From Child Labour to College: Support Her Future

Here are the results of the team's report on the project's educational work in the 2013 -14 period.

Progress Towards Outcomes 

• Supplementary nutrition was provided to 3,416 children (1,723 boys, 1,693 girls). Medicine was provided to 108 children (79 boys, 101 girls) due to this 1087 children (408 boys, 679 girls) improved their weight and health.
• 712 children (362 boys, 350 girls) have benefitted from the care giver programme. 683 care givers were encouraged and motivated to follow better child care practices, hygienic habits, feeding, immunization, growth monitoring, entertainment and other aspects of child development.  This led to proper care of the children and their growth and it is found that 579 care givers adopted positive child care practices as a result.
• A number of programmes were organised in the villages to raise awareness on hygiene and sanitation. 7,089 men and 6,608 women were reached through this means.
• During this year 919 toilets were constructed with the support of the team. Apart from this 888 families constructed their own toilets due to awareness raised.

Challenges 

• Construction of toilets was a challenge due to the high contribution cost of £70 - £80 expected of the beneficiary group. People particularly from the most deprived communities found it extremely difficult to make the financial contributions. As a result of the involvement of government authorities and provision of loans by the self-help groups the team supported 2,350 families to undertake the work.

Lessons Learned

• Project beneficiaries were employed in other aspects of the project wherever possible. The project has asked the women who were on the tailoring course to make uniforms for the less well-off students. Similarly the youth who completed the masonry training were employed to undertake the toilet construction work under this project. This improves overall sustainability for the project.