2013-KCCI KeralaLocalGovernance Final

A Case Study of Two Panchayats
1
Child-friendly Local
Governance in Kerala
Knowledge Community on Children in India

Summer Internship Programme 2013
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this documentation are those of the authors alone and do
not necessarily reflect the policies or the views of UNICEF and the Kerala Institute of
LocalAdministration.
Photos: Knowledge Community on Children in India/2013
A Case Study of Two Panchayats
Celia Ortiz
Chrissy Bishai
Juwaria Rashid
Zoya Khan
In collaboration with
Kerala Institute of Local Administration Thrissur
Contents
Acronyms

Glossary

Executive Summary
5
6
8
1. Introduction
1.1. Status of children
1.2. Decentralisation
1.3. Child rights and capacity building
1.4. Scope and purpose of the study
12
12
13
14
15
2. Methodology
17
3. Nature and scope of LSG institutions

3.1. Gram panchayat
3.2. Anganwadis
3.3. Schools
3.4. Primary Health Centres and Sub-centres
3.5. Homeopathic and Ayurvedic dispensaries
19
19
22
23
24
25
4. Good practices and enabling processes

4.1. Survival
4.2. Development
4.3. Protection
4.4. Participation
4.5. Voices from the field
26
26
29
32
35
37
5. Challenges to child rights realisation and ways forward

5.1. Survival
5.2. Development
5.3. Protection
5.4. Participation

6. Conclusions
38
38
38
39
40
7.
Lessons learnt
44
References
46
Appendix 1
47
Appendix 2
51
Appendix 3
52
Acknowledgements
41
56
List of figures
Figures
Figure 1 Panchayat: Primary institutions and support structures
Figure 2 Schools transferred to LSGs
20
23
Boxes
Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
21
22
24
Major functions of the panchayat

Anganwadi services and meetings
Public Health Centre and Sub-centre services
Acronyms
Attention deficit
hyperactivitydisorder
AG
Adolescent girls
ASHA
Accredited social health activist
AWC
Anganwadi welfare committee
AWW
Anganwadi worker
CCDP
Comprehensive Child
Development Programmes
CSS
Centrally Sponsored Scheme
CPO
Community Police Officer
CPS
Community Police Stations
CRC-KILA Child Resource Centre, Kerala
Institute of Local Administration
DPC
District Planning Committee
FGD Focus group discussion
ICDS
Integrated Child Development
Services
IED
Integrated Education for Disabled
IMR
Infant Mortality Rate
INR
Indian rupees
JHI
Junior health inspector
JPHN
Junior public health nurse
KILA
Kerala Institute of Local
Administration
LHI
Lady Health Inspector
LP
Lower Primary
LSG
Local Self-Government
MDM
Mid Day Meal
MO
Medical officer
ORC Our Responsibility to Children
PHC
Primary Health Centre
PTA
Parent teacher association
SC
Scheduled castes
SPC
Student Police Cadets
SPG
School Protection Group
SSA
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
UNICEF United Nations Childrens Fund
UP Upper Primary
VHSS Vocational Higher Secondary
Schools
ADHD
Glossary
Anganwadi(s)
Courtyard shelter; focal point for

delivery of ICDSservice
Anganwadi helper
Community-based volunteer who assists
the anganwadiworker
Anganwadi worker
Community-based volunteer who leads
the anganwadicentre
Asraya
Destitution eradication programme run by
the Kudumbashree Mission
Aswaskiran
Social security scheme for caregivers of
disabledpersons
Ayurveda
An Indian system of medicine
Ayurvedic
Pertaining to Ayurveda
Balasabhas
Childrens assembly
Bala panchayat
Childrens council
Bala parliament
Childrens parliament
Childline
A non-governmental organisation that
operates a telephone helpline for children
in distress
Gram panchayat Village council; lowest among the three

Panchayat Raj tiers
Jagratha Samithi Vigilance Committee; for women
andchildren
Jyotirgamaya
Lead the light; a psycho-social
counselling programmefor students
Kerala Panchayat Raj Act
Act that mandated the decentralisation of
Kerala governance (1994)
Kishori Divas
Kishori Shakthi Yojana
Kuttikalude Arogyavum
Adolescent Girls Day

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Scheme
Childrens Healthcare and
ProtectionProgramme;

operated by Ayurveda
Samrakshanavum Kudumbashree Family prosperity; a state mission
to eradicate poverty through
womensempowerment
Mid Day Meal
Central government school
feedingprogramme
Nirbhaya
Fearless; a scheme for empowerment
of women and girls
Panchayat Village council (used interchangeably with
grampanchayat)
Sabala
Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment
of Adolescent Girls; sometimes known
as Kishori Shakthi Yojana
Sadgamya Homeopathy programme for counselling
and treatmentfor children
Saksham
Successful; programme for
adolescentboys
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Universal education initiative; national
programme for universal free and
compulsory education for
children aged 6 to 14 years
Executive Summary
Kerala offers a unique context to research child-friendly governance, as
the state far outpaces most Indian states in child-related development
indicators such as infant mortality, school enrolment and literacy figures.
At the same time, Kerala faces challenges in its growing rates of second
generation issues among children social and health challenges that
often arise after basic physical healthcare needs have been met including
suicide, depression, substance abuse, alcoholism and stress. Accordingly,
a comprehensive approach for addressing the range of childrens needs is
particularly relevant in Kerala.
Under the decentralisation that occurred through the 1994 Kerala Panchayat
Raj Act, Keralas panchayats at the district, block, and gram levels were
empowered with an expanded array of functions, funds and functionaries,
allowing them to act as units of Local Self-Government (LSG). The LSG
institutions were encouraged to formulate their own development plans
through grassroots participatory mechanisms, which allow them to make
policy changes that reflect the needs and concerns of children.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child articulates the
universal rights of children defined as persons under 18 years to survival,
development, protection and participation. This provides the theoretical
framework for governments to create and implement child-friendly policies.
The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) partnered with the Kerala
Institute of Local Administration (KILA), an autonomous research and training
institution, to create KILAs Child Resource Centre (CRC-KILA) to enhance
the capacity of LSGs to adopt the principles and practices of more child-
friendly governance. Child friendly is defined here as an approach which

is working toward or ensuring every childs right to survival, development,
protection and participation at each stage of the childs life cycle.
Objectives
Given this important work on child-friendly governance, this study seeks to
provide evidence of how this sort of holistic childcare approach may function
in Kerala, and to record good practices that help achieve more child-friendly
policies and communities. Our research uses the case study method for
two of Keralas gram panchayats: Adat Panchayat in Thrissur District and
Vaniyamkulam Panchayat in Palakkad District. Although our listing of good
practices in these two panchayats cannot be exhaustive, our findings provide
instances of how child-friendly governance can be conducted by LSGs and
may prompt further research in this arena. Good practice is described by
UNICEF as practices that distil innovative and validated approaches, be
they in programming, advocacy or management. The techniques we used
during the course of our research were primarily qualitative, and included
semi-structured interviews, structured surveys, observation and focus group
discussions with stakeholders including elected panchayat officials, parents,
teachers, health professionals and children.
Due to decentralisation in Kerala, the gram panchayats nature and scope
has expanded. Generally, they oversee an average population of 20,000 to
30,000 and are subdivided into wards. These LSGs at the village level
are responsible for overseeing financial and administrative duties, and local
institutions such as anganwadis, schools and health care service providers.
Police is an example of a supporting structure for the panchayats, although
not directly under their purview. Panchayats are led by elected members
from each ward and from which, the president, vice president, and certain
standing committee chairs are designated.
9
UNICEF and KILA advocate the use of Comprehensive Child Development,

a policy based approach that focuses on inclusive childcare through their
physical, mental and social development and uses need based intervention
and service delivery according to childrens particular developmental
stage. Leaders intending to implement child-friendly governance can use
Comprehensive Child Development Programmes (CCDP), which holistically
provide children with the various services they may require throughout
the stages of their life cycle, from prenatal to adolescence. UNICEF
and KILA encourage LSGs adoption of CCDP to facilitate child-friendly
governance; they have jointly published guidelines, training manuals and
handbooks on CCDP, and conducted trainings on it for many of Keralas
panchayats(villagecouncils).
Findings
During the course of our research we identified an array of good practices
that share certain unifying principles and processes, enabling them to attain
aspects of childrens rights. We organised the good practices thematically
under survival, development, protection and participation to highlight the
primary objective underlying them.
Examples of these good practices include:
Coordination between LSG institutions and the three Panchayat Raj tiers
and across sectors such as health care referral services from gram to
district, and anganwadi data sharing with health care service providers;
LSGs acknowledgement of second generation issues and support
to programmes addressing them, while involving various community
stakeholders;
Specific LSG interventions for adolescent girls, and disadvantaged and
differentially abled children through clubs and social security schemes;
LSGs providing spaces where childrens needs and concerns can be
addressed by involving different community actors.
Despite these considerable LSG interventions, challenges remain in their
child-friendly planning, implementation and monitoring, and in achieving
aspects of child rights realisation. Many of these challenges relate to
structures or activities that have already been created by the LSG, but could
improve in how they plan, implement, or monitor child-friendly programmes.
These challenges include:
In terms of planning, the panchayats in some instances have duplication
and discrepancies in maintaining records and data collection; and
Problems in programme planning and their enabling processes can lead to
problems in implementation, which hamper effective service delivery.
By the completion of our study, we concluded that several of these
factors enable the LSGs to implement child-friendly policies. There are
certain institutions we identified as pivotal to service delivery and holistic
development for children. Their effective coordination expands their ability to
function in the community.
Lastly, the broader lessons that we draw from our research include:
The democratic decentralisation in Kerala expands the scope of LSGs
planning, implementation and monitoring, which enables them, along with
related institutions, to improve governance;
Child-friendly planning and programmes need not be limited to institutions
which are primarily oriented toward children;
The financial, and also social, empowerment of women indirectly
empowers children;
11
The social and political consciousness of community members acts as an

