CMGGA

Name: Ishaan Bamba Age: 27 UG Degree and Institution: B.A. LLB (Hons), Amity Law School, Delhi affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi PG Degree and Institution: Master of Public Policy, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru Work Experience: Senior Policy Analyst, Swaniti Initiative, 9 Months Internship Experience (if applicable): PAHAL-NGO Jalandhar, PLR Chambers New Delhi, NALSA New Delhi – One Month at each organization Ishaan spent his formative years in Mumbai and Delhi, where he was exposed to structural inequities in large metropolitans from a young age. After completing school, he chose to pursue an education in law hoping to have a similar long-term social impact as his parents, who are retired public servants. While studying at Amity Law School Delhi, Ishaan noticed various shortcomings between laws and reality and how, more often than not, poor and marginalized groups paid the price for the inefficacies of the judicial system. To gain deeper insight into policy design and implementation, Ishaan enrolled in the Master's Programme in Public Policy at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. The programme's balance in theoretical and fieldwork exposure effectively bridged the knowledge gap between in-depth policy analysis and effective policy implementation. Through this course, he cultivated an interest in child rights and focused his thesis on the efficacy of juvenile justice system in Delhi and the impact of substance abuse on juvenile crime. Subsequently, Ishaan worked as Senior Policy Analyst at Swaniti Initiative, where he liaised with 20+ NGOs who worked with children, survivors of trafficking, and under-privileged communities across India. It was here that he witnessed first-hand the real-time implementation challenges of large-scale welfare policies, as well as the indispensable role of civil society in ensuring their success. Ishaan’s passion for working directly in the space of child rights is reflected in his research and professional pursuits, and this passion drew him to the CRF programme. Through the programme, Ishaan hopes to learn techniques to overcome on-ground challenges through innovative solutions and ensure child welfare in any given capacity. He eventually hopes to have a comprehensive understanding of theory and praxis of child welfare to aid civil society with action-based research in child protection.

Name: Farhan Mewati Age: 27 UG degree and institution: B. A (Hons) Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia University (2016) PG degree and institution : MA Social work (Department of Social work, University of Delhi (2018) Work experience: Coordinator-CHILDLINE at Butterflies (1-6-2020 to 17-3-2022); Child Welfare officer at Missionaries of Charity (1-12-2018 to 31-3-2020); Sr. Project Coordinator at Seed CSR ( 13-7-2018 to 2-11-2018) Internship experience: Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan (2016-2107); Tihar Prisons (2017-2018); Govt of NCT of Delhi (1 June 2017 to 10 July 2017). Farhan Mewati is a Social Development Professional who hails from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. He has been a part of various formal and informal coalitions and organizations striving each day to make his surroundings and the world a better place to live in. He has pursued Master in Social Work from Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, & is having 3.6 years of hands-on experience of working on the theme of Child Rights & Skill Development of Adolescents. During his post- graduation he had worked with various NGOs & Government Departments as a part of his course curriculum. As an intern, he also conducted a comprehensive study on substance abuse among the homeless (with a focus on children). The fieldwork practicum helped him understand the issues faced by destitute children and prisoners like migration, addiction, harassment, dearth of educational opportunities, etc. Following his zeal for further exposure, he started his professional career as a “Senior Project Coordinator” with the CSR consulting, planning and implementing agency “SEED CSR” and worked towards the skills enhancement of the marginalized youth & adolescents. Thereafter he worked with Missionaries of Charity as a Social Welfare Officer and with Butterflies as a CHILDLINE coordinator in Southeast District of Delhi. During his stint, he was responsible for Project Monitoring, Liaisoning, Documentation and Analyzing the calls received on helpline number 1098, & in furtherance to it strategizing the intervention. Through CRF, Farhan hopes to get a new skill set that will help him to enhance his existing understanding of Child Rights and Child Participation and develop a deeper understanding on Policymaking and its implementation & monitoring at the ground level. The opportunity will give him a chance to hone his skills further and how government bodies work in such a hostile environment to make a safe & protective environment for children a living reality. This was the main driver for him to choose the prestigious Child Rights Fellowship.

