Workshop on Child Friendly Spaces during Emergencies inaugurated
Guwahati,Rongili Barta- A state level capacity building workshop for district level teams on Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) during Emergencies in 3 batches starting from June 3, 2024 to June 15, 2024 was inaugurated today at the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj –North Eastern Regional Centre (NIRDPR NERC), Khanapara, Guwahati. The workshop has been organized to strengthen the district level Key Resource Persons (KRP) from Department of School Education (DoSE) and Women & ChildDevelopment (WCD) of all the districts for further disseminating training to district/circle/block level functionaries for conducting basic in situ camp level awareness programmes for children in relief camps or children whose education continuity has been impacted by disaster.
The workshop was organized by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) in collaboration with UNICEF, Assam. ASDMA has planned to capacitate the relief camps in the districts with “School in a box kit/CFS kits” which will be handed over to the school authorities which are used as relief camps with an objective to strengthen the camps with materials and resources to run the camps smoothly. ASDMA has also planned to
strengthen the camps by installing sanitary napkin vending machines with incinerators for women & adolescent girls in relief camps subjecting to fully functional vending machines and duly replenished with sanitary napkins during camp operation.
During the inaugural session today, Shri Mukesh Ch. Sahu, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, appreciated ASDMA for leading many innovative initiatives for disaster risk reduction of which CFS is one. He emphasized on the importance of identifying and addressing multiple needs of children including that protecting children from abuse and exploitation in camps as well as post disaster risks of school dropouts, trafficking, child marriage etc.
Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer, ASDMA highlighted the journey of team Assam in creating a model like CFS for the whole country and beyond. He deliberated on the overall objective and results of engaging and caring for children in camps and beyond to ensure that their well-being during and after disasters.
Shri Narayan Konwar, IAS, Secretary, Department of School Education also elaborated the importance of CFS in the context of continued implementation of National Education Policy and flagship missions including foundation literacy and numeracy.
In his speech, Shri Rahul Das, ACS, Director, Directorate of Women and Child Development, emphasized on the importance of this training in streamlining services and engagement of stakeholders for children in relief camps.
Speaking about the workshop, Smti. Aparajita Choudhary, Education Specialist, appreciated the leadership of ASDMA for leading the implementation of Child Friendly Spaces in Emergencies and convening all stakeholders together for integrated service delivery to children in relief camps.
The programme was also attended by the participants of the first batch of the workshop coming from various districts along with all the senior officials of DWCD, DoSE, UNICEF, Assam and ASDMA.