MUMBAI: Mudra, along with National Domestic Worker’s Movement, an NGO that works for and with domestic workers, has created a campaign to sensitise the community to the plight of underaged domestic workers.
The communication attempts to heighten the fact that child domestic workers most often do the kind of work that only an adult can.
The campaign idea "Domestic work isn't child's play" is dramatised by replacing the home setting where they do their chores with toy houses (kitchen set, bathroom set, bedroom set) that typically children play with.
The campaign kick started on 'World Day Against Child Labour' (12 June). A total of six bus shelters at prime locations, 16 bus back panels, one hoarding on tilak bridge and 2 hoardings (one at Mahalaxmi and the other at Juhu) were used for the campaign.
Says Mudra Mumbai operations president Jude Fernandes, "You cannot fight child labour in India until there is alternate employment considering 75 per cent of the domestic servants in India are children. The campaign only sends out a message stating that the children need to be given their space and need to be treated like children."
The broad objectives for the campaign are as follows:
To raise awareness about the vulnerability of children in domestic work
To create a link between development and education of all children
To make employers realize that the development of the country is linked to their own welfare, therefore send all children to school
To sensitise people towards the child's right to education
To dissolve the societal myth that child domestic work is a solution to poverty
To remind them that children are human being
Explains National Domestic Workers programme co-ordiantor Anjali Shukla, "The purpose was essentially bring about awareness among the community. The campaign has made a difference as people have been calling us and wanting to take up the issue further."
Shukla added that the second phase of the campaign would looks at solutions and go into details about the issue. The NGO also plans to take this campaign which is currently restricted only to Mumbai to other cities like Delhi and Bangalore where the issue is prevalent, but that would be dependent on the sponsorship it receives."
