Mr. Utpal Moitra - Head of Programmes (India), Save the Children UK

What are the target beneficiary groups of Save the Children UK's India education programme ?

SC believes that it is the right of each and every child to attend school. This however requires equal access to good -quality education for ALL, where children get equal chance of developing without discrimination. Our focus include children from marginalised communities, tribal areas, economically different sections, having disabilities, suffering from HIV/AIDS, girl child from different socio-economic situations, children in various kind of labour.

Education is our largest programme (others include HIV/AIDS, Child Labour and Child Protection) in the country, not only as direct intervention but also as part of our child labour and child protection interventions. The education becomes an important medium in furthering our overall programme.

Which geographical areas do you work in ?
Is there any particular reason for this focus ?
At present, we are working in 8 states of (Jammu and Kashmir), Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal, West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Out of these 8 states, our major interventions are in the states of J&K, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh Our programme in Gujarat started post earthquake and is in a withdrawal phase. In UP and Uttranchal, our main focus is on constituency building and advocacy.

In all the states where we work our presence has been for long years. For example our J&K intervention is 25 years old. Our geographic spread covers different socio-economic and agro-ecological regions. Different considerations decided our interventions in different states, for example, we were invited to work in Laddakh region after the Indus flood in 1978 and we continued to work there since then and the West Bengal programme was started with the view of setting up and creating models of working in an urban area and the presence in Andhra Pradesh is warranted by the fact that the state has very high prevalence of HIV and AIDS and has models of good governance.

What is your definition of friendly learning environment ?
SC defines education as the entire learning experience of a child, starting at birth, which takes place as much within the family and community as at school. It's about helping children to acquire skills that will be useful throughout their lives, developing their ability to make independent choices, and instilling a sense of responsibility.

We define quality education as that genuinely equips and prepares children for life, is responsive to the needs of children, communities and society, and is relevant and inclusive for all children. Friendly learning environment is about creating an environment that is child-friendly, stimulating, free of violence and abuse and nurtures the ability of children to acquire knowledge and critical learning skills. Quality education should empower children, making them self confident and articulate rather than rendering them passive.

How do you influence management of schools ?
As a part of the government promoted Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, there are Village Education Committees (VECs). We work to make these VECs more responsive to needs of the schools and the children. The VECs are trained to view school management from a child's perspective. As part of our broader Monitoring and Evaluation work, we are promoting what we called "Child led indicators", programme development and management indicators that are developed by children and are child friendly. For example, In Orissa we are experimenting with this concept in 25 government schools. These would be then expanded to include all government schools in the district.

Our fundamental tenet is the promotion of and supporting children groups that play a proactive role in raising issues related to education policy, programme and practice at village, district, state and beyond to national level. The whole idea is to view "education" from the eyes of children.

How are you working on influencing policies at the state and central government level ?
In all the states where we have our programmes, we have been there for years. Today the state governments and other agencies view us as one of the key players. We have been leading or contributing to several movements in the states where we are working. A big success story is passing of the legislation in Orissa banning corporal punishment. We had been part of a series of consultations on the issue that finally led to passage of this legislation.

At the central level SC supports national campaigns to bring changes in policies and practice, for example review of the education bill and we co-organised a children's parliament on the quality of education in the run up to the high level EFA (Education for all) group meeting. SC being a member Commonwealth Education Fund which also Action Aid and Oxfam contributes to policy work on education

How do you influence movement of child labour from work places to schools ?
SCdoes not promote a blanket ban on work, at the same time not promoting 'a right to work' unconditionally. We recognize that some form of works may help children in realizing certain rights like survival and education but at the same time certain other forms of work may have extremely negative impact on their basic rights.

SC does not promote a blanket ban on work, at the same time not promoting 'a right to work' unconditionally. We recognize that some form of works may help children in realizing certain rights like survival and education but at the same time certain other forms of work may have extremely negative impact on their basic rights.

What role do you see of corporates vis-à-vis the children in the informal sector ?
Globally, we work with different corporates on CSR activities. In India we have taken up a research project with IKEA to understand the extent to which children are employed in factories/households in the production and assembly of industrial glass and to find evidence on the status of child labour in this industry so as to engage with policy makers/business partners to help realise the rights of working children in Firozabad district. In India we want to partner with corporates on this issue in a big way, but currently this is at a stage of internal debate.

What is the Child to Child approach ?
The child to child approach is about one to one or group to group interaction between the children from diverse situations that lead to learning and recreation. We have the West Bengal experience on Child Domestic Project, where a child would go and spend time with another child involved in domestic work. This involves playing together and some amount of teaching.

Similarly a group of children in Ladhak interacted with children from various other states. There were experience sharing sessions and visioning exercises that depicted children's vision of their future. Such interactions not only serve as exposure visits but also are a founding ground for development of Child monitoring indicators.

How do you go about selecting your NGO partners ?
How do NGOs approach you for support ?
We have few partnership selection criterions. These are like:

• They need to have an FCRA registration
• Understanding of the Child Rights based approach of working. At times they may not have knowledge on child rights but should have willingness to follow the approach
• They should be credible in terms of programme, advocacy and financial management systems

An initial screening is done by our Zonal office team and inputs are sought from the head office in Delhi. At times prospective partners are asked to present their case on issues of focus. This is followed by an assessment and signing of partnership agreement if everything is found fine.

How do you monitor your programmes and NGO partners?
In order to monitor our programmes effectively, we have quarterly programme reports, quarterly financial reports, six monthly visits and partner training and capacity building programmes. These are coupled with annual audits. The organization has a M&E expert who provides guidance on the development and implementation of M&E plans.

SC UK has initiated a new M&E framework called Global Impact Monitoring (GIM). Changes as a result of SC UK's interventions are analysed and documented under five dimensions namely:

• Changes in the lives of children and young people
• Changes in policies and practices affecting children's and young people's rights
• Changes in children's and young people's participation and active citizenship
• Changes in equity and non-discrimination of children and young people
• Changes in civil societies' and communities' capacity to support children's rights

What kind of exit plan do you have for your programmes, where you withdraw support ?
This is an area that we need to work a lot on. The kind of interventions we are in it is very difficult to have a clear time line. We plan to work on building capacities of our partners and link grass-root actions with advocacy. This dimension has somehow not found our priority but is certainly on our to-do list.

What are views on NGO governance ? How does one ensure good governance ?
Few key elements in ensuring good NGO governance are transparency, non-discrimination, participatory approach and collaborative working. In case of SC-UK our partnership agreement with the NGO partners clearly gives this message.

If we consider the entire NGO movement, my personal view is that the way we are growing and handling large sums of money, we need defined approaches to work and should be supported by robust management systems. Like any organisation NGOs are also equally answerable to communities. The time has come to reflect on NGOs' role in changing socio-economic scenario vis-à-vis government plans to project the country as a developed nation. The good governance both at micro and macro levels will be key in this changing role.

How do you feel credibility of NGOs can be enhanced ?
NGO credibility can be enhanced by striking a right balance between good programmes, transparency, and positive interaction with all the elements of the external environment. There are no short cuts to credibility. On more practical note NGOs should have a clear accountability mechanisms and systems and be in a programme that they believe in.

IndianNGOs.com is fast becoming news and views channel on the sector.
What kind of content that you recommend for it ?
We receive frequent updates from indianngos.com, which are very insightful. A portal like this should have mix of news, debates on developmental issues, learnings, best practices both at micro and macro level and information on books and literature on the sector.

The portal should also go beyond involving large number of interested people outside development, say government, corporates, media etc. The portal should highlight discussions on issues like transparency and credibility.