Remember ME - You Me and Dementia

Monday, December 28, 2009

Social Entrepreneurship course in NMIMS,Mumbai

The School of Business Management, NMIMS University announces the commencement of the admission process for the fifth batch of the Three-year Part-time MBA (2010-2013) and One-year Diploma in Social Entrepreneurship. Details of the programme are listed on our website http://www.nmims.edu/parttime.mba.SE/.


The academic programmes are specifically useful for NGO/Government/ CSR professionals who wish to develop their careers in the social sector. Keeping in mind the special needs of the social sector professionals, this is a highly subsidised course and includes scholarship support for deserving candidates. Brief details about the programme are given below.


Eligibility Requirements - Candidates who have completed their graduation and who have at least two years exposure in the NGO sector are eligible to apply for the course. Those appearing for their final year exams in March/April 2010 are also eligible to apply for the course, provided, they have been exposed to the NGO sector by undertaking volunteering assignments.


Admission Process - Admission form and Programme Prospectus is available at the institute’s Accounts Office from December 1, 2009 on payment of Rs. 1,000/- in cash. Alternatively form can be filled and submitted online on our website www.nmims.edu. In case of online application, the candidates will have to mail a Demand Draft of Rs. 1000/- in favour of ‘SVKM’s NMIMS’ along with a print out of the acknowledgment of the online application to the NMIMS address.

Candidates have to submit the application on or before January 23, 2010.


Selection Procedure:
Selection to both the programmes will be based on a) Essay Test and b) Personal Interview. The Selection Test will be held at the NMIMS Campus on January 31, 2009.


For further information please contact us on the following phone numbers/email address:
A) Ms Shobha Pereira, Email: Shobha@nmims.edu
Tele-26143177 / 26183688 / 4235 5555 Ext: 6715 (Strictly between 10.00 a.m to 5.00 p.m)

B) Dr. Animesh Bahadur, Faculty,
Email:animesh.bahadur@nmims.edu ; animeshbahadur@gmail.com
Tele- 26143177 / 26183688 / 4235 5555 Ext: 5812 (Mobile- 93242 45045-Use strictly between 10.00 a.m to 5.00 p.m)


Thanking you,

Yours Faithfully,


Dr. Meena Galliara
Chairperson,
Social Enterprise Cell, NMIMS



Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Change the world from Bandra,Mumbai: the new changemakers have arrived


All you need is a good cause—an innovative start-up will provide you with dirt-cheap office space and unlimited resources.

When one is young, restless and desperate to change the ruthless ways of the world, trustworthy companions usually include poky cybercafes, cutting chai and a jhola. But thanks to two individuals, social entrepreneurs in the city can look forward to upgrading to a more tony environment, complete with an espresso machine and unlimited access to resources like the internet and printing.

Welcome to the Hub—modelled on the Hub, London, and the first of its kind in Asia—where socially inclined start-ups can rent space for a song. An initiative of Unltd India founded by 29-year-old TISS graduate Pooja Warier and Londoner
Richard Alderson, it provides seed funding and incubation support besides the aforementioned co-working space at bargain basement rates.

Perched on the top floor of an old residential building near the Mount Mary steps in Bandra, the Hub looks like the workstation of a moody advertising guru. There are bandanasporting heads, half-full cups of coffee, straw curtains and Oshos parked at the entrance. The traditional sterile office space has been replaced by tanned wooden tables to hot-desk, Bombay Fornicators for inspiration, a pile of pillows to accommodate a power nap and a cosy pantry to take a break.

Entrepreneurs who work out of here don’t pay a fraction of the rent they would have had to dole out for prime property in Mumbai. In fact, keeping in mind the egalitarian sentiment, there’s a grading system of the social enterprise. So while lowbudget start-ups (under Rs 1 lakh per annum) get space for as little as
Rs 200 for five hours a month and Rs 3,000 for unlimited access, established businesses (above Rs 25 lakh per annum) pay Rs 600 for five hours a month and Rs 27,000 for unlimited access.

“It’s an ecosystem to allow social entrepreneurs to thrive and create sustainable organisations that can be scaled,” says Anderson. “This way, we are doing what we want to do and are also creating a steady income for Unltd India.”

