CRTRCChild Rights Training and Resource Centre

About Shaishav

“Shaishav” is a Gujarati word meaning “childhood”

We are a voluntary organisation that seeks to free children from the cycle of child labour and promote the ideas of sensitivity, solidarity, empathy and collective strength as a path to empowerment and social change

Formed in 1992 to tackle the issue of children’s rights in Bhavnagar

Aim to enable children with the capacity to improve their situation

Aim to bring together children, adults, government and other organisations to achieve our goals

Strong focus on the issues of child labour, discrimination and exploitation

Programme Structure

Community

Programme

Quality Education

Programme

Development & Empowerment

Programme

Balghar Balsena Tarunsena Lok Samarthan Manch Baldost Manch Area Committees

C R T R C Materials Development Training Documentation Research Advocacy Networking Mobile Resource Centre Setu

Shaishav

Vision

Established with an intent to provide strong research and development base for the organisation

Serves to: Support and strengthen the many

educational programs that Shaishav and other similar organisations have in place

Expand and develop present programmes and concepts

Sustain programmes through community ownership

Objectives

Spread awareness about child rights, particularly to children and those directly involved with underprivileged children

Network with larger child rights organisations to campaign for child rights

Advocacy and campaigning, to build pressure on policy makers to bring about more favourable child rights policy

Increase peoples participation so that programmes run independently

Activities

CRTRC’s activities can be split into the following programmes: Materials Development Resources & Training Vocational Training for Youth Process Standardisation & Documentation Participatory Action Research Mobile Resource Centres Advocacy & Networking

Materials Development

Development of various learning and teaching aids

Include games, puppets, audiovisuals, and books

Used by children, parents, teachers, activists, and other organisations

Resources & Training

Materials and other resources directed at both adults and children, for training in life skills, child rights, and education issues.

Community based training programme to recruit and train interested women and youths to teach within their communities

Training in service development for child rights activists and other organisations

Child rights activist course Ongoing motivation and skills development training for

school teachers in collaboration with Education Department

Shaishav has become the Indian hub for the US based organisation, Play for Peace

Vocational Training for Youth

Various courses offered for youth, in arts, academics, life skills, value education and creativity

Various schedules to suit all children

Many of the courses available for adults are also suitable for children

Process Standardisation & Documentation

Organising and cataloguing Shaishav’s current and future teaching techniques, practices, and activities.

Promotes the sustainability of Shaishav’s programmes, allowing our knowledge and practices to be openly shared within the organisation

Manuals also made available to other interested parties, establishing a mutually beneficial channel for information sharing amongst organisations throughout India and abroad

Participatory Action Research

Conducting action research on various child rights and field-related topics using primary and secondary data

Exploring currently emerging issues such as child sex abuse and child trafficking

Research supports current child-related programmes run both by Shaishav and other organisations, and also helps identify and develop new programmes

Also conduct budget analysis, and use action research to support advocacy

Mobile Resource Centres

2 custom designed, well-equipped buses that function as highly popular Mobile Resource Centres in schools and communities

Operate as field extensions of CRTRC Academic activities focus on Gujarati,

maths, and environmental studies Developmental activities include games,

arts and crafts, slide shows, films, and talks

Advocacy & Networking

Shaishav networks with many like-minded organisations at State, National, and International level, to attempt to influence policy and stimulate change

Centre serves as a base for individuals and organisations interested in child rights related issues

Provides a hub to pool local and international resources in an attempt to advance the development of child rights

Summary

CRTRC enables Shaishav to further develop its materials, as well as standardise and document its process

Allows Shaishav to provide resources and training on a larger scale

Base for research on child rights and education, communication, and networking, resulting in strengthened advocacy for child rights

Centre functions as a child centred space for development and creativity