Name: Kashfa Haque Age: 25 UG Degree and Institution: B.B.A- Amity University, UP PG Degree and Institution : M.A Social Entrepreneurship- Madras School of Social Work, Chennai Work Experience: Guest Faculty and Consultant- Madras School of Social Work- 1 year Co-Founder, Child Aid Project, 2.5 years Internship Experience: Project Intern- Child Rights and You Researcher- Nakuras Project Assistant- Jagori Rural Charitable Trust Researcher/ Program assistant- Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy Born and brought up in Kolkata, to a family that hailed from traditional Islamic values, Kashfa (25 years old) became the first-generation woman in her family to attain a post-graduation degree. Her fervor to travel from a young age, led her to travel to 19 states of India where she engaged in contributing to multi-sectorial projects and domains including public health, women and child development and social entrepreneurship. In her longest visit to Himachal Pradesh, she spent months living with the women villagers of Kangra district, studying about their practices of reproductive rights and later went to write a paper on it. Having a strong inclination towards working on issues pertaining to children’s rights, Kashfa began participating in child welfare activitiesright from her school days and led a number of development projects throughout her college tenure too. She eventually became a young social entrepreneur and cofounded - Child Aid Project- an initiative that designed resilience building boardgames and interactive books for children and parents. During her graduation days at Madras School of Social Work, where she pursued M.A Social Entrepreneurship, she was awarded with the best graduating student award and was offered a guest faculty role at the institute. Having accepted this rare offer, Kashfa went on to participate in a number of social innovation projects in Tamil Nadu and further became an integral part of the Social Entrepreneurship Incubation Centre at Chennai. These experiences helped Kashfa strengthen her understanding towards grassroot problems and she wanted to explore more on the policy and administrative front. She describes the CRF program as ‘An ideal think tank on matters of child welfare’. It was this understanding that inspired her to apply for the CRF programme where she hopes to learn about policies, programs and administrative mechanism whilst working on deliberate projects to deal with non-performers. In the long run, Kashfa aspires to have a career in the child rights domain and even dreams of being a bestselling nonfiction writer someday.

Name: Mitthat Hora Age: 23 UG Degree and Institution: BA (Hons.) Political Science, IPCW , University of Delhi PG Degree and Institution: Masters in Social Work in Criminology and Justice, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Work Experience: Research Coordinator, Samvedna ( June'20- March'21); Associate Program Coordinator, Samvedna (April'21- December'21) Hailing from a defence background, Mitthat moved around for most of her childhood till she finally moved to Delhi while in high school. Moving to Delhi gave her the exposure to broaden her horizon and through various outlets during school and her undergraduate, she found her footing to be grounded in the field of human rights. While pursuing her degree in Political Science, she interned and worked in various fields such as International Relations but nothing drove her more than working on the field and pursuing a career in human rights. This led her to join TISS to pursue her Masters in Social Work in Criminology and Justice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. In her time there, she worked with children on sponsorship and foster care and worked with women undertrials. Her master's dissertation was on Exploring the "sense of justice" in cases of domestic violence, which helped her explore the concept of Restorative Justice and its model in India. The course helped her broaden her own understanding of the sector and its nuances. After her master's completion, Mitthat went on to work with Samvedna in Bhopal wherein she worked with a marginalised community engaged in inter-generational sex work. During her time there she led a research exploring the Prevalence of Substance Abuse in the Community. She also overlooked one of the projects running in 8 villages in 4 districts of Madhya Pradesh. During this time not only did Mitthat work on programmes pertaining to the education of children, but she also facilitated sessions with adolescents of the community, held interactions and worked with all stakeholders in the community, the government and worked on all monitoring and reportage. Her time there helped her shape her own understanding of child rights, gender and the various intersectionalities involved. With the CRF programme, Mitthat hopes to learn more about working with the government and understanding the system from within while also working with the children and also understanding the policies not only from the systematic point of view but also trying to incorporate the understanding from the children. Mitthat hopes to continue working on field in the future while also planning to pursue her PhD in the near future in the field of criminology and justice.