The Hub started in July and since then has gathered 28 members, “peo
ple who simply want to change things for a radically better world’’. There are individuals working against child sexual abuse, for sanitation in slums and night schools as well as freelance writers trying to tackle issues like environmental degradation. But the interesting mix also includes a recruiter and fashion designer, leading one to wonder: how does a recruiter, whose primary job is to fuel the corporate machinery, help create a just society? And will a fashion designer’s contribution be to dress up the underprivileged?

Recruiter Francis D’Costa and designer Meera Mittal, however, are not stereotypes. Thirty-five-year-old D’Costa’s payback is to help recruit people for not-for-profit organisations. “NGOs need good people and volunteers think that NGOs don’t pay,’’ he says. “They just need to be connected to each other and that’s what I do.’’

When Mittal approached the “hub hosts’’ for membership after she stumbled upon it on a Yahoo group, they decided to call her in for a personal interview to see what
plans she had to make a difference. “We realised that she had a deep interest in therapeutic dance and yoga therapy, and she offered to conduct sessions for NGO volunteers. Then we were sold on the idea,’’ says hub host Raheen Jummani, a clinical psychologist who manages the space with Hub co-host Alex Baine.

How does the Hub make sure that entrepreneurs fulfil their promises and don’t take advantage of the low rent? “Our hub hosts are here round the clock, making sure people are genuinely interested,’’ says Alderson.

One of the first few members at the Hub was Sailesh Mishra, founder of Silver Inning Foundation, an organisation that works for the elderly. “There’s such a huge lack of space in Mumbai and the rent is sky-high. I earlier worked out of
Mira Road but now working out of Bandra gives me a different kind of credibility,’’ he confesses. The best part, he says, is that when in need of guidance, all one has to do is take a trip to the pantry and introduce oneself. “I get to meet so many different people. This way we have built a network. We also have an online community where we share google documents and try to take each other’s ideas forward,’’ he says.

That really is the idea behind the hub, emphasises Jummani. It hosts weekly events, film screenings and talks to encourage the Hub members to get to know one another. “And in the process spark off new ideas,’’ she says.



By Mansi Choksi for The Sunday Times of India ,Mumbai ,27th Dec 2009 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

NGO chief files anticipatory bail petition

The chairperson of Dignity Foundation, an NGO that works for the elderly, has filed for anticipatory bail in a cheating and forgery case.

Earlier this month, the D B Marg police arrested three persons, including the NGO's manager Hemang Desai. The three who have sought anticipatory bail are NGO chairperson Dr S Srinivasan and two others.

"The matter is in court and I have been advised by my lawyer not to comment," said Srinivasan.

The arrested are Desai, advocate Deepak Khilari and Peter Coutinho who allegedly did the notary work for forging papers. Two others—Mehernosh Palia and his wife Shirin—have already got anticipatory bail.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/NGO-chief-files-anticipatory-bail-petition/articleshow/5382941.cms



Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

NGO official arrested for cheating, forgery

The D B Marg police,Mumbai on Wednesday 16th Dec arrested a manager attached to Dignity Foundation,NGO working for senior citizens on charges of cheating and forgery.

The police was tightlipped about the case. “We have arrested Hemang Desai, manager (security service) of the NGO on charges of cheating and forgery,’’ said inspector Anil Sardal of the D B Marg police station, without giving any more details.

A senior police officer said the court has asked them to investigate the case. He, too, re
fused to elaborate on the case.

Dr Sheelu Srinivasan, chairperson of Dignity Foundation, rubbished the police allegation and said that Desai was framed in a false case. She suspected that the manager is being harassed by the police for helping a senior citizen. “We have been helping an 87-year-old man, Hoshi Wadia, who had deposited Rs 90,000 with us. We have spent Rs 45,000 in his case and have a record of all the expenses with us,’’ she stated.

According to her, Wadia had given Dignity Foundation a lot of powers to act on his behalf and they were taking up his case for justice. “We have also appointed a nurse to take care of Wadia,’’ she said.


By Mateen Hafeez

Courtesy: Times of India 17th dec 2009,Mumbai


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Sweta Mangal, CEO & Co-Founder of the Dial 1298 for Ambulance service wins Tata TiE Stree Shakti award


Tata Group and TiE Mumbai chapter today conferred Tata TiE Stree Shakti award to Sweta Mangal, CEO & Co-Founder of the Dial 1298 for Ambulance service in the medium enterprise campaign, for her outstanding work in providing a network of quality life saving emergency service.


