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>View discussions about this entry Country: India
Organization: Snehalaya
Sector Focus - Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2000
Project URL: http://: http://snehalaya-houseoflove.org
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? - Taking the young at risk off the street and putting them on their feet through education and skills- training in home-like atmosphere thus freeing them from the vulnerable situation of abuse and exploitation.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? - Providing free residential care to the young at risk in Guwahati city through its 5 strategically located Homes marked with cheerfulness and spontaneity. Dedicated staff with high-credibility, transparency, community and media support, involvement of all, support of significant individuals in the society from all walks of life. Strong parental organization (Don Bosco) which has officially recognized the services of snehalaya by giving it accreditation ensuring continuity. Inculturated initiatives.High esteem from EKTA the NGO Net-Work, from the Government of Assam, UNICEF. High-quality infrastructure and services. A focussed activity -plan for the next five years and a vision to make Guwahati and the whole region Child-friendly. Accumulated experience of the Don Bosco Society. Strong Net-work at local, national and international level.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? - Five Snehalaya Homes set up in Guwahat . A Children's Assistance Booth at the Railway Station, A Children’s Assistance Centre at Bus Station, and a Day care Centre for the children of single destitute parents and Below Poverty Line families, established . Director, Assistant Director, programme coordinator, Accountants, Counsellors, staff and a street presence team, run the residential and non-residential programmes. Re-uniting lost and run-away youth with their families is a priority. Group and one-to-one counselling to heal emotional wounds is stressed. We fight addictions (particularly glue-sniffing)
How do you plan to grow your innovation? - We plan to open two centres in the rural areas of Assam with a stress on anti-trafficking activities. and one project in Meghalaya. Greater community involvement through the promotion of volunteerism, sharing of human resources, setting up of Snehalaya Women's Association, Promotion of Children Helping Children concept in school etc. are being planned. Creative use of Mass Media and local Art Forms to promote a right-based approach to youth-services and child-care will receive attention. Our immediate plans include setting up the Snehalaya Institute of Juvenile Justice to defend the rights of the Children for advocacy activities, study and research, and setting up a hostel for working/training adolescents and young adults. Tapping corporate social responsibility concept to garner greater support and to open up more job opportunities for rescued young is one of our strategies. Evolving an efficient exit policy at the end of their stay in snehalaya is a priority. Youth are not meant to be parasites.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them? - Yes, we have many partners. The Don Bosco organizations, the net-work of church organizations in the region, the Childline net-work, the NGO net-work are all partners in our effort to free the region from modern-day slavery of child abuse, trafficking, etc. We strongly believe in Net-working. We have joined hands with the NGOs working in the area of child care, particularly those engaged in eliminating child labour. We are very close to the Government in the issues of Juvenile Justice, like formulating the State Rules for the implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000/2006. Further, the Director of Snehalaya has been appointed as a member of the Juvenile Justice Board, the competent authority for adjudicating child offences.
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. - Individuals and groups are more sensitive towards the needs of destitute youth, and are getting involved and Snehalaya is virtually a consultant to the Social Welfare Department of the Government of Assam regarding child issures.
How many people have you served or plan to serve? - Guwahati is more child-friendly, Snehalaya is a flag-ship NGO inpacting other NGOs, We are providing a platform for organized charity and social involvent for corporate bodies, schools, voluntary organizations, and GOs and NGOs at national and international levels. Snehalaya stimulates individual and group generosity and sharing. Our homes are setting a new standard in child care. The greatest impact is noted in the lives that are being shaped in an atmosphere of joy and freedom. We impact the children in the Juvenile Homes of the Government at Nagaon and Jorhat through our psycho-social support programme supported by UNICEF.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation? - The impact of the program on the beneficiaries is measured by their progress in terms of behaviour, regularity in attending school or training, academic performance, motivation, etc.
Inpact on the community is gauged from participation, visits, notes they write in the visitors books, unsolicited media coverage, appreciative public opinion, invitations extended to the children, donations in cash and kind, volunteering etc.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation? - The beneficiaries of our innovation are the marginalized children who are called in Indian Law as Children in Conflict with the law and Children in need of care and protection. They are child labourers, abused children, street children, orphans, pavement dwellers (children), slum dwellers (children), addicts, terminally ill children, etc.
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? - At present snehalaya programme is financed by Projects sanctioned by funding agencies, and donations given by individuals and organization both from India and abroad.
For further expansion, besides the above sources, we hope to tap Government resources, more Corporate funding, and a large scale children-helping-children program in Guwahati city. If known, provide information on your finances and organization - Annual budget;
Annual revenue generated; Number of staff: • Annual budget Rs. 2,40,00,000 for the current year. • Annual revenue generated Rs. 1,76,00,000 from Projects (73%) Rs. 40,00,000 donations from friends and benefactors (India and Abroad) (17%) Rs. 24,00,000 organizational loan (10%) • Number of staff (3 boxes: full-time, part-time, volunteers) Full-time: 34 Part-time: 11 part time Volunteers: 4 What is the potential demand for your innovation? - This field has not been completed. (83 words or less)
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? - Professional assitance to tap government resources.
