VITAL aims to provide basic life necessities to disadvantaged and vulnerable children who suffer from the oppression and injustice of absolute poverty. VITAL supports projects which ensure thousands of children living in extreme poverty gain access to emergency shelter, quality education, healthcare, nutrition, clean water and other emergency and protective services.
One third of the world′s poor are in India. The streets of Kolkata in West Bengal are a place of refuge and a place of danger where street children live, eat, play, sleep and work. There are thousands of unreached, vulnerable and disadvantaged children who work in hazardous and dangerous conditions, from construction workers to rag pickers, forced by poverty, and by exploitative adults into the sex industry, while others turn to petty theft or join gangs for self-protection. Some children choose to live on the streets as an alternative to poverty or violence at home, often falling prey to sexual and financial exploitation. There are thousands of children who are still unreached and at high risk who also have the right to be properly cared for and protected.
VITAL to the success of our projects are the various local organizations, groups and individuals, such as the police, the juvenile board, local representatives, civil society groups and local business owners who are involved in all phases of the projects from planning to decision making, implementation and VITAL monitoring and evaluation.
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Looking for funding for a new building This project aims to protect hundreds of children living in dangerous red-light areas where there is a high concentration of hazardous sex work and drug trafficking. Only £60 - educates a street child for one year |
Goal: To ensure children living in and around the red light area receive their right to protection, development and education by mainstreaming children into formal schools and providing educational support, intensive counseling and therapeutic and recreational activities. |
Since VITAL partnered with the Child In Need Institute (CINI ASHA) in 2008 to support the project, thousands of children have gained access to basic life necessities and protection from abuse as well as opportunities to develop leadership skills in order to provide them with alternative employment prospects.
The problem: There are an estimated 400 red light areas in India with 2-3 million prostitutes working in them of which it is reported that 30% are children. In Rambagan, brothels co-exist with slums and homes of small traders. Young girls growing up in the areas are at high risk of being trafficked into sex work, or being married off in their adolescence years to prevent being sold into sex work, both of which violate their rights to having a childhood protected from abuse and exploitation. The children living in red light areas are amongst the most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse as they exist in an environment that is riddled with violence, alcohol, drugs, trafficking and deprivation. Many of them are emotionally traumatized and suffer from low self-esteem hence counseling plays a fundamental role that helps to overcome their trauma.
UK registered number 1121532.


