We work in vulnerable rural areas across states of Karnataka, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Kerala.
We take children and their families out of exploitation by providing them with education, livelihood support, health care, legal support and encouraging child participation for advocacy. We also involve stakeholders such as the Government, Law Enforcement Agencies and the Private sector to help us tackle issues.
To combat exploitation, children are enrolled in schools, provided school supplies such as uniforms, books, bags and given access to quality education through activity based and digital learning. Children enrolled in school who have learning gaps are also enrolled in remedial classes to ensure age appropriate learning. Parents are counselled on the importance of education and the learning environment is made to be enriching and joyful so that children don’t choose to drop out. Child brides who find it difficult to go back to school are enrolled for public exams as private candidates.
Apart from tuition and study material support, we provide bicycles to girls who are not allowed to go to school due to long distances. Girls are helped to file cases for domestic violence and other forms of abuse meted out to them. Girls with anaemia are given supplementary nutrition and taken for health check ups. Child brides are advised against early pregnancy and early union. Awareness on menstrual hygiene, life skill development, psychosocial support and child rights training are also provided to ensure girl child development.
Sana's story is one of both tragedy and triumph. Growing up in a small village in India, she faced incredible…
Roopa shared, "One day, I was at school, and the next, I found myself dressed in a saree and jewellery to get…
When her mother couldn’t afford to keep her in school, 15-year-old Bina was forced to drop out and start worki…
This week Jharkhand´s Chief Minister, Hermant Soren, has inaugurated a model to develop cooperatives of mica m…
Amrita, a teenage girl, belongs to a socio-economically disadvantaged Devadasi community in North Karnataka, I…
We specifically focus on fighting for the rights of the children through Child Participation approaches. We have created a movement for married adolescent girls where they advocate for their entitlements. Children are grouped into clubs where they are trained on child rights, child protection laws and advocacy. Through this, many children have solved village level issues, reported cases of child labour, child marriage and child exploitation.
Our Youth Advocates have also conducted various innovative campaigns such as rallies and flash mobs to sensitise the public on the need to voice against child marriage and child trafficking.
In 2022, India addressed child labour, child sexual exploitation, child marriage and other forms of child exploitation across 7 states, reaching out to over 79,000 children.
Poverty fuels child exploitation. To address this, we provide monetary assistance to families such that they invest in additional income generating activities such as livestock development, tailoring, fruit selling, thereby earning more income. Girls at risk of exploitation are also provided skill training to become financially independent. Women are grouped into SHGs where a corpus is revolved among them from which each of them invest in small businesses. The money is ploughed back into the fund at a minimum service, thereby building the corpus to reach out to more women. Families are also given access to social security.
Thanks to the support of donors, in collaboration with partners and the commitment of volunteers and staff, Te…
In India, Terre des Hommes Netherlands addresses child labour, child sexual exploitation, child marriage and o…
One principle of Terre des Hommes Netherlands is that children should have a childhood where they can learn, p…
With the ongoing COVID situation in India, the state of Karnataka has been witnessing lockdowns and curfews fo…
Sunita Devi lives in the mica belt of Jharkhand, India, where low wages from extreme dependence on mica collec…
The work of Terre des Hommes Netherlands in India does not only focus on preventing child marriage, but also s…
Without a doubt 2020 is the year of the corona pandemic. And yet there is much to be proud of!
“My village is near a jungle area. There is no network here, no newspapers, so we do not get to know anything…
As Priya* reached the finish line of the 200 metre race, she jumped with joy; the sparkle in her eyes reflecti…
Thanks to your support, in 2018 we were able to work on tackling child labor in the mica mines in India, child…
Ongoing
Every year, 1.5 million girls in India marry before the age of 18. Many child brides rarely go to school. They…
Ongoing
Mica is a raw material that is widely used in our daily products, such as cars, laptops and make-up. It has a…
Ongoing
In lower caste Devadasi communities from North Karnataka, post pubertal girls are dedicated to a life of sex w…
Ongoing
In India, 12% of children (aged between 5-14 years) are engaged in hazardous child labour activities, includin…
Ongoing
The project aims to work with the exploited and at-risk children from poor and marginalised families living in…
In India, we work with a network of grassroots organisations to implement our programmes. We are affiliated with Children of India Foundation , a community driven organisation, which leads the implementation of our programmes in India
Thangam, the Country Manager of Terre des Hommes in India and Nepal, together with his team, stands up for vulnerable children. "This is a forgotten group; among other things, we provide education and teach them about their rights".