The one-time-no-more, calculated donation habit of the people of the region. Weak fund-raising strategy. Alternative income source than donations and projects. What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - Gifted with a natural love for the poor, I was touched by the lives of street children that were being lost in the railway stations while travelling up from Kerala to Northeast India in the sixties and seventies. I volunteered to set up a programme for the poorest of the poor youth at risk in Guwahati city as is being done in several cities and towns of India by the Don Bosco society. The life of Don Bosco, an Italian Saint who worked for street children and founded the Don Bosco Society to continue his servies. During one of the visits of Mother Teresa to Guwahati, I informed her about my plans to start doing something for I While attending the funeral of Mother Teresa of Kolkata, inspired by her life-long dedication to the poor, I made the final decision to launch the Snehalaya program. Knowing by perception that the homeless children need a House of Love, the programme was name Snehalaya which means Abode of Love. On August 16, 2000, on the Birthday of Don Bosco, the programme was officially launched as a Birthday gift to the saint and a centenary gift to the young at risk in the city of Guwahati. On January 1, 2001 I started living in a shed at Dhirenpara, Guwahati with 8 children picked up from Guwahati Railway Station. Since then there has been no turning back.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material - Full Name: Lukose Cheruvalel, Date of Birth 29-3-52 in Kottayam Dist, Kerala , Educational Qualification: B.Sc. Hons. Maths, Courses in Philosphy, Theology, Educational Psychology. Interested in: Psychology, Spirituality, Mass Media, Assamese language & Culture. Resource Person at NIPCCD on JJ Act 2000, City Advisory Board Member of Childline Guwahati, Ethical Committe Member of B. Barooah Cancer Institute, Attended numerous workshops, Travelled in USA, Canada and Europe, Member of Don Bosco society as a Priest for 38. Member of Juvenile Justice Board of Kamrup District, member of State Rules framing committee for Implementation of Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act 2000
Contact Information:
Lukose Cheruvalel
Founder Director Snehalaya (Charitable) Discussions about this entry
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Snehalaya (House of Love), Taking Youth Off The Street And Putting Them On Their Feet.
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Thank you, Lukose Cheruvalel, for your efforts in combatting human trafficking in India.
You mentioned that one of the main barriers to your long-term impact is the unavailability of trained and committed social workers. Have you thought about taking an approach where your existing staff trains volunteers as they go?
I am from Portland, Oregon in the United States, and there is an international, philanthropic, counseling organization headquartered in Beaverton that operates on this model. Often people who have used their services in the past want to volunteer after they have received assistance.
Thank you again for the work that you do.
Sincerely,
Sarah McRae
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Current Master of International Management Student, Portland State University
Thank you for your comment. We do accept and get volunteers from United States. So far we have had three and they came to us from Salesian Missions, 2 Lefevre Lane, New Rochelle, New York10802-0030 Tel. 914-633-8344. They are committed, trained to some extend. They come for a period of 6 months (minimum) and 2 years (maximum). When they arrive here, we give them on-hand orientation and they soon fit in. They do have a problem with language while dealing with children. However, our staff understand and speak English. I am happy to encourage people from the counselling organization at Beaverton to come as volunteers. However, they need to contact Salesian Missions in NY and undergo an orientation there before they can be accepted as volunteers at Snehalaya.
My observation about the lack of committed and trained social workers refers to locally available human resource who could be recruited as care-givers, counsellors, case-managers, etc. We do give in-service training to those whom we select, and our staff are doing fairly well. We want to rise to a higher level of quality and professionalism. Don Bosco society is opening a Don Bosco University in Guwahati, the city where Snehalaya is based. Social Sciences one of the important disciplines and we through this university hope to train a large number of committed social workers.
Personal Note: I will be in California, in the Bay Area from August 8 to 30. Before launching the Snehalaya program, I had visited this area. Snehalaya is know there. I will be there to share the exhilarating experience of freeing children from modern day slavery in its manifold manifestations.
Thanks once again for the comment.
Lukose Cheruvalel
WE HAVE VISITED THIS ORGANISATION AND FULLY SUPPORT ALL THE HARD WORK AND EFFORT WHICH IS GOING INTO IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ABUSED AND DEPRIVED CHILDREN IN GUWAHATI CITY AND OTHER AREAS IN ASSAM.
DURING OUR STAY OF ALMOST TWO MONTHS WE SAW, ON A DAILY BASIS ,THE DEDICATION OF FATHER LUKOSE CHERUVALEL AND HIS TEAM. NOT ONLY FEEDING, CLOTHING, AND EDUCATING THE CHILDREN BUT HOW THEIR LIVES BECAME TRANSFORMED. FROM BEING DEEPLY TRAUMATISED,( MANY BOTH PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY) TO HAPPY, LAUGHING WELL INTERGRATED CHILDREN IN A VERY SHORT SPACE OF TIME.
BY BEING EDUCATED, REHABILITATED , AND LEARNING SKILLS WHICH MEANS THEY WILL HAVE A CHANCE OF EMPLOYMENT THUS HOPEFULLY ESCAPING THE POVERTY AND EXPLOITATION FROM WHICH THEY CAME.
THE MOTTO OF "SNEHALAYA" BEING EXTREMELY APT "TAKE THEM OFF THE STREET AND PUT THEM ON THEIR FEET". WE HAVE WITNESSED AT FIRST HAND JUST HOW SUCCESSFUL THIS CAN BE.
WE THEREFORE WISH TO VOTE FOR THIS PROJECT AS THEY SO DESPERATELY NEED MONEY TO KEEP IT ACTIVE AND CONTINUE WITH THE EXPANSION OF MORE HOMES.
DR PETER AND MRS. AILEEN SHIPTON.
Dear Dr. Peter and Mrs. Aileen,
Thank you for the comment. The words you have used indicate that you really were involved in the lives of the children of Snehalaya and have understood their background and the possibilities that lie ahead. The freedom that they enjoy is evident in their smiles, shouts and liveliness. They are healed of the enslaving past and are introduced to a bright future which they have to create for themselves.Thanks for being part of this effor.
Thanks.
Lukose Cheruvalel