A workshop with Village Level Child Protection Committee (VLCPC) was organized by Child Protection Team of NEDAN Foundation which is supported by UNICEF; Guwahati, Assam.
The worshop held at the Central Institute of Technology Seminar Hall in Kokrajhar has successfully formed around 25 village level Child Protection Committee in different conflict affected areas of Kokrajhar district in three blocks – Kochugaon, Dotma, Titaguri.
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In the workshop representatives from different village level Child Protection Committees were invited by the organizers. Around 150 people irrespective of community from 25 different villages attended in the workshop.
During the workshop many distinguished government officials were invited such as Bidyut Medhi, the secretary of District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) Kokrajhar; Mallaya Deka, chairperson of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Kokrajhar; Louis Basumatary, child protection officer of District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) Kokrajhar.
Nishani Narzary, the co-ordinator of Child Protection and Education welcomed the entire guest and felicitate the guest and the programme started with the lightening of the lamp.
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The objective of the programme was shared by the chairperson of NEDAN Foundation, Digambar Narzary. He spoke about child protection, child rights and child trafficking. He stated that Kokrajhar district has the highest number of child marriage cases.
He said that the ultimate reason for under development is not poverty but illiteracy. “There has been increased number of violence towards children because of various reasons like child marriage, child labour, witch hunting and child sexual abuse,” he said.
He also said NEDAN Foundation has been working to combat such issues to make Kokrajhar district free of child marriage, child labour and child exploitation.
The secretary of DLSA, Bidyut Medhi said that children are the backbone of a nation and they are the future leaders.
“Home environment plays an important role for the growth and development of a child. He also emphasized on the empowerment of women through SHGs. The SHGs can be empowered by providing training on livelihood such as mushroom cultivation, poultry farming and pickle making,” he said.
The chairperson of Child Welfare Committee, Malaya Deka talked about child rights, child marriage, child sexual abuse and adoption. She also shared her experiences of working with children. She cited that the reason for exploitation among the children is mainly due to lack of awareness and lack of education in the community. She emphasized that most of the trafficking cases occurs among the Adivasi community.
The district child protection officer (IC), Louis Basumatary mainly spoke about the structure of the Village Level Child Protection Committee (VLCPC). He highlighted on the responsibilities of the CPC members and their role to protect and most importantly prevent a child from any sort of exploitation and discrimination and work for the welfare of the child.