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Govt mulls street urchin rehab plan
KATHMANDU, AUG 06 -
The government is mulling a plan to rehabilitate all street urchins at an estimated cost of Rs 100 million in a public-private partnership initiative. The government has begun consultations with the stakeholders to further the plan. The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) and the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB) have started discussions with concerned stakeholders, including donors.
As per the plan, MoWCSW will launch a campaign to ‘free all the cities from street children’ within two months.
“If the work goes as planned, no street children will be seen in any part of the country,” said Mahendra Shrestha, Secretary at MoWCSW. “We have started consultations with the ministries of Home, Finance, Education as well as the non-governmental sector.”
On Thursday, CCWB held a meeting to coordinate with the private sector and donor agencies. The Board has also formed a five-member committee comprising representatives of the private sector to present a detailed plan within 15 days.
“As we are launching this programme on a public-private partnership basis, we are also working with NGOs working in this field,” said Dharma Raj Shrestha, director at CCWB. Around fifty percent of the street children will be rehabilitated under private initiatives, he claimed.
There are eleven non-governmental organisations in the country working for the rehabilitation of street children.
As the present infrastructure is insufficient, the ministry will install at least one reform centre in each development region. “The number may increase depending on children’s volume,” said secretary Shrestha.
Officials estimate that implementation of the programme would cost Rs. 100 million in the first phase. Consultations with donor agencies like Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision are underway, according to CCWB officials.
According to CCWB data, around 1,500 children under 16 years of age are on the streets all over the country. However, a CWIN report puts the figure at around 4,000.
Posted on: 2010-08-07 07:16
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