SAIIER 2021:Auroville Safeguarding and Child Protection (AVCP)

Supportive Learning Satellite		Auroville Campus Initiative
Auroville Safeguarding and Child Protection (AVCP) by Author::Honor and Author::Marion

The scope of this project was:

To better understand existing child protection in schools and the Auroville community, identify school safeguarding focal points (SGFP) and any relevant existing services.
To create and train an AVCP core team to develop and implement child protection measures and an operational service with and for the community.
To set up an AVCP policy document detailing case management procedures and cooperation with stakeholders, leading to a child protection policy for schools and later an Auroville-wide policy.
To generally raise awareness on child safety in Auroville and the bioregion through Outreach schools and centers.

The AVCP has seen its primary work as beginning in schools. This has not been as expansive as we would have wished due to the Covid emergency and the closure of schools, sports clubs etc.

We focused on working with schools on a survey of need and on identifying safeguarding focal points (SGFP) – individuals who are willing to train and work with AVCP in being a ‘safe person’ for children to talk with, being a school’s liaison with AVCP and other schools, and who will ultimately take on training and support in their schools.

Description of project:

Following on from a previous period of work done by the project holders, Bridget, Honor and Marion, the AVCP project was officially started with the formation of a core team of 5 people: Harishini, Himanshu, Honor, Marion and Thamizhselvi, in September 2020. Early in the project, a local support and an international advisory group were established to provide support for the core team in their work. The project was funded by both Stichting de Zaaier and SAIIER.

AVCP was a new, mixed team that came together to work in a field that is complex and sensitive. For these reasons, it was felt that investing time in team capacity building was important. The financial investment was negligible thanks to the resources and opportunities available within Auroville. AVCP participated in three distinct capacity building exercises:

Team building sessions with Koodam – 6 sessions covering the topics: AVCP vision and purpose; team roles, functions and tasks; systematic approach to task management; team agreements and ethics; our talents, skills, curiosities; what helps us and what blocks us.
Friday learning sessions with Himanshu – Sharing with the team on various topics around child protection work:

International and national legal framework (the UNCRC, Indian law (Juvenile Justice & POCSO acts)) and structures for implementation.
Childhood and child development stages.
Child protection – general principles.
Social work – general principles.
Role of community organizer.

Radical Transformational Leadership – Three 3-day workshops (by Monica Sharma & team – Bridget is a resource person and Honor is a practitioner coach for this work) – learning to use design templates and project management tools, and encouraging each member to practice radical transformational leadership in their work and lives.

Further capacity building is planned with: Stefanie (advisory group) on training content and formats and overall child protection system strengthening strategy; Laetitia (advisory group) on working with parents and developing intercultural formats for workshops; Tulir for updated training on sensitisation programmes; Sigrid (Auroville therapist) on recognising and handling trauma.

Case management:

Besides prevention measures, intervention or case management is the main work that is included in child protection. For AVCP this has included all the steps necessary to set up a system to allow for both reporting and responding to any cases of children in need of care and protection, as and when needed. Case management is led by Himanshu, as the lead social worker. Harishini, also trained in social work, was the second case manager. Other members of the team step in to support, observe, or communicate with working groups, as required.

The first activity required setting up the AVCP case documentation templates and procedures:

Creating an AVCP case database to track and monitor cases and other required standardised templates.
Creating AVCP case management procedures and protocols – this is an ongoing process as clarity on needs is gained with experience and as partnerships are built. Currently Stefanie is working closely with Himanshu to bring this task to conclusion by end July 2021.

As part of continued case management, case workers engaged in receiving initial complaints or reports, and creating and populating the case file (data base, registration, documenting interviews and progress, supporting and liaising with stakeholders).

Since starting our work in August 2020, there have been 12 cases brought to the attention of the AVCP team. All concerns brought to AVCP are considered and qualify as ‘cases’ but not all of these involve what the Indian law describes as a case of ‘child in need of care and protection’. When there is a case of CNCP, the case is more likely to involve recourse to outside interventions (police, child welfare committee, etc.). Of these 12 cases, 3 concerned Aurovilian children, the others involved non-Aurovilian adults and/or children. The issues encountered in these cases include: online pedophile activity, neglect, sexual assault, physical abuse, emotional abuse and domestic instability due to parental conflict. Two of the cases are ongoing and the others are closed or the complaint was unfounded or retracted.

