National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has launched a programme for developing a “Child-Friendly Panchayat” model under “Safe Childhood Programme”. This is a joint initiative of NCPCR, Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and few NGOs (UNICEF, Save the Children, Plan India, CRY and Action Aid).

This programme is being implemented through a national campaign in fourteen selected states, in which the respective State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, SCPCRs and NGO partners are the frontline implementers. UNICEF has been providing technical support to NCPCR in development of resource materials and monitoring tools for implementation.

The primary aim of this programme is to develop sustainable communities that positively contribute towards fulfilment of rights of children, to establish models at the panchayat level and seek evidence-based learnings for scale and replication. It aims at strengthening village-level systems and governance structures to ensure the rights of the children are guaranteed.

UNICEF partnered with New Concept Centre for Development Communications (NCCDC) to develop the training toolkit and in conducting a two-day training of trainers in the fourteen Indian states.

As on 18th November 2017, twelve training batches have been completed and the last one is scheduled at Chhattisgarh between 27th-28th November 2017. (Training in Himachal Pradesh has been cancelled due to State elections).