The winner was chosen through a panel that comprised the likes of Shikha Sharma, MD, Axis Bank, Ireena Vittal of McKinsey, Sanjeev Bhikchandani of Naukri.com amongst others and was verified by process partner Ernst and Young. The awards that included a trophy, certificate and cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh.


Stree Shakti is an initiative of TIE Mumbai to recognize the relentless effort and resilience displayed by women entrepreneurs in setting up successful ventures and also a bid to create a platform to help them connect, share and network to form trust based partnerships.


Know more about 1298 service: http://www.1298.in/



Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

See Silver Innings activity pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sailesh2000_2000/


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

National Centre For Missing Children: HELP to find missing child

A missing child is a parent's worst nightmare.

Every day thousands of children are reported missing.... Many are never found.

Many of the kidnappings/abductions end tragically in rape, assault and death.

Since its inception in 2000, National Centre For Missing Children is making a impact in protecting India's children, it offers hope to families who know that the search will not end till their child is found. We need your help to get these missing children home soon and safely. It is impossible for any one person, organization or government to search for the missing children on their own. All of us have to join together and help in the search for missing children. Please visit the page "You Can Help" for more details.

N
ational Centre For Missing Children (NCMC) is a non political, non profit making and a non-governmental organization offering the services free of charge.

The site is presented for the parents, guardians, law enforcement agencies, free of charge, on a one to one manner as an alternative and unconventional method for locating a missing child who is lost or is suspected of having been kidnapped or is a runaway. It serves as a complement for the conventional methods and is not intended to interfere with the system's procedures or to promote false hope.


How many children go missing in a year in India?
In India no exact figures are available, however, according to an article in an English daily, the number of runaways is 10 lakhs per annum, i.e. every 30 seconds a child runs away from home. If you add the number of missing, lost and abducted children the number of missing children is phenomenal.

We do have figures of missing children in the USA. This may help give us an idea about the enormity of missing children issue in India.


Vist and support now:
http://www.missingindiankids.com/index.htm

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Can India And Pakistan Fight Terror Together?

Inseparable by geography, Pakistan and India are Siamese twins that have emerged together from the womb of history. For better or for worse, their futures will always remain inextricably tied together.

Today, one of the two is in deep trouble. The ferocious militant fanaticism of Pathan tribals, once sequestered in the mountains of Waziristan and Swat, has migrated down into the plains and across the country. Every city of Pakistan has been attacked, some repeatedly and without respite. With threats, abductions, beheadings, and daily suicide bombings, extremists have drastically changed the way Pakistanis live.

Just a couple of months ago, Pakistanis had heaved a sigh of relief. A brief lull in terrorist attacks had followed the army's successful operation against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Swat, and the killing by an American drone of TTP's supremo, Baitullah Mehsud. Some hubris-filled "analysts" - who incessantly chatter on Pakistan's numerous private television channels - claimed that the TTP had been mortally wounded. But they were dead wrong.

Islamabad is now a city of fear as the TTP retaliates. Traffic crawls past concrete blocks placed across its roads as helmeted soldiers peer suspiciously from behind their machine-guns. Restaurants barely function, and markets are deserted. Still, the attackers appear unstoppable and, as in Peshawar, they have paralyzed the city. Some attacks are more spectacular than others, but even the outstanding ones are forgotten once the next one happens. Explosives inside a car blow up over a hundred shoppers in Peshawar's crowded Meena Bazaar; a suicide bomber detonates himself in the girls' cafeteria of the International Islamic University in Islamabad; three simultaneous attacks hit police institutes in Lahore; school children are shredded by ball bearings from a suicide bomber's exploding jacket in Kohat,...

Other recent attacks - against hard targets - were even more dramatic. Just days earlier the headlines had been dominated by Taliban militants who had stormed the apparently impregnable General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's sister city. The 20-hour siege, followed diligently by private television channels, showed meticulous planning and execution that culminated in hostage-taking and killing. Still more recently, the heavily protected ISI headquarters in Peshawar was blown up by a suicide car bomber. The message was clear: no place in Pakistan is safe any more, not even the safest ones - particularly those belonging to former handlers and mentors.

Incredibly, Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, says that Pakistan is "compiling hard evidence of India's involvement" in terrorist attacks upon Pakistan's public and its armed forces. If he, and the Interior Minister, are correct then we must conclude that the Indians are psychotics possessed with a death wish, or perhaps plain stupid. While India's assistance for Baloch insurgents could conceivably make strategic sense, helping the jihadists simply does not.