underlying factor to enable LSGs to become more child friendly.
1
Introduction
1.1. Status of children
Kerala led Indian states in per capita GDP and the Human Development
Index (0.790), earning the designation of very highly developed in 2011.1
Accordingly, Kerala fares better than other states in the status of its
children. It tops the Child Rights Index,2 boasts an impressive literacy rate
of 94 per cent,3 and has among the lowest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in
India.4 However, when Keralas IMR is compared to its past performance,
the figures appear to have stagnated, remaining at 12 deaths per 1,000
live births since 2009.5 In terms of education, Kerala has nearly achieved
universal education for children aged 11 to 14 years, with an enrolment rate
of 97 per cent.6 However, this figure falls drastically in the age group 15 to
17 years, where only 67 per cent of children attend higher secondary school.
Child undernutrition is also a concern, as 22.9 per cent of Keralas children
under the age of five years are underweight.7 Surprisingly, this problem is
not limited to poorer families, as within the wealthiest 20 per cent, 15 per
cent of children are underweight.8
Keralas population, including children, is known to be confronting a range of
second generation issues or social and health challenges that often arise
after basic physical healthcare needs have been met. Common second
Planning Commission, Government of India (2011). India Human Development Report 2011. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Thukral, E.G., and Thukral, P. (2011) India Child Rights Index New Delhi: HAQ Centre for Child Rights.
Ministry of Governmental Affairs, Government of India. Chapter 6 State of Literacy.
Available at <http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/prov_results_paper1_india.html]>. Accessed 29 July 2013
4
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (2011). Family Welfare Statistics in India. Available at <http://mohfw.nic.in/WriteReadData/l892s/972971120FW%20Statistics%202011%20Revised%2031%2010%2011.pdf> Accessed 29 July 2013
5
Government of India. State-wise Infant Mortality Rate http://data.gov.in/dataset/state-wise-infant-mortality-rate
6
National Family Health Survey 3 (2005-06)
7
UNICEF, 2011. The Situation of Children in India. A Profile. New Delhi: UNICEF.
8
Ibid
1
2
3
generation issues in Kerala include suicide, depression, substance abuse,

alcoholism and stress from nuclear families that are increasingly replacing the
traditional Indian extended family structure. According to Indias National Crime
Reports Bureau, the national average suicide rate in 2011 was 11.2 per 100,000
persons, while Keralas rate was 25.3 per 100,000 during the same year.9 Of the
total annual number of Kerala suicides, the rate for children under 14 years was
0.8 per cent in 2009 and rose to 1.3 per cent in 2010.10 Further, in 2011 Kerala
accounted for 16 per cent of Indias total alcohol sales, the largest proportion of
any state.11 Kerala children also face the stresses caused by divorce, which has
risen by 350 per cent over the last decade, resulting in the highest divorce rates
in India.12 Thus, although some indicators may show that significant progress
has been made in Kerala, there remains a need for a more comprehensive
approach to child development, which takes into account the different needs
and challenges of children.
In 1994, Keralas left-leaning state government instituted an unprecedented and

unique reform to its governance structure. Under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act,
the decentralisation process devolved approximately 35 per cent of funds, as
well as many functions and functionaries, to the three panchayat (village council)
tiers district, block and gram with the intention of enhancing community
participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring processes. This
devolution of functions, functionaries and funds allows them to work as units
of Local Self-Government (LSG), and has successfully enabled them to better
address the needs and concerns of local constituents.
For rural areas, panchayats are subdivided into 14 districts, 152 blocks, and,
at the most local level, 978 gram panchayats. For urban areas, there are
five corporations for cities and 53 municipalities for towns. The objective in
decentralising is to empower local communities to decide for themselves
what their particular needs are, and how best to address them. The panchayat
tiers are each run by democratically elected representatives with five-year
terms: president, vice president and standing committee chairs. A noteworthy
feature in Keralas state funding of LSGs is its mandatory allocation of a Special
Component Fund to every gram panchayat for women and children; the Women
Component Plan (10 per cent) seeks to meet strategic gender based needs, and
the Plan for Disadvantaged Groups (5 per cent) covers children, differentially
abled persons and the elderly. This funding enables development plans
specifically geared toward the unique challenges women and children face.
Kerala State Mental Health Authority. 2013. Kerala State Mental Health Authority. Available at: <http://www.ksmha.org/suicide.htm>.
Accessed 29 July 2013.
Drinking in Kerala: Rum, rum everywhere | The Economist. 2013. Drinking in Kerala: Rum, rum everywhere | The Economist.
Available at: <http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/03/drinking-kerala> Accessed 29 July 2013.
12
Divorce rate in India | Areas of Law | Law Library | AdvocateKhoj: Available at: <http://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/lawareas/divorceinindia/9.
php?Title=Divorce%20rate%20in%20India> Accessed 29 July 2013.
10
11
13
1.2. Decentralisation
Keralas decentralisation offers a unique context for child-friendly

governance. Community participation in the planning, implementation
and monitoring of public policies by Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs)
is encouraged. In this context, proper capacity building is needed for
officers and communities to be able to effectively implement development
programmes for these groups.
1.3. Child rights and

capacitybuilding
The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a legally
binding international instrument13 which articulates the universal rights of
children defined as persons under 18 years to survival, development,
protection and participation. This provides the theoretical framework for
governments to create and implement child-friendly policies.
With the devolution of funds, functions and functionaries to local
governments, the state of Kerala created an autonomous institution,
Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), to build the capacity of local
governments to function more effectively. KILAs activities include research,
national and international training, consultancy, policy workshops, exchange
visits and translation of materials into regional languages. In 2011, with
support from United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), KILA established
the Child Resource Centre (CRC-KILA), which seeks to provide support and
training for effective child-centric governance throughout Kerala.
CRC-KILA and UNICEF Chennai have published guidelines, training manuals
and handbooks for LSGs on Comprehensive Child Development (CCD),
a policy based approach that focuses on inclusive childcare through their
physical, mental and social development. CCD relies on needs based
interventions according to childrens particular developmental stage and
service delivery to work toward the four categories of their rights. With this
in mind, leaders seeking to implement child-friendly governance can use
Comprehensive Child Development Programmes (CCDP), which holistically
provide children with the various services they may require throughout the
stages of their life cycle. The life cycle includes the developmental stages
from birth through maturity, such as prenatal, infancy, early childhood, late
childhood and adolescence.
CRC-KILA and UNICEF Chennai have also organised consortiums and
workshops to disseminate valuable information related to child-friendly
governance. CRC-KILA facilitates LSGs to design and implement CCDP
and, thus far, has trained 2,107 participants from five of Keralas 14 districts,
representing district, block and gram panchayats.
13
The United Nations Convention on Rights of Child (1989), to which India is a signatory and ratifying member (as of 12 November 1992)
1.4. Scope and purpose

ofthestudy
This study, done in collaboration with CRC-KILA, examines child-friendly
local governance in Kerala by focusing on two panchayats Adat and
Vaniyamkulam and seeks to record evidence of good practices that may
help them become more child friendly. With countless organisations working
in the area of child development it is sometimes difficult to judge what
constitutes a child-friendly institution. For the purposes of our research,
child friendly is defined here as an approach which is working toward
or ensuring every childs right to survival, development, protection and
participation at each stage of its life cycle.
Description of panchayats
Adat and Vaniyamkulam received CRC-KILA training on CCDP. Adat,
established as a panchayat in Kerala in 1956, falls under the Puzhakkal Block
in Thrissur District. Within its 18 wards it has a total population of 31,997, of
which 4,046 belong to the schedule caste (SC) community. Adat has 5,092
children, of which 2,326 are girls and 2,766 are boys. The panchayat has
won central and state awards in recent years and is generally regarded to
be amongst Keralas model gram panchayats. Vaniyamkulam, established as
a panchayat in Kerala in 1953, falls under the Ottapalam Block in Palakkad
District. It too is divided into 18 wards, and has a total population of 31,558,
of which 3,324 belong to the SC community. Vaniyamkulam has 7,234
children, of which 3,645 are boys and 3,589 are girls. Palakkad District
has been designated as one of Indias 250 backward districts14 to receive
support from the central governments Backward Region Grant Fund.15
Available at: <http://www.nird.org.in/brgf/backgroundnote.html. > Accessed 29 July 2013.

Ibid
14
15
15
The purpose of this study is to explore the practices of two gram panchayats,
permitting a richer understanding of child-friendly practices within two
different contexts. It is important to note that the purpose of the study was
not to extrapolate our findings to the population of Kerala at large, or to assess,
or compare which one is implementing more child-friendly practices.
Research questions
The following research questions have guided our study and enabled us to
meet the studys purpose and objective:
1. In the context of decentralisation in Kerala, what is the scope and nature
of functioning of child- friendly local self-governance institutions (LSGs)?
2. If LSGs are transforming themselves into child-friendly structures, what
are the processes that are enabling them to do so?
3. What are the observable features in institutions such as anganwadis,
schools, primary health centres, etc. that are child friendly, and what is
the extent of convergence among them?
4. What is the evidence for child rights realisation through LSGs? What key
challenges for children remain unmet?
5. What is the scope and extent of child participation in planning and
monitoring of child development programmes in a panchayat to be
declared as child friendly?
6. What are the key challenges that remain to be addressed in child centric
planning in Kerala?
The selection of these panchayats was purposive, taking into account the
fact that both have received training in CCDP from CRC-KILA. Additionally,
Vaniyamkulam is located in a backward district, with Palakkad ranked 10
by the 2005 Human Development Index for Kerala, while Adat, which is
located in Thrissur District, is ranked five.16 As LSGs are endowed with
different resources based on local conditions, selecting gram panchayats in
both backward and somewhat developed districts may permit us to collect
a wider range of good practices. Backward districts are often recipients of
additional programming to mitigate underdevelopment and more developed
districts may be used to test pilot projects that require a certain standard of
development for implementation. This may have an effect on the existence
of child-friendly programmes. Another factor we took into consideration was
the panchayats proximity to KILA.
Given that this research deals with the interpretation and assignment of
value regarding the practices of LSG institutions, our analysis primarily
relies on qualitative techniques for data collection. The techniques we
used were: semi-structured interviews, structured surveys, observations,
and focus group discussions (FGD). To determine evidence of child rights
realisation, we conducted semi-structured interviews with community
members including elected panchayat representatives, health care providers,
school heads, and district and block level officials. Open-ended questions
during these interviews allowed us to delve deeper into their personal
conceptions of child-friendly communities. We used structured surveys to
gather demographic and infrastructural information, and provide panchayat
background information. We also used observation to look at school facilities
and classroom settings, and observe community-level group meetings at
16
Government of Kerala (2006). Human Development Report 2005. Thiruvananthapuram: Government of Kerala.
17
2
Methodology
the panchayats, and childrens club meetings. In using this technique we

