The democracy in our country should be infused with a new vitality. This entails the initiation and inclusion of children and youth in the democratic process, providing them with a ‘real life’ experience of ‘citizenship’ and ways mould and nurture democracy.

The survival of democracy in India depends on the success of the Panchayat Raj System. Its ultimate success is where all citizens exercise their right to determine their lives by contributing constructively to local governance to ensure that democracy is not overtaken by attempts to corporatise government and privatise basic services.

The CWC has enabled the setting up of Children’s Panchayats (Makkala Panchayats) in 56 Panchayats of Karnataka that are parallel Panchayats formed by children and broadly modelled on Gram Panchayats. They enable children to solve their issues with a special focus on marginalised children. It helps children to take part in decision-making processes based on democratic principles at the local government. The organisation has also set up tripartite collaboration of all stakeholders – the Children’s Rights Task Forces that are headed by the GP President and constituted under the same principles as the statutory committees.

CWC is also developing a sustained State Level advocacy for

1. Negotiation with all the Gram Panchayats we have a partnership with in 26 districts of Karnataka to set up structures and platforms for CYP participation.
2. Negotiation with the State Government of Karnataka to set up structures and platforms for CYP participation.
3. To demonstrate the effectiveness of CYP participation through use of case studies and process documents.

The process is being documented to ensure that underlying principles and the basic elements of our strategy may be used by others to develop local specific plans for child and youth empowerment.

All reviews are participatory and transparent with the aim of learning from mistakes and celebrating successes. CWC has regular programme reviews, a mid-year organisational review and an annual organisational evaluation which extends outwards – starting from ‘self-evaluations’, moving on to ‘individual’ evaluations and culminating with programme evaluations.

Codes of conduct and protocols are being developed to ensure the protection of children rights and to sustain organisational memory. They are also tools for monitoring and evaluation.

CWC has a Working Group that constitutes its senior managers, child, youth and adult representatives from constituency and staff representation. It evaluates the cumulative impact of the organisation. The process of planning is in-built into the review as lessons learnt and the emerging opportunities are identified and built into future strategies.

Number of staff:
Full time: 72
Part time: 15
Volunteers: 20

Bhima Sangha had a long history of negotiating with representatives of governments in order to improve the quality of their lives. But despite their interaction with local administrative and government bodies, Bhima Sangha felt that sustained results were lacking and that a permanent structure enabling close interaction between children and decision-making bodies was required to inform and influence local governance to ensure that children has space and opportunities to take part in decision making processes in their Panchayats. Children felt that not only organised ‘working children’, but all children needed such a platform. The Makkala Panchayats were set up not only for working children but also for school children and children with disabilities as well.

The Makkala Panchayats were created as parallel government bodies to the Gram Panchayats. These councils, first of their kind in India, show the potential of children to articulate their issues, substantiate their demands with data and elicit responses that were rooted in a children's rights framework. They show how children can think laterally and responsibly if their capacities are recognised and opportunities are provided to them. Now they exist in 56 Panchayats.