As Pakistan staggers from one bombing to the other, some Indians must be secretly pleased. Indeed, there are occasional verbalizations: Is this not sweet revenge for the horrors of Mumbai perpetrated by Lashkar-e-Taiba? Shouldn't India feel satisfaction as Pakistan reels from the stinging poison of its domestically reared snakes?

But most Indians are probably less than enthusiastic in stoking fires across the border. In fact, the majority would like to forget that Pakistan exists. With a 6% growth rate, booming hi-tech exports, and expectations of a semi-superpower status, they feel that India has no need to engage a struggling Pakistan with its endless litany of problems.

Of course, some would like to hurt Pakistan. Extremists in India ask: shouldn't one increase the pain of a country - with which India has fought three bloody wars - by aiding its enemies? Perhaps do another Bangladesh on Pakistan someday?

These fringe elements, fortunately, are inconsequential today. Rational self-interest demands that India not aid jihadists. Imagine the consequences if central authority in Pakistan disappears or is sharply weakened. Splintered into a hundred jihadist lashkars, each with its own agenda and tactics, Pakistan's territory would become India's eternal nightmare. When Mumbai-II occurs - as it surely would in such circumstances - India's options in dealing with nuclear Pakistan would be severely limited.

The Indian Army would be powerless. As the Americans have discovered at great cost, the mightiest war machines on earth cannot prevent holy warriors from crossing borders. Internal collaborators, recruited from a domestic Muslim population that feels itself alienated from Hindu-India, would connive with jihadists. Subsequently, as Indian forces retaliate against Muslims - innocent and otherwise - the action-reaction cycle would rip the country apart.

So, how can India protect itself from invaders across its western border and grave injury? Just as importantly, how can we in Pakistan assure that the fight against fanatics is not lost?

Let me make an apparently outrageous proposition: in the coming years, India's best protection is likely to come from its traditional enemy, the Pakistan Army. Therefore, India ought to now help, not fight, against it.

This may sound preposterous. After all, the two countries have fought three and a half wars over six decades. During periods of excessive tension, they have growled at each other while meaningfully pointing towards their respective nuclear arsenals. Most recently, after heightened tensions following the Mumbai massacre, Pakistani troops were moved out from NWFP towards the eastern border. Baitullah Mehsud's offer to jointly fight India was welcomed by the Pakistan Army.

And yet, the imperative of mutual survival makes a common defense inevitable. Given the rapidly rising threat within Pakistan, the day for joint actions may not be very far away.

Today Pakistan is bearing the brunt. Its people, government and armed forces are under unrelenting attack. South Waziristan, a war of necessity rather than of choice, will certainly not be the last one. A victory here will not end terrorism, although a stalemate will embolden jihadists in South Punjab, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammed. The cancer of religious militancy has spread across Pakistan, and it will take decades to defeat.

This militancy does not merely exist because America occupies Afghanistan. A US withdrawal, while welcome, will not end Pakistan's problems. As an ideological movement, the jihadists want to transform society as part of their wider agenda. They ride on the backs of their partners, the mainstream religious political parties like Jamat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema-Pakistan. None of these have condemned the suicide bombings of Pakistani universities, schools, markets, mosques, police and army facilities.

Pakistan's political leadership and army must not muddy the waters, especially now that public sanction has finally been obtained for fighting extremism in Swat and Waziristan. Self-deception weakens, and enormously increases vulnerability. Wars can only be won if nations have a clear rallying slogan. Therefore the battle against religious extremism will require identifying it - by name - as the enemy.

India should derive no satisfaction from Pakistan's predicament. Although religious extremists see ordinary Muslims as munafiqs (hypocrites) - and therefore free to be blown up in bazaars and mosques - they hate Hindus even more. In their calculus, hurting India would buy even more tickets for heaven than hurting Pakistan. They dream of ripping apart both societies, or starting a war - preferably nuclear - between Pakistan and India.

A common threat needs a common defense. But this is difficult unless the Pakistan-India conflict is reduced in intensity. In fact the extremist groups that threaten both countries today are an unintended consequence of Pakistan's frustrations at Indian obduracy in Kashmir.

