Kalki Welfare Society

Pondicherry, India
In partnership with International Childcare Trust

Kalki Welfare Society is a rights-based, child-centred community organization. They work towards the development of society through a systematic process of children’s empowerment.

Based in the heart of Pondicherry, India, Kalki Welfare Society was created with the goal of giving street children access to learning tools, resources and opportunities they need to empower themselves and become productive members of the society.

A Kalki survey has shown that approximately 350+ children currently living and working on the streets of Pondicherry’s Old Town (colonial zone) alone - many are orphans or have been neglected or abandoned by their families.

These children lack access to basic services such as clean water and sanitation and suffer from disease, ill-health and malnutrition. They survive by engaging in activities such as child labour, rag-picking, scavenging for food, drug trafficking and theft.

Among those children who are able to enrol in school, dropout rates are extremely high. The abuse, stigmatisation, neglect and hardship experienced by these street children can lead to serious and lasting socio-psychological disorders.

Kalk is providing a wide range of services for children in difficult circumstances, which includes:

Crechè: 30 children from 6 month to 3 years are taken care of in the crèche during daytime. Every day the Kalki driver picks up the children and takes them back again in the evening. At the centre the Crechè chidren are provided with nutrition, medical care, hygiene services and kinder garden education.

Day care Center: The drop in centre is functioning as a day care centre for many children. Children who are in the street and nearby slums are lacking facilities for their basic needs. They use this place as their own home, for bathing, washing, studying and sleeping if needed.

Shelter Home: Due to the fact that they are living on the streets many children are stigmatized by society. In most cases the children are completely abandoned and uncared for so they have no option other than to live on the streets. They face harassment and exploitations from their fellow residents as well as by the police and criminals. The children often go into begging, rag picking.

Children in these situations are given priority in providing them with a place to sleep at night, which also provides social protection, informal education, counselling, nutritional support and basic health care.

Bath & Washing: At the drop in centre children can get a bath and clean their clothes every day.

Yoga:Twice a week children are taught the discipline of yoga, which helps them relaxing and concentrating.

Drawing: Thanks to the help of volunteer artists, children get drawing lessons once a week. This is a very good way for them to express themselves

Kalki’s vision is to ensure that every underprivileged child attains his or her fundamental basic needs for their living, education, health and opportunity to develop.

To find out more about Kalki Welfare Society’s amazing work please click here

International Childcare Trust

International Childcare Trust (ICT) believes that all children, regardless of socio-economic background, have the right to enjoy their childhood and reach their potential.

They partner with local grassroots NGOs in Africa and Asia that protect children’s rights; in particular, organisations that address both the causes and effects of child poverty and sickness, and that advance the education of children who are in a condition of need, hardship or distress.

ICT partners with local organisations that take an integrated approach to child development, combining the delivery of practical assistance with capacity building and advocacy initiatives.

Both the effects and the causes of child poverty are addressed by using this integrated approach because, at ICT, they take responsibility for building sustainability into the projects supported.

Practical assistance includes supporting direct benefits to disadvantaged children, their families and communities, e.g., primary health care, income generation schemes, vocational training and rehabilitation of children back into families and communities.

They encourage capacity building in all the projects that they support, so that partners are able to grow into strong organisations in their own right and not become dependent on ICT.

Advocacy initiatives are supported, so local communities and governments in Africa and Asia become aware of their rights and take responsibility for addressing their own problems.

To find out more about ICT’s amazing work please visit their website www.ict-uk.org

UK Registered charity number 1123384