Chetna Vikas along with Plan India is implementing a project named Bal Maitri- Towards Child Friendly Jharkhand on Child Protection issues. It began its work in four districts of Jharkhand with the help of Oak Foundation. One panchayat from each district was taken into consideration, namely, Sankari Panchayat from Deoghar, Karnpura panchayat from Giridih, Topchanchi Panchayat from Dhanbad and Bararwah from Sahebjganj. The successful application of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in each of the panchayat would be examples for executing the ICPS in the other twenty districts of Jharkhand.

The primary objective is the Development and strengthening of Community based Child Protection Mechanism (CBCPM) especially the village level child protection committees (VLCPCs), District level system strengthening and State level Advocacy.

Child Protection issues are very much prevalent in Jharkhand which includes child labour, child trafficking and child sexual abuse. The state is predominant with tribal population and about 40% live below the poverty line. Hence they are vulnerable to child labour and trafficking. Around 42,000 girls are trafficked each year from Jharkhand to other metropolitan cities and are engaged in domestic work. In severe cases they are also sexually abused. The rate of child labour is much higher in Dhanbad district where children between 12-16 years are mainly engaged in child labour working in dhabas, shops, tea-stalls. Some of them are sent to different states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bangalore. Sahebganj is one of the prime district where girls are taken for inter-country trafficking, especially to Bangladesh.

Earlier when the project was implemented on the four districts (31 villages), the Village Child Protection Committee members, Peer educators were trained through different training. The Child Protection Information Centers (CPICs) has strengthened the Community Based Child protection Mechanism to protect the children from exploitation, violence, abuse, and neglect. The primary aim is to provide children a protective environment, help them to develop and live a better life. By conducting meetings, creating awareness on child rights and protection, it ensures that no child falls out of the safety net of the society.

Capacity Building of Women, Panchayat Level functionaries’ are initiated regarding their role and responsibilities in sync with Child Rights and Protection. It also helped to assess the status of children regarding child protection issues. Various other initiatives were taken in the State and District level to create a virtuous impact on Child Protection perspective. Eg; Media sensitization, orientation of civil society, providing training and assistance of police to handle child protection issues, seminar with Bar association etc.