NAME: Nazrah Altaf AGE: 25 UG Degree and Institution: B.A(Hons) Political Science, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi PG Degree and Institution: M.A Political Science, Hindu College, University of Delhi Work Experience: Future Analytica/ Marketing Intern January 2022- March 2022, New Delhi Aptismart/ Knowledge Lead (Start-up) July 2019- July 2021, New Delhi Aptismart/ Program Analyst (Start-up) September 2018- May 2019, New Delhi Nazrah Altaf is from Kashmir, a place which played a significant role in not only enhancing her understanding of intersectionality but forwarding her desire to help vulnerable groups. Raised by a mother who taught children with special needs at the Child Rights Center, Nazrah was sensitized to the rights and needs of children from a young age. This sensitivity and insight was subsequently broadened by her experience in an all-girls college for three long, formative years. As she completed her undergraduate studies in Political Science from Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi with distinction, Nazrah served as the Joint Secretary of the college union in her first year and in her second year, as the Vice President of the department of political science. As an elected student representative working for the rights of women from diverse backgrounds, Nazrah came to fully appreciate how tenuous the category of women is and how complex their issues are. As she went on for a Master’s in Political Science from Hindu College, University of Delhi, Nazrah turned to theory to comprehend and analyze things more subjectively. Apart from graduating summa cum laude from both her undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, Nazrah is also an awardee of Shri Tilak Raj Wiz Memorial Award, Maulana Azad National Fellowship and UGC NET. She is also a national-level Basketball player, and a state-level Handball player—commitments which were indispensable in honing Nazrah’s leadership skills, teamwork, management and, above all, her sense of cooperation and empathy. Having seen vulnerability from close quarters, she advocates the importance of sincere reflection in contextualizing where issues stem from. Armed with a theoretical, post critical lens, Nazrah has learnt to identify growth with attributes of peace, security, and happiness in a world in desperate need of immediate, positive reform. Her recent engagement with an educational start-up, Aptismart, as a program analyst and later as its knowledge lead has further informed her of the dissonance between what is practiced and what is preached. Her motivation in joining CRF is precisely to bridge this gap.

Name: Nikita Pradhan Age: 24 UG Degree and Institution: B.A. (Hons) English, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi PG Degree and Institution: M.A. in Social Work (Criminology and Justice) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai Work Experience: Proofreader and Sub-Editor at Inshorts (Aug 2018-May 2019), Assistant Knowledge Manager at Humara Bachpan Trust (Aug 2021 to March 2022) Nikita hails from Bhubaneswar, and is a quiet kid with an ardent love for books and travelling. After completing her schooling from Bhubaneswar, Nikita moved to Delhi for her undergraduate studies. Her wish to learn more, and a desire to bring effective change led her to pursue her masters in Social Work with specialisation in Criminology and Justice from TISS, Mumbai. It was during the time with TISS that Nikita found her passion to be in human rights-based approach to social work. During her fieldwork, she got the opportunity to work with Shraddhanand Mahilashram, a shelter home for girls in Mumbai, Awadh People’s Forum, a community-based organisation in Faizabad, and Humara Bachpan Trust, a not-for-profit working towards improving the socio-economic status of children and communities living in poverty. The fieldwork-based curriculum gave her the opportunity to work on various issues with children in varied settings, furthering her understanding of the issues and challenges in the field of child rights. Inclined to continue with the journey, Nikita took up the role of Assistant Knowledge Manager at Humara Bachpan Trust, where she was responsible for the research, documentation and communication of the organisation. The work experience further enhanced her understanding of the complexities of working on child rights, especially from the perspective of an NGO. She is looking to understand the work on child rights from the perspective of different stakeholders, which is what brought her to the CRF. She aspires and hopes for a society where children are considered equal in all capacity and are entitled to the right to survival, protection, development and participation. The fellowship would provide her with a platform to move towards this goal. Ultimately, Nikita wants to gain skills and knowledge by working in the social sector for the next few year, and eventually do a PhD and get into academia.

Name: Niraj Pandey Age: 26 UG Degree and Institution: B. Tech (Chemical Engineering) from Laxminarayan institute of Technology, Nagpur Work Experience: District Lead at Tata Trusts (2 years), Operations Manager at Reliance Industries Limited (2 years) Internship experience: Summer Trainee at Indian Oil Corporations Limited Digboi, Assam Niraj hails from a small village of Satna district in Madhya Pradesh but like many other families in villages, his family also migrated to Nagpur for better educational and livelihood opportunities. He did his schooling from Nagpur and completed his graduation in chemical engineering with first class. Though a technical degree, he was pretty much involved in social services through NSS. According to him, his real learning started when he got placed in Reliance Jamnagar Refinery where he was exposed to so many people coming from different states and backgrounds. The refinery operations seemed monotonous to him and he wanted to do something impactful for the people who lacked basic knowledge, awareness and skills. Very hesitantly, his parents allowed him to resign from the job when he got the opportunity to help the government in implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan as Swasth Bharat fellow with Tata Trusts. Throughout this fellowship, he learnt a lot about working of different line departments like Education, Health, ICDS, Panchayati raaj and helped them in convergence for better program effectiveness. He also adopted 5 Anganwadi centres and helped them in providing better services through better infrastructure and monitoring mechanism. Right from the conception stage of pregnant mothers to girls’ adolescent stage, he learnt about different aspects and areas of intervention to improve nutrition of children and helped in planning, implementing and reviewing the strategies and actions involved. Continuing this journey, he hopes child rights fellowship will provide him the opportunity to engage with different government departments that will help him to understand the complexity of issues so that he can tackle the issues concerning child more holistically and he will be able to help the policymakers in future in devising policies and strategies ensuring every child’s rights are safeguarded.

