Railway Children- Creating A World Where No Child Has To Live On The Streets
Across the world, there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of children that sleep alone on the streets every night. In India, every five minutes a child arrives alone at a railway station. Immediately they face violence, exploitation, trafficking and abuse. Scavenging for scraps of food they are beaten, attacked, raped and even killed. Reaching out to these children as early as possible while they are in a moving train or after they arrive at a railway station is important for their protection, rehabilitation and preventing them from slipping into street life. Railway Children India (RCI) works with these children at and around 10 railway stations across 7 states in India.
RCI is working with a singular vision of creating a “world where no child has to live on the streets”. RCI is working at 10 railway stations protecting around 7000 children every year.
Railway Children doesn’t just solve the immediate problems faced by vulnerable children. We look at the factors that caused the situation in the first place. Understanding how and why a child has left home helps us work at the source of the problem to prevent them from leaving the family again. We also educate communities, giving them a greater understanding of the children on the streets they often ignore and condemn, which then empowers them to take increased responsibility for their care.
We work at three levels for lasting and long-term change:
Railway Children India (RCI) believes in early intervention/prevention as the most effective way to ensure the protection of children arriving alone and at risk in Railway Stations. We aim to reach children, before they choose a life on the street.
At and around the railway station: RCI aims to transform stations into child-friendly spaces. A team of outreach workers (ORW) works round the clock to reach every child arriving or passing by the station alone. The ORWs are entrusted to ensure the first response to the child’s need, i.e. food, water, medical and counseling support etc. The first response center is located at the station as a Child Help Desk, to cater to the needs of every child identified.
In communities: Railway Children India (RCI) works to create a safety net within
the community, so that none of the children fall through it, and become vulnerable. RCI believes in empowering communities and families and strengthening their resources so they have the responsibility and ability to properly care for their children and keep them safe.
With governments: Strengthening the existing government system and structures is key to ensuring long-term, a sustainable change which is what we work towards, and what allows us to have the greatest impact, where needed most.
RCI has reached out to over 17000 vulnerable and at-risk children through different programmes, positively impacting their childhoods and communities.
SPOTLIGHT: Building #Communities4Children
With the advent of COVID19, many families lost their livelihoods, resulting in extreme poverty, not being able to afford food, nutrition, housing, education, and other basic social protections. Distressed families and communities led to distressed childhoods, pushing children into a dark abyss of poverty, abuse and exploitation. As an organization invested in child protection, evidence on the ground only validated our belief in investing in families and communities, encouraging collective responsibility for children, and working to build a safety net within the ambit of the community to prevent children from further peril, violence and vulnerabilities.
The last year has been committed to reaching the most vulnerable children and communities, understanding their unique concerns and contexts, providing immediate support, skills and knowledge on how best to protect themselves, and hand-holding families and children to brave the storm and come out stronger.
To support our work to ensure stronger and safer #communities4children. https://bit.ly/3s6SLHV
