Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children (PCVC) is the Child Protection wing of Pratham. The vision of this unit is "Every Child's Rights Protected, Every Child in School and Learning Well."

Established in the year 2001, PCVC has grown from being an organization focused on working with child labourers and children in difficulty, to a rights-based resource organization, working on the broad issues of protection and safeguarding the rights of children.

Context

Pratham started with a mandate of every child in school and learning well. Within this mission, it was also important to reach and help marginalized and vulnerable children to come into the education net and also provide them with a safety net.

PCVC focuses on child labour, children with special needs, children in institutions, children suffering from substance abuse, those in conflict with law, children who are victims of sexual abuse and children belonging to the most marginalised communities. Through its work, PCVC strives to provide these children with access to education and so that every child has equality of opportunity.

Approach

PCVC began as an outreach program in the slum communities of Mumbai, to respond to the needs of children belonging to underserved communities, especially those children who were working and not in school.

Currently, PCVC's core focus is on child protection issues like children with special needs, child beggars, children suffering from substance abuse, those in conflict with law, children who are victims of sexual abuse and children belonging to the most marginalised communities. PCVC strategy includes direct work with children and families in vulnerable communities. Indirect work as a resource organization involves training of different stakeholders working in the field of child protection and partnership with necessary government departments to address these concerns.

Delivery Models

PCVCโ€™s overall focus is on prevention, remediation, rehabilitation, policy advocacy and documentation for evidence-based practice. PCVC addresses the issues of child rights through multipronged interventions.

One of the key programs of PCVC is to rescue child labourers from exploitative situations. The aim is to repatriate these children back to their homes and seek rehabilitative measures to sustain them in their local and home settings. To facilitate this, various inter-state connections have been established by PCVC with the concerned government departments at both source and receiving end. PCVC also works at important exit (source) and entry (receiving) points at railway stations in order to mitigate unsafe migration and trafficking of children as a major prevention operation. Another crucial prevention program is the Child Rights Help Desk which is set up at various locations within the community to address the concerns of child rights and for local community members to seek redressal for the same. Child Rights Sessions are also conducted in schools as well as in the community to spread awareness on the child protection concerns.

While the focus has been on strengthening children and communities, PCVC also has national advocacy-level interventions, from establishing inter-state coordination between various state governments to pushing the issue of child rights and protection to a higher priority on their agenda to accepting ownership for altering significant policy decisions.

On the rehabilitation front, PCVC provides educational sponsorship for the rescued child labourers. This is for the children who attend the school on regular basis (up to 70% attendance) and it is monitored by PCVC staff in consultation with the schools. In the past, PCVC has run residential shelters for rescued child labourers in their particular home state as a demonstration of best practise for the State.

Reach and Scale

PCVC's activities extend to seven states in the country โ€“ Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.ย  In 2017-18, PCVC worked extensively at both source and receiving ends to cover 783 villages in 35 blocks of 6 districts (rural areas) and 2,467 communities in 9 cities (urban areas). All in all, PCVC reaches around 300,000 children annually through its direct and indirect interventions.

Contact

Websites

http://www.pcvc.org/

Facebook PrathamCouncilForVulnerableChildren/

Twitter@PrathamPCVC

Instagram PrathamPCVC

DOCUMENTS

๐Ÿ“–In Baran, Rajasthan, a group of mothers whose children attend the Anganwadi have formed a community through Pratham's support and encouragement. These mothers come together weekly to share their experiences, discuss their children's progress, and exchange ideas on various activities and games.๐Ÿ“– However, one thing they never fail to do is share stories from their childhood with each other.๐Ÿ“–The group understands the importance of storytelling as a powerful tool to teach children valuable life lessons, foster their cognitive abilities, and enhance their vocabulary. By actively sharing stories, these mothers are building a rich collection of narratives they can pass down to their children at home. Through this practice, they are helping their children learn about ethics, morals, and cultural values in a fun and engaging way.#PrathamEducationFoundation #WorldStorytellingDay #funlearning #communitybuilding #parenting #childeducation #storytelling #culturalvalues #socialwork๐Ÿ“– ... See MoreSee Less
๐Ÿ“–โœจ Let's celebrate World Storytelling Day with a tale! Pratham strongly believes in the transformative power of stories to mold a young mind and facilitate learning. Join us on a journey of learning and imagination with a story of a girl who climbed a mango tree. ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ ...For more stories, visit this link: www.prathamyouthnet.org/story/index.php ..#WorldStorytellingDay #learnenglish #imagination #adventure ... See MoreSee Less
Storytime!๐Ÿ“– Meet Ratnibai, a 52-year-old woman from Kanker, Chhattisgarh, who narrates captivating stories to a group of children in her community every day.๐Ÿ“– Inspired by Pratham's Dai ke Goth initiative under our Hamara Gaon Programme, Ratnibai shares fascinating tales from old times with a smile on her face, bringing joy to the faces of her young listeners. Itโ€™s a heartwarming sight when the older children join in too.๐Ÿ“– For Ratnibai, storytelling is not just about entertainment but also about teaching too, "My mother used to tell me a lot of stories when I was a kid, and that helped me learn a lot of life lessons."...๐Ÿ›‘ Get ready for an exciting week of captivating stories!For more stories click here: www.prathamyouthnet.org/story/index.php #prathameducationfoundation #worldstorytellingday #teachingmethods #storytellingforchildren#education #funlearning #socialwork #communitybuilding ... See MoreSee Less
The Second Chance Programme in Maharashtra is empowering over 650 women and girls between the ages of 16 and 30 to take their 10th board exams. It's heartening to see their jubilant faces as they come out of their exam halls. They are certainly an inspiration to us, proving that it's never too late to pursue an education and achieve your dreams.#PrathamEducationFoundation #education #educationmatters #secondchance #nevertoolate #inspiration ... See MoreSee Less
Meet Suman Sawata Jaykar, a 61-year-old Anganwadi worker who refuses to let her age deter her from pursuing her passion for learning English! Thanks to our Second Chance Programme, she was able to learn the English language and even sit for her 10th Board exams.Though her son, a police sub-inspector, doubted her ability to take the exams, Suman Tai has shown that it's never too late to follow your dreams. Let's take inspiration from her indomitable spirit and determination. Join us in wishing her all the success in this endeavour!!#PrathamEducationFoundation #socialwork #newsoftheday #edcucation #educationmatters #nevertoolate #inspiration ... See MoreSee Less