Community safety is a concept that is concerned with achieving a positive state of well-being among people within social and physical environments.

Health and wellness are influenced by the places in which people live, learn, work, and play. To promote a safe and child-friendly environment, CCDT’s Building Safe Communities Program organised a training session for Child Protection Committee (CPC) and Community Child Protection Committee (CCPC) members to understand POSCO and the J.J. Act.

The training was supported by Majlis, an organisation that offers legal services, legal awareness training, engages in policy level interventions, and public campaigns. The session was conducted by Shreya, an advocate and representative of Majlis’s Legal Center.

Millions of children in India are not completely protected. Many of them deal with violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, exclusion and/or discrimination every day in their community. Such violations limit their chances of surviving, growing, developing and pursuing their dreams. The discussion during training was focused on how to deal with Child Protection cases. The facilitator spoke about the procedure followed while referring the Child Protection cases to CWC (Child Welfare Committee), and also highlighted the legal services available for children who are in need of care and protection.

“It is very important to know about the Acts and Policies when we are talking about our rights. The session on POSCO and the J.J. Act was very informative. Presentation and the short films were very engaging and full of information,” says Virendra Soni, CCPC Member.

 

“The objective to organise this training session was to revise the roles and responsibilities of CPC and CCPC. The aim is to capacitate committees to respond to the child protection issues in their respective wards,” says Samita Parab, Project Officer.

“A family is the first line of protection for children. Parents or other caregivers are responsible for building a protective and loving home environment. Training is very important for members of all age groups. We should alert everyone to act upon the issues they find alarming. Parents are the one who can deal with this situation very frankly when it concerns their child.

 

As for us Community representatives, its our responsibility to raise issues to the police, and if we know the Child Acts it will be much easier for us to coordinate with the police,” says Mohan Patel, CPC Member.

CCDT’s Building Safe Communities for the past three years is working to address safety concerns, and protection of children from abuse and exploitation through access to services, and the active participation of children and adolescents, to replicate the model of ‘Safe Communities’ for children living in cities.