Background

India is set to be the youngest country in the world with almost one third of its population- amounting to 440 million people- under 18 years of age. This makes India a country with the largest population of children in the world. Children constitute around 43% of the population of India. There is a growing concern and need for protection of children from violence, abuse and exploitation in a sustained and holistic manner. Addressing this state of affairs, the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) introduced by government of India brings together multiple existing child protection schemes of the Ministry under one comprehensive umbrella, and integrates additional interventions for protecting children and ensuring their rehabilitation.

Capacity building of the various functionaries is one of the key components of ICPS and a significant aspect for implementation of Juvenile justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015. It emphasizes on building capacities at all levels of service providers and places importance on developing technical expertise through training of personnel in allied system, departments concerned and various stakeholders to undertake responsibilities under ICPS.

In this backdrop Child Resource Centre (CRC) is a strategic initiative with focus on capacity building of all stakeholders in child protection systems and creation of a knowledge hub. It is a joint venture of Department for Child Rights, Rajasthan (DCR) and HCM RIPA with technical support from UNICEF, Rajasthan.

CRC aims to facilitate child friendly governance as a part of HCM RIPA, in order to create an enabling environment for children in the society. The key mandate of CRC is to appraise the training needs of the various child rights stakeholders, design course curriculum and customized training packages on the subject of child rights (Protection) and prepare a pool of experts. Documentation and research, relevant to the subject of child rights is another thrust area of CRC.

Since the subject of Child Protection is new, the functionaries face several challenges in documentation and case management due to inappropriate knowledge and understanding on related Acts. Many times it has been witnessed that the people associated with these authorities find it difficult to take action on some of the cases brought before them.

However for meeting out the aforesaid challenges and effective implementation of the child related laws and schemes, a need was felt to create a mechanism which can institutionalize the continuous enhancement of capacities of stakeholders through on-site hand-holding support and provide technical guidance and assistance.

Child Protection Support Desk (CPSD) was visualized as a joint venture of the Department for Child Rights, CRC, HCM RIPA, UNICEF, Rajasthan and Antakshari Foundation. The CPSD was established at CRC, HCM RIPA on 18th April 2017 with an aim to assist the field functionaries such as Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, Special Juvenile Police Units, District Child Protection Units and Child Care Institutions in dealing with child protection cases by providing hand holding support.

Any child protection stakeholders can contact at +91-74148-37414 for technical support and guidance.