultation was organised by Bal Bigul Haryana Alliance and Child Rights and You (CRY), in collaboration with WCD department of Haryana on Thursday. Members of 22 CWCs and the District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) took part in the consultation programme.

Captain Manoj Kumar, the Director of WCD Department, Haryana was the chief speaker at the consultation. Addressing the consultation he said, “The state government would look into the challenges and resolve all the issues related to protection and development of of children.” Emphasising the need of synchronised effort in order to achieve optimum results, he urged that “the CWCs, DCPUs and the WCD department should work in tandem and towards the same direction.”

Project Manager, Training, IEC and Advocacy, Government of Haryana, Shaffy Pruthi; Programme Officer Training Vipul Lalwani; Programme Manager, CNCP Indira Rani and Programme Manager, SARA Anjali Sharma were among the key dignitaries who facilitated the consultation workshop.

Elaborating how a collaborative and convergent approach can do wonders in addressing the protection issues of children at the grass roots, Subhendu Bhattacharya, the Programme Head of CRY (Northern Region) said, “While working with children over the last four decades, we have observed that a strong safety net at the community level equipped with the support of WCD, CWC, DCPU and other relevant stakeholders is the most effective way to address child security.” He assured that CRY will continue to work closely with the administration in the best interest of children.”

At the consultation CRY highlighted the gaps in the process of providing victim compensation in the cases of child sexual abuse. According to them, priority should be set at the grass roots level, and a structured child protection plan needs to be developed in every district of the state. The panel also discussed about the status of National Child Labour Project (NCLP) and took stock of the data of Labour Department of Haryana in this regard.