About NGO:

From a single call centre in Mumbai to a well-networked national emergency service, CHILDLINE 1098 has come a long way in its 15 years of existence. CHILDLINE is a national, emergency, free phone and outreach service for children in need of care and protection, reaching out to street and underprivileged children- CHILDLINE has become a means to find shelter, medical help, education, repatriation or even conducting their last rites.

It is a helpline for children who are missing, sexually and physically abused, exploited disabled and many others whose distress calls for our help. Our social workers and their team members reach out, day or night, in heat cold and rain, to rescue children from their plight. Currently operational in 151 cities/towns, CHILDLINE 1098 has responded to over 18.5 million calls, and aims to reach all 596 districts of India by 2015.

Fund Usage:

CHILDLINE is currently operational in 151 cities/districts across 26 states and UTs in India. Responding to 2.5 million calls a year; CHILDLINE understands the dire need to expand to more cities/districts in order that children have access to the service.
The funds raised from Mumbai Marathon will be utilised among the following ( one or all or in a combination based on ratios) CHILDLINE initiatives:

• Need Assessment Studies: A part or complete funds from the Marathon will be used in conducting the Need Assessment Studies in new cities/districts where the CHILDLINE service is proposed to be commenced. This acts as a situation analysis for the child issue trends in that particular city/district and later helps to measure the effectiveness of the CHILDLINE service. Most importantly, the data will also be used as a reference point of local level allied systems in the city/district by the CHILDLINE team.
• Awareness: Advocacy and awareness of child rights and protection is mandatory at CHILDLINE. The mission of CHILDLINE states "communicate to make child protection everybody?s priority. As the service expands to more cities/districts, there is a need to create awareness about the 1098 service, CHILDLINE programmes and the basics on child rights and protection. For this purpose variety of IEC material, local communication, events, on-street-communication aids such as puppet kits, kiosks, standees, documentaries etc needs to be created. A part or complete funds will be used for this purpose.
• Emergency support: CHILDLINE receives calls from all across India for various child related problems. Some seek medical aid for life threatening illnesses, legal aid for a child in conflict with law, fees for education purposes etc. However, the funds allocated to CHILDLINE are inadequate. Hence, the funds will be utilised towards part or complete funding of costs incurred for emergency care and treatment of marginalised children who contact CHILDLINE for assistance.
• CHILDLINE Contact Centre (CCC): This initiative of CHILDLINE is currently distributed across the nation, taking in calls at the city/district level. Keeping in pace with the changing telecom and IT
scenario in India and a rapid movement from landlines to wireless service providers, the aim is to have a centralized CCC. The CCC in Mumbai attends to calls from 25 cities/ districts across the Western and Northern regions of India. The Southern and Eastern regions too will follow a similar process. The objective of centralizing the CCC is to better tabulate the call statistics in India and improve the quality of response and intervention for the children. The funds will be utilized towards part or complete funding for this initiative.
• Shelter: CHILDLINE works in a partnership model and doesn?t believe in the replication of existing systems. However, there are cities and districts where these systems don?t exist. A part or complete funding for Special CHILDLINE projects such as creating Shelters for marginalized children in cities where none exist shall also be undertaken.
• Technology upgradation: In order to achieve optimal control and cost effectiveness of CHILDLINE operations, part of complete funding towards initiatives aimed at using technology to upgrade existing operations is crucial. These include pilot initiatives across the country.
• Human Resource: Supplementing other funds available to meet human resource costs of CHILDLINE.
• Special Projects: Towards part or complete funding of special projects that have a force multiplier effect on CHILDLINE services at the ground level. These include special projects on missing children, Child Sexual abuse, child labour, intervention during natural calamities.

Impact:

CHILDLINE Coimbatore foils mass marriage plan In December 2010, CHILDLINE Coimbatore received a call about a mass marriage, scheduled to happen in Karadimadai. A team member of CHILDLINE visited the village to gather facts. After speaking with Ujjwala, a 13 year girl, he learnt that her marriage was preset by her parents with a farmer of the village who was 10 years older. Immediate action was undertaken in which the CHILDLINE team members, District Collector, Village Administrative Officer, Superintendent of Police and 50 Police Personnel arrived at the village to stop the marriage. It took a lot of convincing and persuasion for the community to understand the dangers of child marriage. In a bold initiative against child marriage, CHILDLINE Coimbatore and the Coimbatore district administration jointly foiled mass marriage and rescued 9 children. They also received coverage for the case in The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Times of India and local TV channels.

Page Url :
http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/ngo7_cif.htm

Founded Year: 1996

Cause category: Children

Our Supporters

• Sunil Rawlani
• CHELSEA SALDANHA
• Nipa Bhansali
• Geetanjali Chakraborty
• Mihir Jagdish Doshi
• Gaurav D. Garg
• Shobhaa De
• Mehernosh Dhamodiwala
• unni krishna rajesh
• NEEL SHAH
• Deepti Pandit
• Ashish Aggarwal
• VINOD CHAWLA
• Rajesh Bhojwani
• Vaman Kamat
• Satish Narayanan