India - street presence

Every day 8-10 children join the streets of Hyderabad. Down2Earth volunteers accompany the team of Peer Educators, former street children who now form the backbone of the outreach team, to interact with these children.

Volunteers will also take part in public awareness campaigns to address the lack of understanding surrounding the street child problem and sensitise the public, railway staff and other local stakeholders.

Once a child has been identified, they are then taken to the safe environment of an Aashray shelter where the children are provided with good food, safe shelter, counselling and medical assistance.

There are some children who are connected with their families but who spend their days on the streets for vocational or personal reasons, for instance lack of money to attend school or absence of a supportive home environment. Child labour, although officially illegal in India, is still prevalent.

Volunteers will meet children and young adults such as local peer group members and pavement dwellers, and help to build up a good rapport with these groups by generating interest and encouraging them to join in with various activities and vocational training workshops which take place at the drop-in centres.

This is also a two-way sharing process- the peer groups are encouraged to share their own opinions on child rights, based on their personal experiences, and volunteers make reports on these experiences which will help the NGOs in assessing where children’s needs are being neglected.