were able to observe how these activities are regularly conducted, and how
participants interact in their natural environment. Lastly, we used FGDs to
glean several opinions from particular groups at once, such as anganwadi
workers, children and mothers, and also to triangulate the information we
received from previous sources. Sample surveys and a complete list of the
institutions we visited are provided in Appendix 1.
The secondary data we analysed include documents provided by KILA and
the two panchayats, providing us an account of the different contexts in
which these two panchayats work. A list of the relevant documents collected
from the panchayats and LSG institutions is available in Appendix 2.
Limitations
Secondary data and interaction with the host institution and UNICEF Chennai
helped provide us a fair idea of the background and history needed to
undertake the assignment. We spent 10 days in each panchayat, and due
to the complex and multifaceted nature of local governance, each of the
research questions could not be explored in depth. Our research does not
provide comprehensive analysis of all the LSG institutions good practices for
children, nor did we study all of the institutions whose practices may have
an effect on children. Nevertheless, our report highlights relevant points that
may allow for a better understanding of how child governance is conducted
by panchayats and which will hopefully prompt further research.
Structure of report
This paper is organised into five parts. The first part provides an overview of
the relevant Local Self-Government institutions and describes their nature
and scope. The second part highlights some of the current good practices
we observed in Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats and some of the
processes enabling their child friendliness. The third part addresses existing
challenges to child-friendly self-governance and provides suggestions
on the way forward toward increased realisation of childrens rights to
survival, development, protection and participation. The fourth discusses
the conclusions drawn as a result of the study. The fifth part concludes with
lessons learnt that may apply to other research contexts.
This section defines the nature and scope of the relevant LSG institutions,
explaining their responsibilities in the context of child-friendly decentralised
governance and its particular features in Adat and Vaniyamkulam. The
relevant institutions are gram panchayats, with Kudumbashree (a state
poverty eradication mission) and police acting as supporting structures;
anganwadis; schools; primary health centres and sub-centres; and
homeopathic and Ayurvedic dispensaries.
3.1. Gram panchayat

Generally, Kerala gram panchayats cover an average population of 20,000
to 30,000 larger than the national average of 10,000 and are subdivided
into wards. These panchayats act as rural units, and are responsible for
overseeing financial and administrative duties, and local institutions (see
Figure 1). They are led by the president; vice president; standing committee
chairs for finance, welfare, development, and health and education; and
ward members representing each ward. Kerala gram panchayats and their
elected leaders have a number of sector-wise functions that were devolved
to them as part of decentralisation. Among the most relevant functions to
our child focused research are those listed in Box 1. Gram panchayats the
most local level of LSG governance, have a proposed division of 13 sectorally
themed working groups including poverty reduction, health, development
of women and children, development of SC, education, culture, sports and
19
3
Nature and scope
of LSG institutions
youth. These working groups rely on coordination between individuals from

four sectors of the community: elected panchayat members, governmentappointed officials, expert practitioners and local volunteers. Together they
are able to tackle local issues from a range of perspectives, which may
enable more multidimensional solutions.
Figure 1. Panchayat: Primary institutions and support structures
Anganwadi
Panchayat
School
Primary
Health
Centres
There are several sources of funding for the panchayats to implement

their programmes, including child-centred programmes. The panchayat
draws from its own funds, including revenue from taxes or loans from
financial institutions; Central Plan Funds from the Government of India;
Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) funds for implementing particular
development programmes; and Kerala State Plan funds. Keralas state
government allocates at least one third of its Development Plan Funds
to LSGs as discussed earlier. In terms of the total 2013-2014 budgets for
gram panchayats, Adats allocation is INR62,314,196 and Vaniyamkulams
INR40,867,592. For 2013-2014, Adat allocated INR8,692,804 (14 per cent)
to programmes specifically related to children; Vaniyamkulam allocated
INR4,928,135 (12 per cent). The amount allocated in Vaniyamkulams
Women Component Plan is INR2,646,300 (6 per cent) and INR1,323,150 (3
per cent) for children under the Disadvantaged Groups Fund.
Despite these resources, panchayats are not equipped to handle the
full range of community issues on their own. They work with other local
stakeholders, such as the Kudumbashree programme and local police units,
which leverage their knowledge and experience in the community to serve
as support structures to LSGs.
Keralas unique State Poverty Eradication Mission, commonly referred

to as Kudumbashree (family prosperity), is a community-led poverty
alleviation programme that began in 1998 and is now one of the largest
self-help projects in India today. Although it is a programme and not one of
the primary local self-government institutions, it falls under the auspices
of the local panchayats. Kudumbashree has a decentralised structure and
conducts a range of programming centred around opportunity creation
and development for women and children. One of the key advantages of
Kudumbashrees many initiatives is their working with women, who often
have a clear sense of their familys and neighbours needs at the grass-roots
level. For this reason the panchayat is able to use Kudumbashree as a sort of
support structure for various projects. Kudumbashree was adopted in Adat in
2000 and Vaniyamkulam in 2003, and the particular programmes they run in
these two communities are discussed below.
Major functions of the Panchayat

Collecting and updating essential statistics

Building awareness on civic duties
Overseeing the anganwadis
Ensuring immunisation
Managing child welfare centre
Managing PHC, sub-centre and health dispensary
Constructing playgrounds
Distributing pension to disabled and destitute
Assisting scehduled Caste/scheduled Tribe students
Managing pre-primary and primary schools
Police stations fall under the direction of state governments, not having been
devolved to the LSG purview, yet they remain an important stakeholder
in child rights realisation. Police are generally better trained and equipped
to aid the panchayat as a support structure, particularly in matters relating
to child protection. Given the existence of crimes against children and the
noticeable rise in second generation issues among Kerala children, Kerala
Police has established special Juvenile Police Units in police stations across
the state. Additionally, Kerala Police has taken up various projects and
initiatives to help children better realise their right to protection, sometimes
becoming involved in panchayat-level protection groups and partnering with
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and organisations working for the
protection of children.
21
Box 1. Major functions of the panchayat
3.2. Anganwadis
Anganwadi institutions fall under Indias Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) programme. The anganwadi programme, which began in
1995, uses a community-based approach to target early childhood care and
development for any child under six years, expectant and nursing mothers,
and adolescent girls, and particularly caters to these groups who are socially
and economically disadvantaged. The anganwadi is meant to be the forum
where women and children are provided with services that are often
coordinated across sectors such as nutrition, health and education; it is run
by two community-based volunteers who receive an honorarium, known as
the anganwadi worker (AWW) and anganwadi helper.
Under ICDS, various functionaries monitor the schemes implementation and
progress at each LSG tier. There is an ICDS supervisor at the gram panchayat
level. Although the anganwadi system is not unique to Kerala, the institutions
social importance in the communities we visited cannot be overstated,
serving as the primary platform through which many child-centred activities
are carried out (see Box 2). During the course of our research, we visited six
of the 29 anganwadis in Adat Panchayat and four of the 33 in Vaniyamkulam
Panchayat. Adat currently has permanent buildings for 23 of them, while
four are awaiting construction; Vaniyamkulam has 29 permanent buildings.
Adat anganwadis have 237 children enrolled for pre-primary classes and
Vaniyamkulam anganwadis have 442.
The anganwadis we visited in Adat and Vaniyamkulam are free standing
buildings, with a large room where activities or meetings are held,
tiled floors, and brightly coloured visual aids posted along the walls.
Each is equipped with a bathroom and kitchen for the preparation of
childrensmeals.
Box 2. Anganwadi services and meetings
Anganwadi services

Pre-school education
Supplementary nutrition
Growth monitoring
Immunisation
Health referral services
Nutrition and health
Education
Meetings in anganwadis
Welfare committee
Mothers
Adolescent girls
3.3. Schools
Under the process of decentralisation, different levels of schooling have been
transferred to the three panchayat levels (see Figure 2). Of the schools receiving
government funding, gram panchayats are responsible for primary schools,
comprised of lower (classes 1 to 4) and upper primary (classes 5 to 7), including
their administration and some infrastructural maintenance. In terms of monitoring,
the LSG Standing Committee Chair for Health and Education oversees the
operation of local schools as needed, with the help of the Chair of the Working
Group for Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, and conducts unannounced visits
to local schools to ensure adequate standards are being followed.
Government and aided schools, including the ones we visited in Adat and
Vaniyamkulam, mandatorily implement the CSS Mid Day Meal scheme (MDM) and
Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan (SSA). The quality of the MDM is monitored by LSG, and
under SSA funds are allocated to provide differentially abled students with medical
equipment, scholarships, pensions and stipends.
In terms of schooling for children with physical or mental impairments, different
options exist from one panchayat to another. The government and aided schools
in Adat and Vaniyamkulam include differentially abled children, who are outfitted
with the necessary equipment (e.g. wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc.) through
SSA funding. Another option in Vaniyamkulam is the privately run institution,
Ashadeepam Special School for Mentally Retarded Children, which offers schooling
and vocational training to differentially abled children and young adults between the
ages of 5 and 25 years.
Figure 2. Schools transferred to LSGs
District Level
High, higher secondary and vocational schools
Block Level
Industrial training institutes
Gram Level
Pre-primary and primary schools
23
Adat and Vaniyaamkulam both feature government and government-aided schools.

