I guess this is bit of a vent. I see this on the wall at my work and I cringe every time. The basic message is that children in India are exploited and forced to do labor. We Americans need to get together and fight for children’s rights for education (because education is a human Right) and other luxaries that are enjoyed by more productive and highly capitalized countries of the world.
At CRY America, we do not believe in charity. We do not run schools, orphanages or dispensaries. Instead, we partner NGOs working with children, their parents, and community. Our role in these partnerships goes beyond mere funding; we work with our NGO partners to bring about long term and sustainable change to the lives of children, by empowering communities to address the root causes of illiteracy, poverty, discrimination and exploitation. We have realized that child rights cannot be ensured unless families have their livelihoods assured.
Along with our partner NGOs we work towards ensuring basic rights are available to all categories of underprivileged children, including street children, girl children, children bonded in labor, children of commercial sex workers, physically and mentally challenged children and children in juvenile institutions.
Very simply, we act as the link between (a) people like you who want to help the underprivileged child and (b) the child in need, wherever she might be, in India or the USA.
We do this by channelizing the concern, goodwill, time, money and skills of thousands of individuals, like you, towards child development initiatives run by committed individuals and organizations. Whether it is the dedicated volunteers who drive all our activities in the US or our donors, partners and supporters, each individual makes an invaluable contribution to this movement.
The initiatives we support work at the grassroots-level to restore basic rights to children. We select them on the basis of their track record, the issues they work with and the impact on the communities they work with. We support them in various ways through funding, training, networking with similar organizations, and advocacy. We work closely with CRY, an Indian NGO that has, over the past 30 years, developed highly effective systems for selecting, planning, monitoring and evaluating such interventions. CRY America operates with impeccable standards of trust, transparency, equality and accountability. We report periodically to all our supporters donors and volunteers, on the progress of each of the initiatives we support.
I absolutely agree that it is desirable to deliver these children from poverty and to a quality of life that offers education - if so desired. To do this doesn’t require some governing body to create “Rights” for children, or to outlaw their empolyment or provide them school. What is required are property rights and capital accumulation to make parents of these children productive enough to feed their families without requiring the children to work to feed themselves.
Edit: Oh, and I forgot to add: deregulation and put an end to the bureaucracy and corruption.
/Rant.