Needs assessment – Understanding Auroville’s child protection needs:

To develop a data-supported understanding of Auroville’s needs in terms of child safety and wellbeing, it was felt that a baseline survey, including both literature review as well as data gathering, would be necessary. A baseline survey is a fundamental step to the elaboration of a project such as AVCP which aims to work towards bringing social and systems change. It helps to anchor the project within its context, thereby helping to define actions and strategies. Additionally, this action would help to establish project indicators for ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

The baseline survey involved a survey of teachers from both Auroville and outreach schools. A summarised, preliminary account of the findings from the teachers’ survey are available. A more detailed analysis is underway and it is hoped that further data from parents and children will serve to confirm the validity of the teacher survey data.

Liaison and partnership building:

Much of the work required to develop a child protection system involves liaison and partnership building, particularly in a context such as Auroville, where such a system is not in place and requires time to build reliability, transparency and trust. In the past 9 months AVCP was engaged in the following:

AVCP met with the previous Auroville Child Protection Service (CPS) to understand the challenges they faced and receive suggestions to improve the work of the current AVCP.
Established links with local government agencies: the Villupuram Child Welfare Committee and District Child Protection Unit. AVCP visited their offices in September 2020, shared about the AVCP project and asked about their work.
Sharing about the project with school boards: Auroville School Board, Outreach Board and SAIIER Board.
Meeting with AV and Outreach school teaching teams to present the AVCP project and conduct the teacher survey.

We began building partnerships with AV services:

Mattram – To explore how intervention can be done in child-related cases together. Monthly meetings are happening to discuss shared cases.
AVSST (Auroville Safety and Security Team) – Several meetings have taken place relating to new and ongoing cases. All phone numbers for ease of contacting in an emergency have been established. Anandamayi is the designated police liaison person. AVCP has been looking at establishing an easy system for police verification for volunteers (as required by POCSO regulations 2020).
Entry Service – AVCP met in December 2020 and shared about AVCP’s work and informed of the need for fluid communication between Entry and AVCP regarding any allegations of child rights violations with regard to new members of the community.
Savi – AVCP met Savi to discuss the possibility of requesting police clearance from their countries for all volunteers coming to Auroville to work with children (as required by POCSO regulations 2020).
Working Committee (WCom) – WCom informed that any case which needs to be reported to external authorities (outside Auroville), must go through WCom first. Otherwise, AVCP can take decisions for cases dealt with.
Social service hub – AVCP has participated in all meetings discussing the possible formation of a social service hub for Auroville. This has been led by the AV Council. For now, no designated person or team has been assigned to move forward with this.
Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) – Two AVCP team members went to visit AVAG and discuss the AVCP project with Anbu.

We are also liaising with AV resource people who have worked or are working on educational programmes and materials that relate to child protection:

SuryaGandhi – ‘Safe Touch’ training for schools.
Valentine – ‘Peer Educator Network’ (trained with Juan Andres), who has worked with groups on issues affecting youth (sexuality, consent, alcohol and drugs, boundaries).
Paula Murphy – ‘Our Whole Lives (OWL)’, a comprehensive sexual education programme for children of different age groups.
Auromira and Nadia – who have created a program ‘Chrysalis: transformation program for youth’ for children aged 10-15, covering puberty, menstruality, sexuality education.
Gopa (Mattram) – sessions with 5th & 6th graders on Social and Emotional Learning.
Smiti and Bhavyo – who run a ‘Bridging the Gap’ program for youth.
Rita – ‘Be True Not Violent’ curriculum developed in AV.
Dr. Sue Jennings (international advisory group) – ‘Neuro-Dramatic Play’ basis for child protection programmes with children.
Mathilde – AV creative therapist.

