Child In Need Institute (CINI) is India based registered national level voluntary organization working with deprived communities since 1974. CINI has received twice the National Award for Child Welfare – 1985 and 2004 – for its contributions to child welfare. It is guided by its mission to ensure that children and adolescents achieve their rights to health, nutrition, education, protection and participation by making duty bearers and communities responsive to the wellbeing. The institute now reaches to more than 7 million people (directly or through partnership) in both rural and urban regions in India.
CINI’s continual emphasis on learning from and with vulnerable children, adolescents, women and other community members in various settings in India has shaped its journey. The organization developed a convergence model known as “Child Friendly Community” (CFC) to reach vulnerable children and women access Nutrition, Health, Education and Protection services from govt. functionaries.
All works of CINI follows the principles of accountability, prevention, convergence and participation which fit organically with the integrated and transformative agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 with its emphasis on leaving no one behind. Gender has always been a prime cross cutting agenda for CINI in designing and implementing any project related to Health, Education, Nutrition, Protection and dealing with adolescents. The organization with other policies abides by Gender Policy and The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Policy and Procedures to maintain a healthy work atmosphere.
CINI’s harm prevention programme, distilled within the CINI Method (the conceptual framework that guides all interventions of CINI) has been documented and evaluated by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, which found it successful in engaging youth in social change and fostering broad stakeholder support for protecting children’s rights.
The following strategies have been helpful in engaging children and young people in harm prevention:
1. Child- and Adolescent-Led Structures and Networks: Across its intervention sites, CINI facilitates the formation of Children’s and Adolescent’s Groups that function as both preventive and advocacy mechanisms. Among those groups, some are mandated within government systems and strengthened by CINI, while others are formed and strengthened by CINI when there are no such structures in the communities or institutions. These structures enable children to collectively identify risks such as early marriage, child labour, trafficking, or unsafe environments, and to act upon them through community monitoring and partnerships with local authorities.
Children’s collectives in CINI’s intervention areas have taken actions such as mapping out-of-school girls in partnership with school authorities and local government, resulting in prevention of early marriage, re-enrolment in school and prevention of child labour. These initiatives exemplify how child participation serves as an early-warning system—detecting risks and preventing harm before exploitation occurs.
2. Children’s Voices Informing Local Governance Planning and Budgeting: CINI facilitates children’s participation in formal local governance mechanisms. Children trained as peer leaders partner with local government and service providers in planning exercises—using tools such as Social Resource Mapping, creating “Charter of Demands” highlighting issues faced by children in their communities. These charters are submitted to local governments and integrated into Local Plans for Children and Child Budgets, ensuring direct policy influence.
3. Inclusion of Marginalised and At-Risk Children: CINI’s approach focuses on the most excluded groups—children living on streets, red light areas, tribal areas, tea gardens, border areas, children with disabilities, and those identifying as LGBTQIA+— so that they are not left out of protection systems. Some of the key examples are:
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A “Street Champions” network that researched vulnerabilities of street-connected children to inform district officials, Mayor of the city and several UN dialogues including the latest report by the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children named “A child-centred response to the sexual exploitation of children in street situations” submitted to the Human Rights Council and presented at the 80th UN General Assembly.
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Forming peer networks of children and youth identifying with the LGBTQIA+ across different states of India, facilitating discussions on gender and rights, sensitizing local police and government service providers to the experiences of LGBTQIA+ children and the need for inclusive support mechanisms.
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Supporting deaf children to become peer leaders advocating for sign-language trained staff and text-based helplines across the city, a recommendation that was subsequently raised in consultations with the Mayor of the City.
These initiatives demonstrate intersectional inclusion, showing that child participation can adapt to the unique vulnerabilities of different groups while promoting systemic awareness.
4. Promoting School-Based Child Participation Structures: CINI works towards transforming schools into child friendly spaces by creating participatory, convergence platforms in schools involving the school authorities, parents, local self-government, grass root level service providers and the children. These platforms are responsible for overall development of the school towards providing quality service. Child participation, when institutionalized and peer-led, leads to concrete improvements in school attendance, safety, health, hygiene, and child protection. Children partner with adult duty bearers in preventing early marriage and child labour, improving menstrual hygiene, ensuring the quality of mid-day meals, and advocating for infrastructure development. These interventions are often the result of strategic collaboration between children and teachers, parents, elected representatives, and government officials—demonstrating that when children are supported by responsive adults and empowered to participate in governance, they influence real change.