Volunteers Action - North

At CRY - Child Rights and You, the prime objective of the CRY North Volunteers Group is to mobilize and enable the public to transform, to collectively act with people, to challenge power relations that perpetuate the violations of rights of the most deprived children.

Who is a CRY Volunteer? 

Each one of YOU can become a CRY volunteer. A student, a housewife, a doctor, a lawyer… each one of you coming from different walks of life can get involved with CRY and contribute your time, talent and skills if you are passionate to make the change possible in the lives of thousands of under privileged children.

Why do I become a CRY Volunteer? 

Think about a school with 700 students and just 2 teachers. Imagine these 700 students with no access to proper sanitation in the schools. Imagine, most of these 700 being forced to drop out of schools because the school is several kilometres away from the habitation and the parents do not have enough money to pay for the bus fare! This is not what you would want for your child! Then why not try and give a better education environment to the unfortunate ones!

What does a CRY Volunteer do? 

Volunteers with CRY in the NCR region have been campaigning, creating awareness, working in networks together with the local communities to address the social issues affecting the children and their families. The main objective is to bring into light the challenges that they face and help the children and their families face such desperate situations and shape up a happy, healthy and educative environment in those areas.

CRY VOLUNTEERS IN THE NORTH (NCR) 

 The change makers in the form of CRY Volunteers in Northern India are working towards community development and empowerment mainly in Delhi and Gurgaon.

TYPES OF PUBLIC ACTION GROUPS (PAGs) 

· Geo PAGs (Geographically defined)
· Thematic PAGs (Theme Based)
· Campus Collectives
· Internships

All of the above facilitate the process of building a critical mass of public which will impact policies and electoral processes.

In Delhi, there are 3 Geo PAGs and 2 Thematic PAGs.

Classification of Public Action Groups

Geographically based Public Action Groups (Geo PAGs)

South Delhi Public Action Group

The colonies of Dakshinpuri and Madangir are inhabited by thousands of families, many of whom are from economically weaker sections of society. Many send their children to MCD schools but these schools, it was discovered, do not have enough teachers nor are they clean. And many students were not getting their uniforms or books on time. Also, the anganwadis in the area do not operate effectively. As a result of these issues, concerned parents and other residents of Dakshinpuri and Madangir along with CRY volunteers began to regularly monitor the schools focusing on mid-day meal delivery, cleanliness, number of teachers per school, and timely provision of uniforms and books. They work closely with students, teachers, local school authorities and the education department, driving for cooperation and the right to quality education for every child.

CRY Volunteers Pinki, Sarita and Soni (from left to right) at Dakshinpuri
Photograph By: Madhureema Sen

This initiative was started in early 2009, and by August 2009, many improvements in MCD schools were seen, including the recruitment of 5 new teachers, putting in place a security guard at on the schools that did not have one and cleaner premises. The South Delhi Public Action Group is made up of residents including home makers and college students –there are about 15 active group members. CRY volunteers continue to be involved, to assist the group when required and to attend periodic meetings with the group as well as school and local authorities. The group has recently broadened their focus to look more closely at the anganwandis and ensure that they are functioning effectively.

Children at MCD School (No. 1) in Dakshinpuri
Photograph By: Madhureema Sen

South West Delhi – Dwarka Public Action Group

The Dwarka Volunteers group with Child rights and You (CRY) delhi is working towards revolutionising lives and amplifying the voice of the underprivileged children in Dwarka. This upcoming subcity of Delhi has more than 50 private schools and is concentrating at the economically weaker section (EWS) and has further absorbed 25% of students from the EWS as per the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

CRY Volunteers at Dwarka working to amplify the voice of the underprivileged ones

Its commendable efforts so far include:

• A Postcard Campaign was held on 4th July, 2010, in Bharat Vihar, Dwarka Sec-15 and was successful in motivating parents to enrol their children in school.
• The postcard campaign has been followed by a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Delhi High Court elaborating the grievances faced by the children from EWS and requesting him to initiate appropriate proceedings against both the State Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Gurgaon Public Action Group