Adat has three government, four aided and two private schools. Vaniyamkulam
has 11 aided and two government schools, covering only 13 per cent of the total
student population, and there are currently no private schools in the community.
3.4. Primary Health Centres

andSub-centres
The Primary Health Centre (PHC) is the basic structural and functional unit
of the public health care system in Kerala, as in all of India, and adopts
a preventive and curative approach to health care service delivery (see
Box 3). The PHCs in Kerala were devolved to the LSGs, and accordingly,
functionaries and medical personnel including the medical officer (MO)
report to the local gram panchayat, which oversees the PHCs maintenance
and operational costs. A panchayat working group convened by the MO is
constituted for the health sector, which drafts health projects presented
in the gram level meetings. There, the projects can be modified and reprioritised as needed and the approved funds are transferred to the MO,
who is the implementing officer.
Adat has three Sub-centres functioning under its PHC while Vaniyamkulam
has five, all managed by the junior public health nurse (JPHN) and junior
health inspector (JHI). One of Vaniyamkulams Sub-centres specifically
focuses on reproductive and child health. In both communities, accredited
social health activists (ASHAs) function alongside JPHNs as the primary
field staff of the PHCs and Sub-centres to provide outreach services such as
immunizations. PHCs in Adat and Vaniyamkulam do not provide facilities for
institutional childbirth.
Despite the PHCs and Sub-centres provision of routine services, many
of Keralas residents prefer private health care to treat major illnesses or
undergo childbirth in an institutional facility rather than at home, where
medical care is comparatively limited. Although not available in every gram
panchayat, private hospitals such has Amala Hospital in Adat and P.K. Das in
Vaniyamkulam provide expanded services to community members.
Box 3. Public Health Centre and Sub-centre services
PHC and Sub-centre services

Medical Care
Maternal and child health
Family planning
Safe water supply and sanitation
Prevention and control of locally endemic diseases
Health education and awareness programmes
Referral services
Training of health assistants
Collection and reporting of vital statistics
3.5. Homeopathic and

Ayurvedicdispensaries
Both homeopathy and Ayurveda health care services are under the purview
of Keralas Indian Systems of Medicine Department. Like the PHCs, their
institutions have been devolved to the LSGs who oversee their maintenance
and operational costs, and are led by their respective MOs. Although gram
panchayats do not always have homeopathic and Ayurvedic institutions,
Adat has two homeopathic dispensaries one catering specifically to the
SC population and an Ayurvedic dispensary while Vaniyamkulam has a
homeopathic dispensary and an Ayurvedic dispensary. Both these systems
of medicine have undertaken child-centric programmes to address physical
and second generation issues, as discussed in subsequent chapters.
25
4
Good practices and
enabling processes
This section highlights good practices and the processes enabling them that
we observed during the course of fieldwork. We used UNICEFs conception
of good practice, defined as those practices that distil innovative and
validated approaches, be they in programming, advocacy, or management.17
These good practices are drawn from the planning, implementation,
monitoring and convergence of LSGs, their institutions and relevant
supporting structures. Although many of the child-friendly good practices we
discuss can be categorised in some combination of survival, development,
protection and participation, for analytical purposes our findings are
organised under each of these categories to highlight the primary purpose
behind each particular good practice.
4.1. Survival
To many, a childs right to survival is among the most basic of rights.
Survival rights include aspects of life, health and nutrition, water, sanitation,
environment and standard of living, but also the ability to be given a name
and nationality, and know or be cared for by ones parents.18 In Adat and
Vaniyamkulam Panchayats we observed that most of the good practices
in this realm contain elements of coordination between and within LSG
institutions, effective anganwadi service delivery, and community oriented
programming from the private sector.
17
18
UNICEF - Evaluation and good practices - Good practices. 2013. <UNICEF - Evaluation and good practices - Good practices.
Available at:http://www.unicef.org/evaluation/index_goodpractices.html>. Accessed 29 July 2013.
KILA and UNICEF (2011). Local Governments and Comprehensive Child Development. Thrissur: KILA
4.1.1. Coordination between LSG

institutions for healthy life
Vaniyamkulam is taking steps to address Keralas poor child nutrition

statistics through special programmes focused on the nutrition of children.
For instance, Kuttikalude Arogyavum Samrakshanavum (Childrens Health
Care and Protection Programme) is a noteworthy initiative by the Ayurveda
dispensary in Vaniyamkulam to prevent anaemia or other health deficiencies
from developing in young children. The staff conducts house visits to
provide newborns with any necessary medicines, then monitor the childrens
health each year until the age of five years. It is open to all children but
tends to cater to the most needy, such as SC and migrant children. With
Vaniyamkulam Panchayats support of INR100,000 per year, the use of AWW
and JPHN data for beneficiary selection, and the reliance on Kudumbashree,
or ward members for advertising, this project serves as a prime example
of effective coordination between different LSG institutions and supporting
structures. Vaniyamkulam began the project in 2012, given its initial
popularity in the Ayurvedic dispensary in Ananganandi Gram Panchayat in
Palakkad District, indicating that effective project implementation can yield
results. This is a good example of how an effective programme can be
replicated in other panchayats.
4.1.2. Addressing second generation

issues and coordinating between different
LSGtiers
LSGs and local health care providers are increasingly taking steps to
address not only the basic physical and environmental needs of children,
but their emotional and psychological needs as well, often related to second
generation issues. The PHC in Vaniyamkulam began a programme in 2012,
the Adolescent Stress Management Counselling Programme, through
which the JPHNs run counselling sessions for high school and higher
27
Both Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats are undertaking initiatives to

address childrens right to a healthy life and decent living environment.
Both have ward-level sanitation committees, funded through the National
Rural Health Mission, and in Adat, each sanitation committee receives
INR5,000 each year to implement activities related to water and sanitation.
Both panchayats monitor and supervise vector surveillance programmes to
prevent the outbreak of mosquito transferred (vector-borne) communicable
diseases during monsoon seasons. This programme is coordinated by the
LSGs and relies on coordination between Kudumbashree members, ASHAs
and AWWs who volunteer to carry out the programme. They visit businesses
and homes to create awareness within the community on how to prevent
mosquitoes from breeding (called dry days in Adat).
secondary school children. The topics discussed during counselling are

specifically meant to mitigate the high stress, depression and emotional
anxiety caused by exams and the social and familial pressure to perform well
in school. Kizhakkumpattukara Homoeopathy District Hospital in Thrissur
runs Jyothirgamya, a comparable programme which provides psycho-social
intervention to adolescents for stress management and mental health
care. To address issues of teen suicide, stress and the impact of divorce
on children, the same hospital launched a special project in 2012 called
Sadgamya, which offers free treatment and counselling to youngsters in
need, and students with mental or physical concerns can directly contact
thedepartment.
According to the MO in Adats SC homeopathy dispensary, gram level
service providers lack the necessary skill and expertise to address stress
and mental disorders, but their effective coordination with the district
level homeopathy hospital is allowing for the treatment of attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other potential learning disorders afflicting
children. To this end, she referred 25 cases of children with these disorders
to the district hospital last year for treatment.
4.1.3. Implementing anganwadi

serviceseffectively
For effective service delivery, data collection and the maintenance of records
are essential processes. The AWWs we visited in Adat and Vaniyamkulam
pay monthly visits to each house in their area not only to collect data, but
also to provide counselling as needed and create awareness about different
community activities. They carry out these responsibilities in a systematic
and efficient manner, and update the data on a monthly basis.
Additionally, AWWs provide a key component for addressing the nutritional
and health status of local children. As mandated by ICDS guidelines, they
provide their students with iron and folic acid supplements, along with
nutritional meals. In an FGD with adolescent girls in Adat Panchayat, they
unanimously cited delicious food as a key reason they enjoyed attending
anganwadis when they were younger. AWWs in Adat also described how,
with the aid of their helper, they prepared tasty food to ensure the children
in their care eat it readily and receive essential nutrients. Adat AWWs also
mentioned that doctors regularly refer children with speech disorders to their
anganwadis for childcare, implying the positive impact that AWWs can have
on children.
Similarly, in a Vaniyamkulam Panchayat anganwadi, a comparison of

childrens growth charts showed that within a six-month period this year,
the number of underweight children in grade one category decreased from
six to one, while the number of children in grade two fell from two to zero.
In fact, many mothers in Vaniyamkulam consistently explained that the
supplementary nutrition given to their children and subsequently improved
health motivated their decision to involve their pre-schoolers and adolescent
girls in anganwadis.
4.1.4. Privately led community

healthservices
Amala Hopital also conducts a special outpatient department programme,

Amala Rural Community Health, for people from the panchayat to receive
free medical consultation. Under the hospitals Community Health
Department, another noteworthy initiative is a programme where each
medical student at Amala Medical College is allotted seven households at
the start of the academic session and must maintain individual registers
about each to monitor the families health. Currently, there are three medical
classes participating in this programme, and a total of 920 houses and a
population of 4,000 have been covered. An assistant professor overseeing
the programme explained that he appreciated the LSGs support in allowing
the hospital to conduct this sort of community health programme in
thepanchayat.
4.2. Development
Childrens rights to development are related to access to education, support
for early childcare and development, social security, leisure, recreation
and cultural activities.19 Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats are taking
noteworthy initiatives to enable childrens right to development and
recreation, including several efforts for particularly vulnerable children.
19
KILA and UNICEF (2011). Ibid.
29
As in other parts of India, private hospitals are an important component in

Keralas health sector, sometimes sponsoring awareness programmes and
free services to community members. In terms of awareness initiatives,
Amala Hospital in Adat conducted an immunisation awareness programme
in 2012 with coordination between UNICEF and the LSG. With the help of
ASHAs, the programme used the creative format of a drama and fashion
show to relay their message to community women.
4.2.1. Providing early childhood care

andeducation
One of the processes enabling Adat and Vaniyamkulam anganwadis to
be more child friendly is the AWWs evident implementation of the Early
Childhood Care and Education concept. This care mandate is able to
provide a more holistic approach to child development than the Early
Childhood Education method used by other pre-primary providers who
heavily emphasise desk work. For instance, the play-way method of using
interactive song and dance to relate information to youngsters appears
to make the AWWs more approachable to the children as caregivers
and not mere teachers. This comprehensive approach may explain why
pre-primary and first standard school teachers in Adat and Vaniyamkulam
consistently report that the children in their classes who previously
attended anganwadis participate more actively, and are better behaved and
more advanced in their studies than those who had attended private or
government pre-primary classes.
4.2.2. LSG incentives to education

