Campaign Story
About the project
3,602 tribal people live in 25 villages in the Kodaikanal block of Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu. This community works in coffee, pepper, and orange estates as daily wage earners. Child marriage is a prevalent practice among them. Although they want to send their children to school, financial constraints are a significant barrier. Families often take out high-interest loans from money lenders to support their children’s education but struggle to repay them. Consequently, children drop out of school, and work as child laborers to support their families, and the cycle of poverty continues.
Making a difference
CRY America’s project in Kodaikanal aims to provide education and protection for children and nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers. The project also focuses on reducing child labor and child marriage by re-enrolling drop-out children back into school. Key activities include identifying drop-out children, setting up supplementary education centers, monitoring children’s immunization, and linking women with maternity programs. Additionally, the project works to form children’s and adolescents’ collectives to raise awareness about child labor and child marriage.
The way forward
● Re-enroll 30 drop-out children in school.
● Track 15 child laborers, counsel them, and encourage at least 10 to re-enroll in school.
● Follow up with adolescent girl collectives and prevent 4 child marriages in the community.
● Create 5 new children’s collectives and 3 adolescent collectives to address child labor and child marriage issues.
● Conduct Life Skills Module sessions for 15 children collectives and 5 adolescent collectives.
● Collaborate with the Panchayat president to establish Child Protection Committees in 4 villages.
Project Impact
13
Drop-out children re-enrolled in school
53
Children attended remedial classes in 2 support centers
34
Children promoted from 10th to 11th grade
29
Out of 38 children moved on to college
63
Child marriages stopped
13
Child laborers re-enrolled in school
30
Children immunized
21
Pregnant and lactating women linked with maternity programs
457
Children participated in forming 15 children and adolescent collectives
Current Year’s Approved Grant (April to Dec 2024) $4,171
Last Year’s Grant Disbursed (Jan to Dec, 2023) – $297,425