To create a future working alliance with Pakistan, and in deference to basic democratic principles, India must therefore be seen as genuinely working towards some kind of resolution of the Kashmir issue. Over the past two decades India has been morally isolated from Kashmiri Muslims and continues to incur the very considerable costs of an occupying power in the Valley. Indian soldiers continue to needlessly die - and to oppress and kill Kashmiri innocents.

It is time for India to fuzz the LOC, make it highly permeable, and demilitarize it up to some mutually negotiated depth on both sides. Without peace in Kashmir the forces of cross-border jihad, and its hate-filled holy warriors, will continue to receive unnecessary succor.

India also needs to allay Pakistan's fears on Balochistan. Although Pakistan's current federal structure is the cause of the problem - a fact which the government is now finally addressing through the newly announced Balochistan package - nevertheless it is possible that India is aiding some insurgent groups. Statements have been made in India that Balochistan provides New Delhi with a handle to exert pressure on Pakistan. This is unacceptable.

While there is no magic wand, confidence building measures (CBMs) continue to be important for managing the Pakistan-India conflict and bringing down the decibel level of mutual rhetoric. To be sure, CBMs can be easily disparaged as palliatives that do not address the underlying causes of a conflict. Nevertheless, looking at those initiated over the years shows that they have held up even in adverse circumstances. More are needed.

The reason for India to want rapprochement with Pakistan, and vice versa, has nothing to do with feelings of friendship or goodwill. It has only to do with survival. For us in Pakistan, this is even more critical.

By Pervez Hoodbhoy.The author teaches at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. A shorter version of this article was published simultaneously on 28 November 2009 by two of the largest newspapers in Pakistan (Dawn) and India (The Hindu)


Source:http://www.countercurrents.org/hoodhoy151209.htm


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Social Impact Award 2009: “Honouring the Elderly “

SPJIMR recognizes its twin roles as a responsible member of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan and the responsive member of the Indian society at large. It looks at itself in a wider context ‘beyond MBA’ institution by engaging itself in socially relevant segments of Indian society.


As a management institute we envisage a much broader scope for our participants- as change agents not only in the corporate world but also in the social landscape.


The Center for Development of Corporate Citizenship (DOCC) at SPJIMR was established in the year 2001 with a view to mould management education in accordance with the Indian context. DOCC is built on SPJIMR’s philosophy of ‘value based growth’ and ‘influencing practice’.


As part of this endeavour, SPJIMR organizes Social Impact Award every year to recognize the best projects/work implemented by the NGO’s/Ind. working in diverse fields which have substantially impacted the society.


This year 2009, the theme of the event is “Honouring the Elderly “and the award ceremony will be held on 16th December, at SPJIMR Auditorium, Bhavan’s Campus, at Andheri.



Over the years, there have been considerable changes in demographic trends of ageing. Improved life expectancy has led to an increase in the 60+ population of India. A growing number of persons 60+ in the coming decade will be economically better off with higher educational and professional qualifications.


Ageing doesn't mean slowing down. And to celebrate this fact, SPJIMR will honour three achievers for their irresistible momentum at the Social Impact Award.



We extend a cordial invitation to you on this occasion ,Kindly request you for the confirmation, enclosed please find the Program schedule.


Regards, Nirja Mattoo , Chairperson, Center for DOCC , S P Jain Institute of Management & Research

SIA Schedule


5.00 PM: Lighting the Lamp

5.05 PM: Welcome Address by SPJIMR Director Dr Sesha Iyer

5.15 PM: Introduction of the Social Impact Award process

5.20 PM – 6.15 PM: Panel Discussion on Economic Security and Dignity

6.20 – 6.50 PM: Cultural Programmes

1. Bharathnatyam performance by a Mrs.Navanita Parmar (Senior Citizen) of Silver Inning Foundation

2. Skit Aakhiri Mausam (Last Season ) by IDEA group with regards to issues of Elderly

3. Salsa Dance performance by Silvers of Harmony Interactive Centre (Sr Citizens)

6.50 PM – 7.00 PM: Keynote address by the chief guest

7.00 PM – 8.00 PM: Awards Ceremony


Vote of Thanks


Refreshments


Venue:

S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research

Bhavans College Campus,

Munshi Nagar, Dadabhai Road, Andheri (W)

Bhawan's College Campus

Mumbai – 400058


Entry by Invitation only


RSVP Contact:

SPJIMR: Pradnya Surve docc@spjimr.org Cell: 9867641260

Silver Inning Foundation: Mona silverinnings@gmail.com Cell: 9987104233



Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Education key to inclusion for street children

Director-General of UNESCO Ms Irina Bokova said education was the key to a better future for excluded children.