Childrens right to education extends beyond merely enrolling them in
school, but includes catering to the special needs of students who exhibit
learning deficiencies. In this regard, Vaniyamkulam Panchayat supports the
communitys government and aided schools by allocating INR60,000 per year
for their evening remedial coaching programmes. The programme offers
additional attention to students struggling to perform well scholastically.
These funds enable the schools to provide evening meals to the enrolled
students and serves as an incentive for children to focus more during the
tutorials, and not be distracted by hunger or returning home for dinner. As
explained in one vocational higher secondary school, the LSG support to
this child-centric initiative may indeed be yielding positive results; the 10th
standard pass rate in the school increased from 65 per cent in 2000 when
the programme was launched to 95 per cent in 2012. This sort of initiative
to aid students who are struggling in school indicates the LSGs commitment
to give more opportunities to students.
4.2.3 LSG attending to differentially

abledchildren
LSG support has also been directed toward members of disadvantaged
populations such as differentially abled children. For instance, the INR3,500
to INR6,000 annual scholarships given by Vaniyamkulam Panchayat to
students, in addition to the SSA funds they receive. If these children are
not able to enrol in traditional schools, they may use their scholarship
to attend Ashadeepam Special School for Mentally Retarded Children

in Vaniyamkulam, a privately run institution which offers schooling
and vocational training to such children. Currently 11 students from
Vaniyamkulam are receiving this panchayat funding to attend Ashadeepam.
Another important initiative through which LSGs are showing a commitment
to children with disabilities is Aswaskiran, a Kerala State initiative that has
operated in Vaniyamkulam Panchayat since 2011. Under this programme, the
caregivers of differently abled children (or adults) are entitled to a monthly
pension to mitigate the expenses associated with providing proper care
to the children. This initiative is noteworthy because before its creation,
the social security system of stipends only extended to the individuals
themselves who are differentially abled, and not their caregivers.
Kudumbashrees Asraya, a service based destitution eradication programme

offers a prime example of how effective coordination with LSGs and support
structures enables child-friendly programmes. In Vaniyamkulam, families
eligible for Asraya receive a kit of supplies and food rations and the elderly
receive medicine pensions. In addition to the basic supplies provided by SSA,
children eligible for the programme are given a kit of school supplies each
year worth INR2,000, which includes items such as books and an umbrella.
For 2013 to 2014 fiscal year, Vaniyamkulam has 509 Asraya families and
allocated INR2,271,500 for them; Adat has 118 families covered by Asraya.
In Adat, Kudumbashree members leveraged their knowledge of local
conditions and identified destitute or below poverty line families. Based on
this information, the LSG provided these 118 families with housing, and
given the number of children in one of these housing colonies, also allotted
nearby land and funded the construction of an anganwadi. Located just a few
metres from the houses, it is accessible to these children who would not
have the means to travel to farther away locations.
Effective coordination between child-centric institutions, such as the gramlevel anganwadis and the centrally sponsored SSA programme, seeks to
ensure that differentially abled children are included in the school system,
providing them with scholarships, stipends and necessary equipment. To
address the problem of children outside of the school system, a Vaniyamkulam
Panchayat programme, Sabala, in which AWWs identify girls between the
ages of 15 and 18 years who have dropped out of school. They are given
training at the panchayat office building on spiral book binding, ornament
making and other crafts that they may be able to generate income with.
Again, this programme relies on the AWWs to coordinate with the LSG, which
provides the meeting place, to identify potential beneficiaries forservices.
31
4.2.4. Effective coordination between

institutions for disadvantaged children
4.2.5. Creating spaces for children

tointeract
Balasabhas (childrens assemblies) were created by Kudumbashree as
a participatory space for children between the ages of 5 and 15 years to
socialise and develop their talents through different artistic, cultural and
social activities. A unique activity they offer the children in Adat balasabhas
encourages children to contribute to a savings fund, which accrues interest,
thus empowering them from an early age in this sense. An important feature
of the balasabhas in Adat and Vaniyamkulam, which average 20 children per
club, is that they provide a community-wide outlet for children to interact
with one another. In the view of one Kudumbashree member in Adat, the
increasing trend of nuclear families in Kerala has undermined childrens
ability to socialise with one another as they once did when extended family
structures were more commonplace. Adat currently has 43 balasabhas and
Vaniyamkulam has 35, with children generally aged between 8 and 13 years.
In addition, UNICEFs initial support to Kudumbashree allowed for the
creation of bala panchayats (gram level) and bala parliaments (district level) to
give children an opportunity to participate in a community-wide decentralised
structure where they can discuss current social and civic issues, and voice
their needs and concerns to policy-shapers. In 2012, a bala parliament
was held in Thissur District and in April 2013 a bala panchayat was held
inVaniyamkulam.
ICDS also runs special day-long celebrations for adolescent girls known as
Kishori Divas every four months. Health camps are conducted on these
days along with different cultural activities such as classical and folk music
and dance. Similarly, every anganwadi in Adat and Vaniyamkulam conducts
weekly (in some instances monthly) meetings for the members of the
adolescent girls (AG) club, aged between 10 and 18 years. These AG clubs
not only provide girls space to socialise and be entertained, but also offer an
outlet to perform and build self-esteem and confidence. In Both Adat and
Vaniyamkulam, the adolescent girls we interviewed uniformly agreed that
they very much like attending these AG club meetings regularly, as they
provide them with a space to learn, perform cultural activities, and serves as
a platform for them to interact with other girls of their age. Adat has 29 AG
clubs and Vaniyamkulam has 33 AG clubs, and both communities have an
average of 20 to 25 girls per club.
4.3. Protection
Childrens rights to protection are meant to ensure their freedom from any
form of exploitation, discrimination, abuse, inhuman or degrading treatment
and neglect, and to provide special protection in instances of disability,
armed conflict or emergency.20 To date, Kerala has failed in its intention to

implement and fully staff the centrally sponsored Integrated Child Protection
Services, which would create shelters, observation homes and special
homes for vulnerable children such as those being abused or exploited and
those in conflict with the law. Despite this, Kerala LSGs such as those in
Adat and Vaniyamkulam have begun to acknowledge the need for more
child protection mechanisms and programming, and have in some instances
initiated community based platforms to address the matter. Without such
acknowledgement from government and community-wide bodies, child
protection may be confined to the familial sphere, which sometimes proves
insufficient to address the vulnerabilities of children.
4.3.1. Cross-sector convergence for

conflictmediation
The Jagratha Samithi (Vigilance Committee) is an initiative by the
Government of Kerala to work at the gram panchayat level toward greater
protection of women and children. Both Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats
offer the Jagratha Samithi platform, which serves as a space where cases
of domestic violence and abuse may be discussed by representatives from
different sectors of the community. The mandatory members of the Jagratha
Samithi are the panchayat president, the ICDS supervisor, the MO, a female
advocate, police inspector and Kudumbashree member who come together
to try and solve community members problems at the panchayat level. In
Adat, a democratic approach is used, wherein the two parties in conflict
speak before the committee members who provide potential solutions to
the matter at issue. In Vaniyamkulam, complaints can also be submitted
to panchayat officials such as the ICDS supervisor and discussed within
the group on how best to proceed. Thus, the Jagratha Samithis provide
panchayat residents with a unique forum to seek redress in a more informal
setting than a court of law would offer.
4.3.2. Including children in

programmestructures
Some programmes oriented toward increasing child protection, involve not
only adult community members, but children also. The School Protection
Group (SPG) is a Kerala Police initiative that seeks to curb the sale and supply
of drugs and prevent illegal sexual activities with children by collecting
information from students. SPG is constituted in schools in Adat Panchayat
but not currently in Vaniyamkulam Panchayat. The mandatory members
20
33
of the SPG include the parent teacher association (PTA) president, school
heads, representatives from the local police station including the Station
House Officer, a ward member, two parents, two teachers, an auto driver,
a member of the Jagratha Samithi and the schools student leader. Through
the participation of the student leader, who acts as a representative of the
students, SPG provides a platform for children to voice their concerns. The
SPG is a mechanism in which members can be held accountable if they fail
to address the complaints or concerns addressed to them. Additionally, this
unique programme enables the student leader to not only participate in, but
also monitor the implementation of a child protection mechanism.
4.3.3. Identifying crime cases through

community participation
The State Government of Kerala sponsors the Nirbhaya programme to
address issues of domestic violence and cases against young girls. Nirbhaya
at the district office in Thrissur uses Kudumbashree members, who are
knowledgeable about their local community, to identify crime cases in Adat.
Each of the Kudumbashree members in the panchayat have been given
surveys that they are to complete by writing any cases of domestic violence
including physical or sexual abuse against children while keeping the
particulars of the victims anonymous. Though still in progress, this initiative
can offer a consolidated record on the crimes against women and children
that can be used for planning purposes at the panchayat level.
4.3.4. Police and community efforts

Though not present in Adat, there are some programmes running in
Thrissur District, which can be important contributors to childrens rights
to protection. Our Responsibility to Children (ORC), under the Kerala Social
Security Mission, and in partnership with Childline and Kerala Police, is
one such initiative. In Thrissur District, ORC is located within the same
office building that SPG is, enabling these programmes which focus on
child protection to better coordinate with one another. ORC focuses on reintegrating children who have been previously involved in criminal activities
or in conflict with the law by assigning them a volunteer mentor, generally a
retired member of the community. In addition to these mentoring sessions,
youth festivals are organised for the children in the same location.
Under the directive of Kerala Police, Thrissur has successfully established
Community Police Stations (CPS), which act as centres for addressing local
protection issues through direct involvement with the community. According
to the Community Police Officer (CPO) in Thrissur, CPOs conductregular
visits to the areas assigned to them and keep a detailed written record
of the inhabitants of each house, particularly vulnerable individuals such
as women and the elderly who live alone. Also, in known cases where
children are suffering from depression due to factors such as abuse, divorce
and alcoholism of parents, the school authorities, or parents themselves
bring children to the CPS for counselling. These proactive initiatives build
bridges between the police system and civil society through effective
communityaction.
4.4. Participation
4.4.1. Effective coordination between

institutions to empower girls
Coordination between institutions allows for the comprehensive
implementation of childrens activities. Adat Panchayat conducted 12 camps
under the Kishori Shakti Yojana Programme for adolescent girls in the first
quarter of 2013. Approximately 500 girls attended these camps, where they
were provided with information on child rights, trafficking of women, sex
education, legal guidance, personality development and communication skills
training. The unique feature of the camps was the effective coordination
between different institutions at the ground level. The involvement of
AWWs and Kudumbashree members ensured effective advertising for
the camp. The development of the camps involved the coordination of the
ICDS, as implementing institution, the participation of a female advocate
of the Jagratha Samithi, who delivered classes on legal guidance, and
the participation of social workers who conducted classes in the different
aspects of child development. This conjunction of different institutions
facilitated that girls right to information was addressed in a comprehensive
way. Similarly, under ICDS, Kishori Divas in Vaniyamkulam sometimes
include health camps along with different cultural activities such as classical
and folk music and dances.
21
35
Childrens rights to participation include respect for their views, ensure their
freedom of expression, access to appropriate information, and freedom of
thought, conscience and religion.21 Both Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats
show initiative in this regard and feature noteworthy projects to enable
childrens direct participation, a right that is not necessarily presumed to exist
by caregivers, community members, and policy-makers. Also, a childs ability
to participate in community discourse can vary greatly depending on which
age and developmental stage he or she has reached. For that reason, there
are instances where children rely on the voices of their parents, caregivers or
teachers to advocate on their behalf and raise relevant concerns.
4.4.2. Providing space to address the

needsof children
Providing spaces for listening to and effectively addressing childrens needs
is a central feature necessary to attain childrens right to participation. When
they are unable to articulate these needs themselves, parents or caregivers
can sometimes step in. An example of this vicarious child participation at
anganwadis in Adat and Vaniyamkulam is through the regular convening
of Anganwadi Welfare Committee (AWC) meetings. The committee
is a volunteer group which includes the AWW, an LSG member and
approximately 10 parents of pre-school aged children attending the particular
location. Through the committee, parents use community based monitoring
to assess the anganwadis effectiveness, identify potential issues facing
the children or facility, and how their needs might be met by the panchayat
or other forms of community involvement. An example of how an AWC in
Vaniyamkulam has achieved concrete results was when their demand for
protective measures against stray dogs was met by the panchayat who
provided iron gates to the anganwadi to help deter the dogs from loitering
near the building. Although the young children are not directly participating
in the meetings, their parents primarily their mothers have a dedicated
space to voice concerns and solve problems, and actively participate
in the planning and monitoring of their childrens care and education at
theanganwadi.
4.4.3. Involving children in the community

