Strengthening Child Safety Through Community Action

In Herambagopalpur Gram Panchayat, MUKTI and its partner organisations have taken an additional step to strengthen child protection at the grassroots level by facilitating the formation of a separate, community-led committee at the village level. This newly formed structure is dedicated to raising awareness and addressing critical child-related issues—especially child marriage—through the active participation of adolescents, parents, and key local stakeholders.

As a first step, committees of 20–25 members are being formed in each mouza (village cluster), comprising adolescents, parents, and key local stakeholders such as teachers, social workers, and volunteers. These committees will serve as the first level of awareness generation and community surveillance on child protection matters.

Subsequently, selected representatives from each mouza committee will form a central committee, which will function as the core child protection committee of the Herambagopalpur GP. This core committee will include representatives from local Panchayat, selected parent representatives and adolescent boys’ and girls’ representatives.

The central committee will be responsible for ensuring ongoing child protection initiatives, organising regular awareness programs, and taking context-specific actions as needed. This includes preventing child marriages by reporting incidents to the block administration, seeking legal assistance, or activating other support mechanisms.

To ensure effective implementation, MUKTI and its partners will provide the required training and technical support to committee members in the near future.

This initiative is not merely about creating an alternative structure, but about fostering a comprehensive, community-rooted child protection ecosystem — where adolescents, parents, and members from different walks of life come together to build a safe, informed, and compassionate environment for children.