Child Rights Education and Action (CREA) enables children to become conscious of their rights. Initiated in 2010, the program organizes children in sanghas that work to claim those rights. Today, 6000 children from 35 Panchayaths in Koppal district are organized in 200 sanghas as part of CREA.
The sanghas meet every fortnight. Children learn about their rights; they discuss issues facing children in their villages; and they plan actions to address those issues with the support of adults. Today, the sanghas are focusing their attention on children’s right to food, their right to education and their right to be free from violence and discrimination.
15,000+ children have been part of CREA sanghas since 2010. In the initial years, the sanghas monitored the Mid-Day Meal Schemes in 175 schools; they engaged with issues affecting children in their schools.
As the sangha network strengthened, the sanghas began campaigning against child labour and child marriage. They helped to stop 50+ child marriages. They rescued 4000+ child labourers and enrolled them in schools. 40 villages were declared as Child Labour Free Zones.
Throughout this time, the project also setup community structures and built capacities of existing ones: Child Protection Committees, School Development Management Committees and Bala Vikasa Samitis.
The CREA network of sanghas is built on the work of Antyodaya in Bagalkot, Aralu in Bidar, Navajeevana Mahila Okkuta in Raichur, Vimukti in Chitradurga and Visthar in Koppal.