Childrens involvement in their community is an important aspect of their
right to be informed about and involved in issues directly affecting them.
One platform for this is provided through the implementation of the Student
Police Cadets (SPCs) in Thrissurs schools. This state police initiative seeks
to cultivate future leaders and increase the opportunities for children to
participate in their communities. Last year it received financial support
from both the LSG and municipal corporation. As part of the personal
development activities they participate in, the students are granted access
to interact with renowned personalities, senior government officials and
political leaders, and visit various segments of society, such as homes for
the elderly. Through the different trainings and summer camps they are
involved in, they also familiarise themselves with the police system and are
given the opportunity to be involved in police related efforts. To this end,
cadets are afforded the responsibility of identifying and reporting crimes they
become aware of to authorities. In fact, a legal aid organisation, Kerala Legal
Service Society, recognises the SPCs as de facto ambassadors against
domestic violence. This initiative by Thrissur District enhances childrens
right to be informed and actively participate in their community.
4.5. Voices from the field
Community functionaries
When I grow up I want to be a

panchayatleader.
boy, 14, Vaniyamkulam
Kerala is all that we know about; we have no

way to access andknow what is happening
in the rest of the country; [if a mechanism
were in place to share child-friendly practices]
we could have judged ours better and learnt
from others.
JPHN, Adat
We want to play, but the public grounds are

always occupied by boys.
girl, 15, Adat
We havent seen [positive] changes in
our parents after PTA meetings. One day
it seems they change, but then everything
becomes the same.
boy, 16, Adat
Anganwadi teachers are like our mothers.
girl, 16, Vaniyamkulam
We are also harassed because even if our
eyes fall casually on a girl it is perceived that
we have wrong intentions, which is not true.
boy, 14, Adat
My school collects money for poor children.
All schools should do that.
girl, 13, Adat
We want more freedom at night, when
walking more security in localtrains.
girl, 17, Adat
The children should have easy access to

the police station. There should be no barrier
between the police and the children, not
even the police uniform.
Assistant Commissioner, Kerala Police,
Thrissur
Now that we are working outside the home,
we have more money for our children; we
can save more and spend to provide them
what they need.
Kudumbashree member, Vaniyamkulam
The families these days are spoilt because
of excessive alcohol drinking and are so
busy with work. They dont have time for
children, who as a result are neglected and
prefer coming to school rather than staying
at home.
Sanskrit teacher
The anganwadi is truly the foundational
structure for children.
Panchayat President, Vaniyamkulam
Instead of pressurising a student to do a
particular thing, we should understand his
social and financial conditions; we cant
expect the child to do something which his
background and position doesnt allow him
to do.
C. Monaj, social science teacher,
ScoutMaster
37
Children
5
Challenges to child
rights realisation
andways forward
Despite these considerable markers of ongoing child-friendly practices in
Adat and Vaniyamkulam, challenges do remain in their child-friendly planning,
implementation, and monitoring, and in achieving aspects of child rights
realisation. Some of the challenges we highlight have not been addressed by
the LSG, while some are tied to structures or activities that have already been
proactively created, but do not go far enough in implementing or executing
child-friendly programmes.
5.1. Survival
Many women in Kerala have birth deliveries in well maintained hospitals
outside of their panchayat. As confirmed in Adat and Vaniyamkulam
Panchayats, the well equipped public health institutions for conducting
institutional delivery such as First Referral Units are not located within the
panchayat area. As a result, the birth of a child is registered in the respective
LSG institution where the delivery occurs. During the course of our field
research, we found that the LSGs lack a comprehensive birth record and
data on actual number of children who are permanent residents of the
panchayat. The panchayats would be able to plan more effectively for children
if comprehensive birth records are maintained.
5.2. Development
AG club programmes, conducted under ICDS, provide a safe space to
adolescent girls to participate in various activities, but in our fieldwork we
did not find any similar programmes for boys at the LSG level. Thus, they
lack a forum to provide them with personality development, self-reliance
and gender sensitivity training. During FGDs with adolescents in Adat
schools, we noticed that the girls were generally more socially and politically
conscious than boys of the same age. Adolescent boys clubs might be the
ideal place to foster these same skills that girls are getting. Additionally, the
Union Ministry of Women and Child Development is launching a new project,
Saksham, to target young boys between 10 and 18 years, but the project is
still in its initial stages.
5.3. Protection
Both panchayats have taken the step of creating Jagratha Samithis, which
importantly include members from several key sectors of the community,
but these are not being used as a forum to report child abuse and
exploitation or facilitate community awareness about these matters. In Adat,
the Jagratha Samithi is primarily used to settle land disputes and conflicts
between neighbours, and in Vaniyamkulam it has yet to receive a complaint
related to children since its creation in 2005. Although different in structure,
Childline in Thrissur, an emergency helpline for reporting childrens issues, is
well known in the community to both children and adults. Jagartha Samathis
should also be advertised and made known to members as a platform to
report childrens protection related issues.
This general lack of community acknowledgment about children as
victims of sexual and physical abuse can be solved through the creation of
education programmes about these issues for families and schoolchildren.
Additionally, teachers, anganwadi workers and health professionals should
be trained about protocols on what to do in the event of suspected child
abuse, enabling these functionaries to protect the communitys most
vulnerable members.
39
Further, in both panchayats we noticed a general lack of participation

by the childrens fathers in community meetings such as Anganwadi
Welfare Committee meetings and regular anganwadi parent meetings
that primarily mothers attend. According to the Lady Health Inspector
(LHI) in Vaniyamkulam, the PHC conducts awareness programmes for
pregnant women and parents to educate them about nutrition, health and
family planning, but husbands usually do not participate in these activities.
Community leaders from many of the institutions we interviewed in Adat
and Vaniyamkulam frequently cited the existence of alcoholism as a growing
local problem, particularly among fathers. Given the recognition by LSGs
to create and implement more comprehensive policies and programmes
for CCDP, it may be worthwhile for them to support programming to better
integrate fathers not only mothers into the various community initiatives
for children.
With respect to disadvantaged groups, differentially abled children appear

to have targeted programmes in place to meet their needs, yet the
inclusion of migrant children in the panchayats, who often require special
protection, remains a challenge. In the case of SCs, although the provision
of scholarships is used to incentivise them to seek education, the lack
of convergence in panchayat level data on SC children used by the SC
department and ICDS in Adat Panchayat remains a challenge to be met
for improved planning purposes. Further, migrant children do not seem to
be very well integrated within government schools. The problems they
may face include unhygienic conditions at migrant camps and language
problems in school. For instance, in a migrant camp we visited in Adat, some
10 children within the ages of 2 to 15 years were not availing themselves
of anganwadi or school services, despite the presence of an anganwadi
within walking distance of the camp. Although it was not clear why, their
inaccessibility to some public services may be an area of further research.
5.4. Participation
Childrens participation in the Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats is largely
limited to being passive beneficiaries of programmes which, although
created to serve children, do not provide a direct space to participate in
the planning and monitoring process. The bala panchayats could provide
an important space at the gram panchayat level for children to express
their needs and concerns within a democratic structure. They are creative
platforms to address childrens needs in a comprehensive way, giving them
the opportunity to voice their needs with local development planners. A
designated leader could present a document to the relevant LSG working
group, and discuss possible solutions with them.
Another potential area to be addressed regarding participatory mechanisms
such as balasabhas, bala panchayats, and Adolescent Girls Clubs is the fact
that, like many community activities, they are primarily created for lower
income children. These children are of course deserving of structures
in which they can socialise, participate and grow as members of the
community. But those in higher income brackets are not being effectively
integrated into many of these activities. LSGs can potentially play a role in
integrating more inclusive community-wide activities or programming for all
local children.
The research questions outlined in Section 1.4 provided us with a

useful framework within which to analyse and assess child-friendly local
governance in Kerala. Although definitive answers to these questions
cannot come from a short-term study of two panchayats alone, we find that
preliminary conclusions can be drawn.
Through the process of democratic decentralisation, the panchayats have
been endowed with a series of functions, functionaries and funds, which
allow them to act as LSGs and to undertake programmes specifically
related to local children and their needs. Anganwadis are the principal childcentric institutions in the panchayats that work toward realising the four
categories of childrens rights concurrently, and are afforded considerable
respect in the communities we visited. In both Adat and Vaniyamkulam it
was quite evident from our observations that anganwadi centres function
as a pivotal institution for delivering a broad range of services to the
community. Their annual data collection is used in many instances at the
panchayats for planning and beneficiary identification, and also by other
institutions including the PHCs and Ayurvedic dispensaries. Apart from data
collection, AWWs act as the primary disseminators of knowledge about
programmes and initiatives that are spearheaded from various institutions
within the community, such as the LSG and PHC. Similarly, local schools
aim to achieve a combination of child rights, particularly connected
to development and have initiated some interesting programmes for
protection and participation. The PHCs and Ayurveda and homeopathy
dispensaries focus on more specific child rights realisation, namely their
survival and development as by definition these institutions are created to
deliver health services and promote a healthy environment.
41
6
Conclusions
Additionally, Adat and Vanyiyamkulam Gram Panchayats are receiving