She spoke during a day of events at UNESCO headquarters on November 26 devoted to street children and held to mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ms Bokova said education was not only a universal right but a weapon in the fight against poverty. ‘What can the future offer street children if they are excluded from education. It is by learning reading, writing and mathematics that they can break the vicious circle of misery and take their destiny into their own hands.’

The day, organized by UNESCO and the Fondation Air France, started with a debate moderated by French journalist and writer Florence Schaal, which pieced together a global view of street children and also touched on the right to education, legal implications and partnerships for action.

Principal speaker Ms. Rizzini, President of the International Childwatch network which works with 40 countries said: ‘We have been talking about street children for 30 years and their numbers are increasing. Enough rhetoric. We know what the problem is. Now we must put pressure on countries to do something about it.’

‘In Brazil we don’t even talk any more about the right to education for street kids. They are bounced between institutes and centres and the street where they find their own dangerous strategies for survival and engage with dangerous adults,’

Street children were feared and resented by society because of their involvement in crime but the real problem lay not with the children themselves but with social inequality and lack of priority on political agendas.

‘Brazil is one of the ten strongest economies in the world but also one of the five most inequal. We have 6 to 8 year olds on crack. Children are beaten and used sexually. We have forgotten that children are young citizens who should be respected,’said Ms Rizzini.

‘Yet we still apply 19th century solutions; collecting street children like garbage, putting them in trucks and taking them to shelters where they won’t stay. I spoke to a girl once who said she felt safer sleeping under a bridge than in a shelter. Children tell me most of all they would just like to be regarded as human beings,’ she added.

Dr Najat M’Jid, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography said: ‘There is no task more difficult than protecting children because not only are there many actors but many different approaches. Children are considered victims by some organisations and actors by others. The challenge is for all those working with children to come together and find a sole objective. Not only must NGOs working for children be strengthened to push politicians to change but children must be consulted and informed.’

Isabelle de Guillebon, Director of Samusocial Senegal, an organisation that provides urgent medical aid to street children, said: ‘In Dakar street children live with daily violence. When they are sick they don’t go to hospital because they won’t be taken in. In some cases they may be picked up by the fire brigade and dumped in front of the hospital but if they can’t pay they won’t be treated.’

Claudia Cabral, Director of the association Terra Dos Homens which works with street children in Rio de Janeiro said: ‘In Rio children whether they live or work on the street are highly vulnerable. Violence is rife in families as is drug use with crack use the most devastating. The children have the added problem of corrupt police.

‘These children aspire to normal life but many of them have mothers and grandmothers who were also born on the street and that becomes the norm.’

Franco Aloisio, President of the Parada Foundation created in the mid 90s to help children living in the sewers in Bucharest, said the problem still existed in the city particularly in winter when temperatures drop to minus 15C but there had been an improvement. There were around 1000 -1,300 street children now compared to 4-5,000 at the height of the problem.

In Guatemala many young abandoned girls ended up working as prostitutes. Anne Pascal, President of les Trois Quarts du Monde, said her association went into bar brothels to distribute condoms, nappies and baby milk to young girls. Her association offered material and psychological support but needed consistent funding to be effective.

‘If we look after a girl it will often be a commitment of ten years or more but funding may last a year. How can we tell the girl we can’t continue to help her?’ she asked.

Concerning legal aspects the seminar heard that laws and statutes existed in most countries to protect street children but were not always enforced.

Daniel Condaminas, President of the International Commission of Exterior Relations for the International Police Association which works in 61 countries and 5 continents said police forces had their part to play.

‘Police have to be trained to see street children not just as criminals but as victims. We are only one link in the chain and we are not social workers but observers,’ he said.

The evening after the debate was given over to the screening of a documentary, Street Children, by Michel Bulté and the presentation of a new prize established by Fondation Air France for associations working with children and awarded to Dr Xavier Emanuelli, Founding President of Samusocial International. An exhibition of photos, Just Kids, by François Perri can be seen at UNESCO HQ until December 12.


Source: http://www.unesco.org/en/education/dynamic-content-single-view/news/education_key_to_inclusion_for_street_children/back/9195/cHash/74e2c93eed/



Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.