Name: Ragni Nathani Age: 27 UG degree and institution: Bachelor of Mass Media, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra PG degree and institution: Master in Arts (Social Work), Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra Work experience:Deputy Manager, Startup Incubation & Innovation Centre, IIT Kanpur(Dec 2020 – Mar 2022); Research Analyst, Academy of Management Studies (Jul 2019 – Nov 2020); Community Supervisor, Green Communities Foundation (Apr 2018 – Jun 2019); Content Writer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Feb 2015 – Apr 2015 & June 2015 – Jun 2016) Internship experience:Alternative Law Forum Oct 2017 As a first-generation learner, Ragni spent her childhood learning to excel in academics to land a well-paid job. Her mother, often torn between making round chapatis and providing her with formal education, led her to value scholarship with a vision. Her grandfather’s unconditional support propelled her through life, teaching her to follow purpose before profit across personal and professional endeavors. Her lived experiences have motivated her to work at the frontlines of social development. After a Bachelors in Mass Media (Journalism), she worked for a year before joining the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, in 2016, to pursue a Masters in Social Work (Criminology & Justice). Her MA dissertation explored female prisoners’ experiences and interactions. After TISS, she began working with young innovators from low-income families on skill development initiatives at Green Communities Foundation, Mumbai. She moved on to work with the Academy of Management Studies in Lucknow where she gained proficiency in designing research studies and evaluating large-scale development projects, quantitatively. At IIT Kanpur, she facilitated youth entrepreneurs working at the intersection of development and technology to launch for-profit enterprises through a social entrepreneurship program supported by BIRAC, a public-sector enterprise set up by the Department of Science and Technology. Her multidisciplinary experience with impact evaluation and project management helps her probe developmental interventions through an analytical and objective lens. Her experience in facilitating efficient, scalable, and socio-economically sustainable initiatives has motivated her to apply for the DCPCR programme. With prior experience in working for child rights, she aims to form a holistic bridge between early education outcomes and employability to address the overarching dimensions of equitable access to education, learning, and skill development. Her diverse experience in skilling and entrepreneurship makes her equipped to lead skill development interventions. She has previously worked at the grassroots to foster financial inclusion and reduce income inequality and developed training and impact assessment protocols to scale up entrepreneurs, and provided design and outreach support for a skill development course to provide field-based training to innovators. The DCPCR fellowship will uniquely place her to work at the intersection of the multidisciplinary approach to child rights and skill development. She looks forward to achieving an understanding of the functioning of the public systems and remains hopeful as Governments provide youth an opportunity to understand and become a part of the governance with such opportunities.