valuable support from structures such as the poverty alleviation programme
Kudumbashree and the police. This support allows the LSGs to offer more
comprehensive and effective provision of services catered to children,
particularly in relation to childrens rights to participation and protection.
From what we observed, some of the key good practices such as
coordination between LSG institutions, effective implementation of
anganwadi services and cross-sector cooperation among institutions
overlap with the processes that have enabled the LSGs to become more
child-friendly structures. These enabling processes provide the roots from
which the good practices emanate, together making the LSGs and LSG
institutions more child friendly. These include:
Aganwadis up-to-date data collection mechanisms;
Involvement of Kudumbashree women in schools, PHC, LSG etc.;
LSGs recognition of the need to address children with disabilities
and second generation issues;
Cooperation between government and private institutions to
highlight and address issues of survival and protection of children.
In addition to good practices and their closely related enabling processes,

we observed several child-friendly features of the LSGs and their transferred
institutions which include:
Effective coordination between LSG institutions and their different tiers;
The pivotal role played by anganwadi centres due to their effective
servicedelivery;
Coordination between LSG and LSG support structures such as the police
and Kudumbashree;
LSGs, PHCs and other systems of medicine recognising and addressing
second generation issues;
The creation of spaces such as balasabhas for children to increase their
development and participation;
Innovative initiatives like ORC, SPC, SPG, etc., created byKeralaPolice;
Innovative initiatives like Jagratha Samithis formed to ensure convergence
of different sectors to work toward increased childprotection;
Various short-term and periodical programmes undertaken by LSG and
LSG institutions in the two panchayats.
In addition to the aforementioned coordination between the tiers of LSGs

and their relevant institutions, we noticed considerable convergence
in certain LSG programmes in both communities, such as mosquito
surveillance initiatives and school health programmes. It is important to
note that these and other instances of convergence we observed cannot be
presumed to be a general characteristic of the institutions. Decentralisation
has provided a better link between the LSGs and the transferred institutions
and provides the context for further convergence among them.
From what was observed during our study, children remain only passive
beneficiaries of programmes and policies and do not have any direct
involvement in the planning and monitoring process. Participatory platforms,
such as bala panchayats, have been established in some districts of Kerala,
however they are not regularly being convened.
Additionally, special attention may be directed to improving the LSG efforts
catering to migrant children, who currently seem to be forgotten in childcentric planning. Programming specifically targeting these vulnerable
children seems necessary.
43
Despite the LSG interventions described above, challenges remain in their

child-friendly planning, implementation and monitoring and in achieving
aspects of child rights realisation. Many of these challenges relate to
structures or activities that have already been created by the LSGs, but can
improve in how they plan, implement, or monitor child-friendly programmes.
For instance, innovative platforms for childrens protection such as SPG,
SPC, and Jagratha Samithis, should be convened more regularly, with their
progress monitored in order to strengthen the efforts where needed.
7
Lessons learnt
During the course of our research, we have learned lessons which may be
applicable to other research contexts.
Keralas decentralisation and devolution of funds, functions and functionaries
offers one possible model through which local governments can be
provided adequate support to govern. It provides a democratic structure
for local communities to identify local concerns and become equipped
with the necessary resources to address them. These three devolutions
facilitate LSGs to provide more assistance to local institutions, which are
thus able to go farther in their infrastructure and service delivery for the
community. Together the LSGs and institutions are able to widen their scope
ofgovernance.
Gram panchayats must not always undertake specific child-centred
programmes and initiatives in order to enhance childrens right realisation
under their sphere. The commitment and support given to grass-roots
institutions such as Kudumbashree, PHC initiatives, as well as with other
LSG institutions, provide a means toward addressing child rights. Through
cross-sector community networks, these institutions for improvement are
being identified and addressed more readily. However, its role is central
and must be strengthened, especially in regard to the awareness of child
rightsrealisation.
Womens empowerment and development efforts in Kerala, such as

Kudumbashree, are strengthening not only women as individuals, but their
families as well. From a financial perspective, women are able to generate
income through self-help and micro-finance initiatives, allowing them to
save and provide for themselves. From other perspectives, women are able
to become more competent and assertive within the community, setting
a strong example for their children. Thus, children seem to be indirectly
benefiting from the achievements of their mothers.
Lastly, we observed that an underlying factor that has enabled these LSGs to
become more child-friendly is the notable social and political consciousness
of community members. Their attitudes about proactively contributing to the
community and recognition of the importance for not only economic, but
also social empowerment, were a continual theme throughout our research.
These may be connected to the history of Keralas robust social movements
in the 20th century and the current high literacy rates.
45
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Governance and Poverty Reduction: Lessons
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Philip, O. A Handbook on Primary Health

Centre Management. Third India Population
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(2004) State Plan of Action for the Child in Kerala.
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and Directorate of Social Welfare (2004)
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SocialWelfare.
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20 Vibrant Years. Thrissur: KILA.
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Thrissur: KILA and UNICEF.
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KILA and UNICEF.
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Comprehensive Child Development. Handbook for
Training. Thrissur: KILA and UNICEF.
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the 11th Five Year Plan, Government of Kerala,
[G.O. (MS) No. 183/07/LSGD. dated 24-7-2007].
Shanti A. (2008) Child Friendly Panchayat - A Study of

Child Development Indicator in Rural Panchayats
of Tamil Nadu. New Delhi: Government of India
Planning Commission.
UNICEF (2011) The Situation of Children in India. A
Profile. New Delhi: UNICEF.
References (Conferences/ Workshop Write-ups)
Government of India, KILA and UNICEF (2012)
Decentralisation and Equity for Children in Kerala
- A Field Exposure (Field Visit Guide). National
Consultation on Decentralisation and Equity for
Children 16-18 April 2012 held in Kochi, Kerala.
Thrissur: KILA.
Sheebamol, J. (2013) International Conference
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Governance and Social Audit in Kerala, 2023 December 2013 held in KILA, Thrissur,
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andUNICEF.
Appendix 1
Field Visits
Adat
Anganwadis
Anganwadis
1.
2.
3.
4.
Anganwadi No. 35
Anganwadi No. 50
Anganwadi No. 216
Anganwadi No. 33
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Anganwadi no. 7
Anganwadi no. 12
Anganwadi no. 13
Anganwadi no. 23
Anganwadi no. 19
Anganwadi no.17
Observation and data collection

Mothers meeting
FGD with mothers
Interview with AWW
FGD with parents /CWC members
AWC meeting
FGD with AWW (at panchayat office)
Observation and data collection

Interview with JPHNs and ASHAs
AWC Meeting
Interviewed migrant Tamil mother
AG club meeting
FGD with adolescent girls
FGD with parents
FGD with all AWW
Orphanages
Orphanages
1.
1.
Jyothinilayam, Christian Missionary for Girls
2.
Ashadeepam Convent School for Mentally

Retarded Children
Manu Musliyar Islamic Orphanage
Interviewed headmaster
Statistics/data collection
Interaction with students
Interviewed caretakers
Schools
Schools
1.
Government Vocational High Secondary

School (government school)
T.M. Upper Primary School, Panayur (1st to
7th standard)(government-aided school)
Carmel CMI School, (Unaided/ private school)
1.
Interviewed headmaster.; pre-primary teacher

Class observation of 9th standard English
class
FGD with students
Noon meal observation
Class observation
2.
3.

2.
3.
Sri Sharda High School for Girls (governmentaided school)

State Government Upper Primary School
Churakattukara, Thrissur (government school
Shri Ramakrisna High School for Boys
(government-aided school)
Interviewed headmaster and administration
FGD with teachers
FGD with students
SSA training session
Interview with the school JPHN
47
Vaniyamkulam
Health Institutions
Health Institutions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Sub-centre
Ayurvedic dispensary
Homeopathic dispensary
Palliative care review meeting (at
panchayatoffice)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Interviewed medical officer

Interviewed health inspector/LHI
Observation of facilities
Interviewed JPHN
FGD with ASHAs
5.
Sub-Centre (Ambakad)
Amala Hospital (Private)
Homeopathy Health Centre for SC population,
(Parykad colony)
Government Ayurvedic Dispensary (Puzhakal)
Interviewed medical officer
Monthly meeting of ASHAs
FGD with ASHAs
Interview at Community Health Department
(Amala)
Interviewed JPHN
Protection
Protection
1.
2.
1.
2.
3.
Jagratha Samithi meeting (at panchayat office

Meeting with advocate
Jagratha Samithi meeting (at panchayat office

Police station
SPG nodal office, Thrissur
Community Action
Community Action
1.
1.
2.
Adolescent Girls Club meeting (at panchayat

office)
Meeting with Kudumbashree community
development society (at panchayat office)
2.
FGD with Kudumbashree members (at

panchayat office)
Interview with the SC Block Development
Officer (at panchayat office)
Panchayat/Miscellaneous
Panchayat/Miscellaneous
1.
1.
2.
3.
Meeting with panchayat members/ officials

(president, vice president, ICDS supervisor,
other office bearers)
House visit in SC colony (two houses)
Helen Keller Institute
2.
3.
4.
Meeting with panchayat members/ officials

(president, vice president, ICDS supervisor,
and ward member)
Visit to a public library
Migrant camp
SC household visit
Sample of surveys and questionnaires

PHC
Name:
Position: Medical Officer (MO)
Contact info:
Population served:
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Any specialisation in child health?

If you could provide us with the staff details and their area of specialisation?
Is there a citizens charter in the PHC accessible to public?
If yes, can we have a look at it?
When was the last house-to-house survey conducted? Can we have the details of the same?
Do you conduct institutional delivery? (Certain questions will depend on whether or not
the PHC offers the facility of an institutional delivery. If not, these questions will have to be
asked in CHC/FRU, whatever the case may be. )
Is there a gynaecology department or a gynaecologist available in the PHC?
Is the gynaecologist male or female?
Is there a paediatric department or a paediatric doctor available in the PHC?
In total how many deliveries were conducted in the PHC in the past year?
Do all pregnant women under your area of coverage get themselves registered?
If not, how many per cent of them do?
From which week of their pregnancy do the women start visiting the PHC?
Is there early registration of all pregnancies (before 12th week of pregnancy)?
If yes, are immunisation sessions conducted during these days. Or even otherwise?
Schools
1. What activities does the panchayat monitor?
2. Are there any members from the LSG involved in the PTA committee?
3. Is there any mechanism (complaint/suggestion box) where the students can raise their
concerns and issues?
4. How often do you conduct health camps in school?
5. Are children given any type of counselling in schools? If yes, by who?
6. Who monitors the activities under noon meal programme?
7. If the panchayat, how often does it conduct surprise visits and audits?
8. Do you have any physically/mentally disabled students in your school?
9. What steps are taken to ensure their inclusion?
10. Are they given scholarships, stipends and equipments?
Anganwadis
1.
2.
3.
4.
How many houses are covered under your anganwadi?

