Fresh acknowledgement from anchoring mdg consultations in Karnataka BREADS Bangalore was invited by Wada Na Todo
and with the vulnerable children in Karnataka, made sure
Abhiyan to anchor the regional consultations on
that children participated in all the three consultations.
Millennium Development Goals during May – July 2013.
Recognizing their right to participation, it was critical to
The opportunity also gave us space to expose our CRC
learn from them their priorities and the areas where the
members to a large crowd, with people present from all
society at large has failed them.
sectors.
The consultations were facilitated in such a manner to
“Listening to the People” was the theme of the regional
encourage the participants to recognize and articulate their
consultations organized by BREADS Bangalore to provide
priorities that have to be addressed in the new framework
a platform for people from different walks, allowing them
being developed by world leaders. Concerns expressed
to reflect on the existing development approaches against
by the participants reflected that poor governance had
the framework of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
multifarious ramifications that had affected every section
The consultations were organized as under:
of the population in different ways, specifically, children.
• Children: Governance and Equity, Bangalore
Children were able to articulate their concerns very
• Children and Education, Davangere
specifically, be it lack of facilities in the primary health
• Children and Health, Raichur
centres or the divide between students from government and private schools. Lamenting on the disturbing scene
Participants from different realms were brought together
of child protection issues, they saw families and schools
under one roof to discuss and debate the relevance of a
as primarily responsible for their safety. The quality of
development framework, the challenges and gaps in the
services provided by the government was a unanimous
present set up and the aspirations for a renewed, well
concern expressed by participants from all the three
defined and rights based framework. BREADS, working for
consultations.
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