Fourth Consultation on Child Rights and Panchayats

In continuation with the series of consultations to solicit feedback on the draft manual on the Role of Panchayats in Securing Child Rights, the fourth consultation was held on 20 January 2016 at Abdul Nazeer Saab State Institute of Rural Development (ANSSIRD) in Hyderabad. Government officials from Department of Women and Child Development, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) as well as the panchayat department were amongst the participants along with faculty members of ANSSIRD and a UNICEF Hyderabad representative.

The consultation started with a brief introduction on the partnership project followed by a presentation on the main objective of the manual and its content. Thereafter, the floor was open for discussion. The participants appreciated the joint initiative of UNICEF and PRIA and gave valuable inputs to improve the manual. They suggested including details on the specific roles panchayats can play in securing child rights as well as more details on protecting children from sexual abuse. They thought the role standing committees can play in securing child rights would be useful information as well. The inputs gathered from the consultation will be certainly enrich the manual.