Do you survey all the families?
Number of children in the age group of 0-3 years brought to anganwadi centres?
Number of children in the age group of 3-6 years brought to anganwadi centres?
49
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
5. Can we have a look at the following registers?

a. Family survey (basic register)

b. Attendance

c. Immunisation register

d. Growth charts

e. Population growth and birth register

f. Stock register of food
6. Infrastructure of anganwadis:
7. Location:

a. Accessibility

b. Land area (minimum 5 cents)

c. Compound wall

d. Proximity to road
8. Building:

a. No. of rooms (minimum 3 - classroom, store room and kitchen)

b. Ventilation and lighting

c. Plastered and painted

d. Leak proof strong roof

e. Strong windows and doors
9. How many children enrolled and attending the anganwadi? (progress report)
a. 0-3 years
b. 3-6 years
10. How many children in the area are undernourished?
a. By birth weight
b. Underweight (normal/ grade 1/ grade 2/ grade 3) (progress report)
11. How many children are undernourished?
a. Girls
b. Boys
12. Are these children covered under Supplementary Nutrition Programme? Also number of
children covered under Take Home Ration and spot feeding?
a.Take home Ration for 0-3 years: (nutrimix)
b. Spot feeding for 3-6 years
13. Is the meal given for all 300 days i.e. 25 days in a month?
14. Is the nutrition provided to them adequate?
15. Are the children given Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) and vitamin A tablets?
16. Who supplies the IFA and vitamin A?
Appendix 2
List of relevant documents
1. Development Report (2013-2014)
2. Citizens Charter
3. Annual ICDS Survey/Report
4. Plan Document (2013-2014)
5. List of Awards
51
Appendix 3
Adat Panchayat Profile
Adat was named after Adat Kunoor Mana,
a Brahmins house where the first meeting
to organise the panchayat system under
Cochin principality was held in 1924. In
memory of that conference the panchayat
is named after the first name of the
household. The famous natural spot in this
panchayat, Vilangan Kunnu, served as the
first garrison of the British during World War
I. After independence and reorganisation
of the states in 1956, Adat became a
recognised gram under the StateofKerala.

Geography
Total area
23.03 km2
Number of Wards
18
Location
Thrissur-Guruvayur Road
Boundaries
North
Kaiparambu Village
South
Thrissur Corporation
East
Kolazhy
West
Venkidangu Village
Demography
Total Population
31,997
Male
15,775
Female
16,222
Child population
6,292
Male
3,253
Female
3,039
SC population
4,046
Male
1,943
Female
2,103
List of institutions under the panchayat

Health
PHC
Sub-centre
Medical Officer
LHI
JPHN
HI & JHI
ASHAs
32
Ayurveda dispensary
No. of Government LP/UP Schools
No. of aided schools
No. of high schools
No. of higher secondary/VHSS
No. of unaided schools
No. of special schools
No. of IED children
46
Anganwadis
No. of anganwadis
29
No. of anganwadis with own building
23
53
Education
Vaniyamkulam
PanchayatProfile
The name Vaniyamkulam owes its origin
to a class of traders, vanians, who were
inhabitants of that area. It is believed that
this area was a local market where trade was
carried out through water channels. Today,
this panchayat falls under the Ottapalam
taluk of Palakkad district. The largest river
of Kerala flows adjacent to this panchayat.
It is dominantly an agrarian region. The first
panchayat after independence took charge
in 1953 and divided the panchayat into 18
wards as they are today.
Geography
Total area
35.52 km2
Number of Wards
18
Location
Shoranur-Palakkad Road
Boundaries
North
Chalavara Village
South
Bharatapulah
East
Ottapalam Municipality
West
Shoranur Municipality
Demography
Total Population
31,558
Male
15,542
Female
16,016
Child population
7,234
Male
3,645
Female
3,589
SC population
3,324
Male
1,633
Female
1,691
List of institutions under the panchayat

Health
PHC
Sub-centre
Medical Officer
LHI
JPHN
HI & JHI
ASHAs
32
Ayurveda dispensary
No. of Government LP/UP Schools
No. of aided schools
No. of high schools
No. of higher secondary/VHSS
No. of unaided schools
No. of special schools
No. of IED children
44
Anganwadis
No. of anganwadis
33
No. of anganwadis with own building
29
55
Education
Acknowledgements
This report is a product of the efforts of various individuals and would
remain incomplete without recognizing their efforts. We are grateful to
our mentors Dr. Akila Radhakrishnan and Dr. Peter M. Raj, and to the
person who guided us in every step along the way, Mr.M.G. Kalidasan.
We thank Ms. Sudhamony K.L. and Ms. Bindhu V.K. of CRC-KILA for
their continued support, along with the management and staff of KILA
who made our stay in Kerala comfortable and memorable.
Working in Kerala without knowledge of the local language would have
been impossible without our dedicated field translators, Ms. Leikha
and Mr. Raju (Adat Panchayat) and Mr. Ravindaran O.K. (Vaniyamkulam
Panchayat) who also provided invaluable help in facilitating our visits.
We also want to thank the leaders and members of both panchayats,
and the various institutions we visited, for their invaluable cooperation
in our research.
The children we met during our field work fueled our passion for
research; we hope that any contributions we might make can have a
positive impact. We appreciate the technical assistance provided by the
UNICEF Country Office in Delhi.
Lastly, we would like to thank our families, friends and all those who
remain unnamed for their constant motivation and support.
Background Note on the Internship Programme

Knowledge Community on Children in India (KCCI)
initiative aims to enhance knowledge management
and sharing on policies and programmes related
to children in India. Conceived as part of KCCI, the
objectives of the 2013 Summer Internship Programme
were to give young graduate students from across the
world the opportunity to gain field-level experience
of and exposure to the challenges and issues facing
development work in India today.
UNICEF India hosted 23 young interns from Aomori
University, Azim Premji University, Cambridge
University, Georgetown University, Gujarat University,
Harvard University, IIT, Institute of Rural Management,
Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, M.S.
University of Baroda, New York University, Queens
University Belfast, Simon Faser University, University
of Amsterdam, University of Connecticut, University of
Delhi, University of East Anglia, University of Ottawa,
University of Oxford, University of Pune, and TERI to
participate in the 2013 Summer Internship Programme.
Interns were grouped into teams of three or four and
placed in research institutions across five states (Bihar,
Delhi, Jharkhand, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh) studying
field level interventions for children from 27 May to 2
August 2013.
Under the supervision of partner research institutions,
the interns conducted a combination of desk research
and fieldwork, the end result of which were 6
documentations around best practices and lessons
learnt aimed at promoting the rights of children and
their development. The case studies cover key sectors
linked to children and development in India, and address
important policy issues for children in the country
few being disaster risk reduction, child protection,
education, policy planning and evaluation.
Another unique feature of this programme was the
composition of the research teams comprising interns
with mutlidisciplinary academic skills and multicultural
backgrounds. Teams were encouraged to pool their
skills and knowledge prior to the fieldwork period and
devise a work-plan that allowed each team member an
equal role in developing the case study. Group work
and cooperation were key elements in the production of
outputs, and all of this is evident in the interesting and
mutlifaceted narratives presented by these case studies
on development in India.
The 2013 KCCI Summer Internship Programme
culminated in a final workshop, at which all teams of
interns presented their case studies for a discussion
on broader issues relating to improvements in service
delivery for every child in the country. This series of
documentations aims to disseminate this research to a
wider audience and to provide valuable contributions to
KCCIs overall knowledge base.
Knowledge Community on Children in India

www.kcci.org.in

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A Case Study of Two Panchayats

Knowledge Community on Children in India

3. Nature and scope of LSG institutions

4. Good practices and enabling processes

5. Challenges to child rights realisation and ways forward

Major functions of the panchayat

Courtyard shelter; focal point for

Adolescent Girls Day

friendly governance. Child friendly is defined here as an approach which

UNICEF and KILA advocate the use of Comprehensive Child Development,

The social and political consciousness of community members acts as an

generation issues in Kerala include suicide, depression, substance abuse,

In 1994, Keralas left-leaning state government instituted an unprecedented and

Keralas decentralisation offers a unique context for child-friendly

1.3. Child rights and

1.4. Scope and purpose

Available at: <http://www.nird.org.in/brgf/backgroundnote.html. > Accessed 29 July 2013.

the panchayats, and childrens club meetings. In using this technique we

3.1. Gram panchayat

youth. These working groups rely on coordination between individuals from

There are several sources of funding for the panchayats to implement

Keralas unique State Poverty Eradication Mission, commonly referred

Major functions of the Panchayat

Collecting and updating essential statistics

Box 1. Major functions of the panchayat

High, higher secondary and vocational schools

Industrial training institutes

Pre-primary and primary schools

Adat and Vaniyaamkulam both feature government and government-aided schools.

3.4. Primary Health Centres

PHC and Sub-centre services

3.5. Homeopathic and

4.1.1. Coordination between LSG

Vaniyamkulam is taking steps to address Keralas poor child nutrition

4.1.2. Addressing second generation

Both Adat and Vaniyamkulam Panchayats are undertaking initiatives to

secondary school children. The topics discussed during counselling are

4.1.3. Implementing anganwadi

Similarly, in a Vaniyamkulam Panchayat anganwadi, a comparison of

4.1.4. Privately led community

Amala Hopital also conducts a special outpatient department programme,

KILA and UNICEF (2011). Ibid.

As in other parts of India, private hospitals are an important component in

4.2.1. Providing early childhood care

4.2.2. LSG incentives to education

4.2.3 LSG attending to differentially

to attend Ashadeepam Special School for Mentally Retarded Children

Kudumbashrees Asraya, a service based destitution eradication programme

4.2.4. Effective coordination between

4.2.5. Creating spaces for children

armed conflict or emergency.20 To date, Kerala has failed in its intention to

4.3.1. Cross-sector convergence for

4.3.2. Including children in

KILA and UNICEF (2011). Ibid.

4.3.3. Identifying crime cases through

4.3.4. Police and community efforts

4.4.1. Effective coordination between

KILA and UNICEF (2011). Ibid.

4.4.2. Providing space to address the

4.4.3. Involving children in the community

4.5. Voices from the field

When I grow up I want to be a

Kerala is all that we know about; we have no

We want to play, but the public grounds are