New Zealand
India
The situation for children
About 60 million children under the age of six in India live below the poverty line. And one in six children under the age of five suffers from malnutrition.
India has the largest number of child labourers in the world. Estimates vary from 14 to 30 million. And less than half of India's children go to school. Girls are particularly disadvantaged - even if they do begin school, they frequently leave before completing their education due to family commitments, stereotypes or an inability to pay school fees.
In Karnataka State, South India, Save the Children New Zealand works with a local organisation called the Agricultural Development and Training Society (ADATS) to help impoverished communities become self-sufficient.
Helping the poorest children receive a good education
We have set up Children's Centres ("Balakendras") in over 200 villages to provide additional tuition for children who are struggling to keep up at school, and can’t get support at home because their parents are illiterate.
The Children's Centres also provide night classes for working children who cannot attend school during the day. Before the centres opened, only 20 percent of Coolie children passed the national board exam and advanced their education; now 99 percent of Coolie children are passing the exam – and have hope for a brighter future.
Creating development opportunities for children
This work follows on from our Opportunities for Child Workers project, which focused on reducing the incidence of damaging and exploitative forms of child labour in India's Maharashtra State. With years of successful results behind us, our focus has now shifted from child labour and child protection to child rights.
One of our key objectives is to provide quality educational opportunities to 1,500 girls and boys in 60 villages by 2006. We are also increasing awareness of child rights and ensuring differently abled children have the opportunity to exercise those rights.
Providing income generating loans to destitute families
Save the Children New Zealand provides repayable income generating loans to poor single mothers, which they use to set up small businesses such as tea shops or sheep breeding. These women are generally either widowed or deserted, and very poor. Women’s Committees provide on-going support and encouragement to the women as they establish small businesses or begin animal rearing to generate income for their families. Once their business is secure, the loan is repaid, enabling other women to benefit. This scheme creates a sustainable income and independence for the whole family.
Dry land development
We provide Coolie families with the opportunity to cultivate vacant, scattered patches of dusty, barren land and become subsistence farmers, rather than agricultural labourers on arable land owned by others. Together with our local partners (ADATS), we provide the training and capital for entire communities to develop dry land over an eight-year period.
In practice, this means clearing boulders, levelling out land, building retaining walls and small dams to conserve water, compost making and - finally - planting. This work has led to a dramatic increase in yields, food security and equal wages for Coolie men and women.
Emergency relief
Save the Children continues to assist children and families affected by the South Asia earthquake on 8 October 2005 and the Indian Ocean tsunami that struck on Boxing Day 2004.