Stand up and act for needy children
Action for Children, an interesting development initiative implemented in developing countries aims to bring a qualitative change in the lives of underprivileged children through advocacy and people mobilisation. Delhi based NGO Smile Foundation hopes to make this possible in India by reaching out to all sectors of society.
New Delhi: A country that boasts of 10 per cent of all billionaires in the world (53 out of world’s 500 billionaires), a country that is one among the only four trillion dollar economies of the world – also has the highest number of underprivileged children of the world.
An honest answer to this irony would reveal that this could happen only when the privileged masses of a country are oblivious to the plight of its underprivileged.
Make a difference
- The event launch/ Photo credit: Smile Foundation
Action for Children (AFC) is an interesting initiative of the Smile Foundation, which is directed to stimulate ‘fortunate’ Indians to ‘stand up and act’ to transform the lives of underprivileged children and contribute to nation building in the process.
Currently being implemented in three developing economies of the world – Brazil, South Africa and India, AFC is a development programme for children, initiated by the consortium of three Dutch organisations, namely Wild Geese, Net4Kids, and Kids Rights, with the support of the Dutch Government.
In India, Smile Foundation is the nodal organisation chosen to promote this programme by the Dutch International Development Ministry of Government of the Netherlands.
AFC is based on the premise that development is a people’s issue and not just the government’s concern. It aims to sensitise people through advocacy on child related issues and seeks to involve them in mobilising resources for grassroots initiatives, targetted to bring about a qualitative change in the lives of underprivileged children.
More funds
The programme permeates from the context that the conditions of children in India leave much to be desired. Fund raising needs to be broad-based; public support for the cause of children needs to be strengthened.
In line with the emerging scenario, AFC is aimed to encourage various civil society groups like Rotary, Lions Clubs, trade, industry and professional associations, schools, colleges, youth clubs/youth wings, corporate employees, community organisations to get involved in child development initiatives.
This will not only involve local people in relevant development initiatives, but also ensure that such activities become locally sustainable and not dependent on external support alone.
A programme like this is the need of the hour to bring about a qualitative change in the lives of millions of underprivileged children in India.