Awareness raising and sensitisation in the community:

Educators’ workshop on child protection (Feb 2020) – run by the three project holders with Heidi (support group member), for teachers and therapists working in education in Auroville.
2nd Educators’ workshop – on March 6th 2021, we re-ran the Educators’ workshop for those who had missed it or elected to attend again.
Two learning sessions on child protection – delivered to Thamarai team of facilitators in December 2020.

Reflections:

Reflections on case management so far:

Case work is new to most team members and it takes time to gain alignment. It is clear how important it is that trained and experienced people manage case work.
AVCP needs to continue clarifying its remit and boundaries in terms of intervention. There is a need to continue building partnerships to establish a clear understanding of case procedure, process and protocols both internally and with stakeholders.
AVCP needs to work on building clarity and confidence in their partnership with working groups (WCom and AV Council) in how and when to involve outside authorities (district child welfare committee and police) in cases where needed.

General reflections on the past 9 months:

In terms of overall strategy for AVCP work with the AV community, it makes sense to ensure that there is a strong emphasis on prevention work and caution is taken that intervention (case work) does not take up too much of the team's time and energy. Ultimately, effective prevention measures should reduce the need for intervention and it is important not to fall into a pattern of ‘fire fighting’. The prevention/intervention balance is one which needs to be carefully managed to ensure that referrals receive adequate support while putting in place a system of prevention through education in schools, with parents and in the community.
As a general approach, ‘community-based child protection systems strengthening’ makes most sense as it empowers the community to take leadership and ownership in enabling children’s wellbeing. This means that AVCP needs to be ‘bottom-up’ in its approach with the community – recognizing the resources and strengths within the community, first and foremost, and building on them. An expert-driven, didactic approach, with the notion of an external agency solving the problems, does not seem appropriate. Thus child protection is everyone’s responsibility.
It is also necessary to notice the gaps in the child protection system, making them (and the intention to work on them) explicit and being ready to stand up and speak out when necessary.
During our work as a team, it will be important to focus on learning-in-action opportunities, both internally and as a format for training courses to be given. Theoretical understanding is valuable but needs to be applied and practiced.
At the end of March 2021, three of the core team members left. Thamizhselvi’s role, split between AVCP and the Supportive Learning Satellite (SLS), became difficult. As SLS work increased there emerged a conflict between her commitment to the two roles. It was suggested that the role in SLS would take precedence, but she would retain strong ties to AVCP in her capacity as an SLS teacher working with schools and educational units. Both Tamilzhselvi and Harishini had SAIIER maintenance grants which ended in March and while Thamilzhselvi transferred her work to SLS at the Teachers’ Centre, Harishini left the team. Marion chose to move from the core team to the support group.
Overall, building clarity and direction on a complex and emerging field (in Auroville), with a mixed team, has been a challenge. It seems that strong leadership, with clear task planning and accountabilities needs to improve. Additionally, a clearer understanding of the skills and competencies of team members was needed to be able to better support and guide each team member in their role. AVCP now needs to look at what is the best way to move forward with the current core team.

Conclusion:

Safeguarding and child protection is a complex topic, involving many stakeholders. Despite an increasingly comprehensive Indian legal framework, available resources for implementation at the local community level are negligible or at best, piecemeal. Within the small Auroville community and surrounding villages, while some informal family or community based support does exist, there are few systemic child protection measures in place (policies, social welfare services, etc.) and little recourse to legal justice. There is therefore much work to be done to build a child protection system for Auroville and the bioregion and to define how best this can be articulated between different stakeholders, building in accountability, monitoring and evaluation.

The AVCP team benefits from a strong network of support people in and around Auroville. However, future work will require dedicated human resources within the core team to generate results. It will be important for the core team to stabilise and gain a stable core, with the required competencies and commitment. In the following months the team is focusing on finalising the case management procedures and building these into a policy document that will be extrapolated to connect to child protection policy for schools. Parallel to this, the team is looking at developing awareness and sensitisation programs for teachers and children. One such program is to develop learning-in-action programs for teachers and youth in collaboration with the Radical Transformational Leadership team with Monica Sharma. There is also a plan to create a short film (drama) and a travelling street theatre performed by children.