Name: Sunita Boro Age: 25 UG Degree and Institution: B.A. (Hons.) English, Gauhati University, Assam PG Degree and Institution: Masters in Social Work,Dibrugarh University, Assam Work Experience: Gandhi Fellowship, Kaivalya Education Foundation (2019-2021) Internship Experience: Food Corporation of India (Dibrugarh Regional Office), Intern, HRM (Mar – Apr ,2019) Emami Ltd., Intern, HRM (Oct – Nov 2018) Seven Sisters Development Assistance (SeSTA), Intern (Jul- Aug 2018) Global Organization for Life Development, Intern (Jan-Feb 2018) State Institute of Panchayat and Rural Development (SIPRD), Part-time Intern (Aug – Dec 2017) Sunita, a second year Child Rights Fellow at Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights in collaboration with Ashoka University works closely in the Right to Education division and is working on one of the pioneering projects of the Delhi Government, “Early Warning System” to ensure that each child avails their Right to Education. Growing up in a tribal family in Assam, she stands strong on collective development. Compassionate about community development, she believes that education and mental healthcare are one of the founding pillars to a strong community. Working towards her idea of a better world, she leaves no stone unturned to make ground level impact by actively engaging with various stakeholders to ensure last mile delivery of various policies in place. The first in family lineage to move outside the state, Sunita has found her voice in her work that speaks for the entitlement of rights of the people of the Country. She has previously worked in the field of policy, governance, rural livelihood and community health among others in Bihar and Assam. She endeavors to work across the country and beyond in the field of human development and capacity building. During her tenure of Gandhi Fellowship she worked closely with children through projects like Accelerated Learning Program for improving foundational literacy and numeracy skills, Saksham Bitiyan Abhiyan etc. working in an aspirational district with government stakeholders and community to improve every child's living chances, she faced challenges that induced growth and a new passion in her. There she realized that by strengthening the education system she can impact millions of lives and decided to work for improving education. In the Child Rights Fellowship, she aims to increase her knowledge and fill in the gaps in her understanding of policies, government, administration and child rights.

Objective

The SUPER Village challenge creates a unique trinity of interests between the agents identified and establishes a synchronised incentive structure by adopting a gamification model among gram panchayats.

Brief

The Super Village Challenge creates a unique trinity of interests between the agents identified and establishes a synchronised incentive structure. In order to multiply impact across several development areas and to push for speedier implementation, adopting a gamification model that rewarded top performing villages through grants was the most optimal method that could potentially generate rapid results in a short period of time.

The success of any rural development scheme rests largely on the efficacy of three important agents, a village sarpanch, and district nodal officer of the scheme and the agent of change for a department at the village level (e.g. Anganwadi worker for WCD schemes). The problem in ensuring the synergy between them was the staff crunch which all departments at the district and block level faced, which hindered the timely delivery of many of the existing rural development schemes and also affected their quality. Thus, there was a need to create a ‘synchronised incentive structure’ that could align the interests of all the agents involved.

Implementation : The The ‘SUPER’ (S-Smart, U-Unique, P-Perfect, E-Enterprising, R-Role model) village challenge aims at using a competitive framework to encourage rural development across multiple development areas in the Palwal district of Haryana. The competition is primarily targeted at village sarpanches to push speedier implementation of development projects at the village level. Each development area has a set of clearly defined parameters that have tasks. Successful completion of these parameters generates points for the gram panchayat (GP) and Rs 1.5 crore has been reserved from D-Plan fund and the top performing GPs at block and district orders will be given work orders. The entire competition happens digitally on a portal and has over twenty development parameters on which the villages are evaluated, these are critical for driving improvements in several flagship PM and CM initiatives at village level such as SBM, ODF+ (rural), B3P, Skill development etc. The project is being funded by the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) and the total cost of the pilot was around 2.2 crores.
It was planned that to assess the impact of the pilot, outcomes achieved (across parameters) during SVC would be compared with the outcomes that existed before the project was initiated using a ‘before’ and ‘after’ impact analysis. A leadership dashboard was also put in place that would track the progress of each participating village on a real-time basis.

Achievements

260 gram panchayats were declared ‘Polythene free’ by district DRDA department, over a 100 new women SHGs were formed
Over 100 vaachanalyas, (community reading spaces) for men and women were established, over a 100 schools and Anganwadis (combined) have seen visible infrastructural improvements
5,000+ new students were registrations under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan PMGDISHA scheme and over 50 entrepreneurship awareness camps (EAPs) under Rural Self-Employment Training Institute (RSETI) scheme were organised with a cumulative participation of over 2,700 rural unemployed youth with 200 already enrolled for a training courses under RSETI.

Child Rights Fellowship.

Work Sectors

01

Juvenile Justice

02

Health and Nutrition

03

Education

01

SUPER Village

02

Social Audit

03

Khoj Khiladiyon Ki

04

Bhavya Bhiwani

05

Svasth Bhava

06

Chuno Zindagi

Our Partners

Programme Team

People Behind

Jayesh Bhave

Mehar Grover

Priya Agarwal

Shivansh Srivastava

CRF Batch

Farhan Mewati

Ishaan Bamba

Kashfa Haque

Mitthat Hora

Nazrah Altaf

Nikita Pradhan

Niraj Pandey

Ragni Nathani

Shagufta Ambareen

Sunita Boro