Based
on the non-negotiable principle that ‘no
child works and every child attends full time
formal school as a matter of right’, MVF
has been working towards abolition of child labour
in all its forms and mainstreaming them into formal
schools, for over a decade now. From its humble
beginning in three villages in 1991, it has now
spread its philosophy far and wide.
Currently MVF is implementing the program directly
in the Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Kurnool and Adilabad
districts in Andhra Pradesh covering over 2500
villages and in the city of Hyderabad. MVF also
provides technical support to various governments,
NGOs and the MVF resource persons have worked
in Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu. MVF has provided technical support
to NGOs and Governments in Nepal, Central America,
and Africa. Its presence is among some of the
most backward areas in terms of HDI and in all
these areas MVF monitors around 5,00,000 children
on a daily basis.
Earlier, MV Foundation worked
in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Mahbubnagar, Chittoor,
Kadapa, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Anantapur,
and Warangal districts of Andhra Pradesh as a
direct implementing agency. It now continues to
keep in touch with the program through the Child
Rights Protection Forums and offers technical
support to them.
Way back in the early nineties, MVF pioneered
the concept of the Residential Bridge Course (RBC)
camps to prove to the community, parents and the
children that poverty is not the only cause for
child labour and to disprove the myth that older
children cannot study. The RBC concept, the pedagogy,
the methodology and the curriculum have been adopted
by many NGOs and Indian Government policies.
It has also initiated programmes related to right
to health and nutrition of children below 6 yrs
of age, rights of adolescent girls and right to
safe motherhood.
Quick facts:
- 6,00,000 child labour mobilised out of work
and into fulltime, formal, government day schools.
- 50,000 child labourers have been put through
Bridge Course Camps and 30,000 Education Activists
mobilized to liberate children.
- 80,000 youth volunteers and members of CRPF
protect child rights.
- 25,000 adolescent girls in schools and 8000
child marriages stopped.
- 1500 Gram Panchayats are child labour free.
- 1500 Gram Panchayats review child rights
through the health and education subcommittees.
- 50,000 children mainstreamed to formal schools
through RBCs.
- 25,000 bonded labour released and sent to
schools.
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