Kicked off by two old Manorath volunteers in January 2010, the very new Gurgaon Public Action group is working towards evolving as a strong resident group that ensures equality to access quality education in all schools of the ward comprising of sector 21, Sector 22 and the village Mullera in Gurgaon. The group vision is to emerge as a monitoring body that is recognised as a Child right body in Gurgaon by all authorities, residents and stakeholders. Presently, there are around 9 volunteers of which 3 are active volunteers. The Gurgaon Public Action group being the re-invention of the Manorath Group, here also the main focus is on the Right to Education (RTE).

Young India in action at Gurgaon

Related activities

• The volunteers have met the School authorities to build relationships, got information on the education scenario.
• Conducted on-line data collection regarding the number of primary schools (district wise).
• Discussions and relevant news shared and discussed on line.

CRY Volunteers interacting with children in Gurgaon

Thematic Public Action Groups (Thematic PAGs) 

A specific issue is focussed upon by the Public Action Groups based on which the city wide campaigns are formulated and executed.

Manorath: Ek Umeed ki Kiran

Manorath, a volunteer group with Child Rights and You (CRY), consider themselves as the campaigners of change working towards ensuring and protecting the rights of the children.  Formed in August 2008, this volunteer group with CRY has started off with their first campaign focussing on the Right to Education (RTE) in the NCR region.

Lawyers Collective for Children

Around 7 lawyers in July 2009 initiated a Public Action Group (PAG) along with Child Rights and You (CRY)to help take child rights advocacy to a larger level through and to act as a fruitful resource for all the other Public Action Groups (PAG). It comprises of members representing the varied aspects of the legal profession such as law students, practicing lawyers, research scholars, academicians, law teachers, and others associated with the fraternity. The members in the legal public action group have a wide range of experience in Law; some have NGO exposure while others have worked on human rights and social justice issues.

The Lawyers collective for children believes that each and every child irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language or community should have equal rights to enjoy varied opportunities. The main objective is to conceptualize and execute research and advocacy programmes around varied child right issues.

Lawyers at the Sabko Shiksha Saman Sikhsha signature campaign

Achivements

• Lawyers mobilised more than 2000 signatures around the Sabko Shiksha Saman Shiksha campaign and recruited volunteer lawyers as well
• Participated in various rallies on the Right to Education (RTE)
• Lead the Manorath volunteers in filing RTIs and gave resourceful inputs to law student interns
• In case of any violations, monitoring and documenting court proceedings for the children.

Lawyers participation in the rally for Right to Education of the disabled children

College Collectives

Other than the Public Action groups there are also the 'College Collectives' where students get together and volunteer to be a part of the collective of change makers, raising awareness, recruiting and converting passion to action on college campuses across Delhi.

Ready to steer the wheels of change...the College Collective at CRY

Holding on to the belief that the youth are the emerging change makers and the future of tomorrow, increasing number of College goers are participating as active volunteers at Child Rights and You (CRY). The college collectives group at CRY is a very new one comprising of 18 girls from Delhi University Colleges – Miranda House, Delhi School of Social Work, Delhi School of Economics and Indraprastha College for Women. The 18 college collective members will be using their skills and interest to work on “Our Neighborhood:Our Films”, a series of documentaries on children and child rights issue with an intention to create awareness and to encourage the mass to be an effective leader.

Internships

Looking forward to more youth participation, internships are offered to passionate and enthusiastic individuals coming from varied educational backgrounds. At CRY – Child Rights and You, internships takes place either by institutional collaboration or through individual applications. CRY Delhi has institutional collaboration with institutes like Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and National law University, Delhi (NLUD). Candidates are considered for internships also on the basis of individual approach made by them to the Voluntary Actions Department at CRY (Delhi).

Find out more on how to become a CRY Volunteer