In observance of International Social Work Month, Butterflies’ founding director Rita Panicker convened a first-of-its-kind webinar on Nurturing Childhood. Butterflies’ core belief that children have a basic human right to live in a safe, protective family and within a community environment that fosters their physical, emotional and social wellbeing was amply reflected in the choice of session presenters.
Expert panelists focused on three areas of social work practice-
Dr. Achal Bhagat, Chairperson, Saarthak, spoke on mental health issues that the pandemic had exacerbated in children and adolescents. Amanda Griffith, Chief Executive Officer, Family for Every Child, UK emphasised the critcal role that alliances of local CSOs play in serving children and youth from marginalised communities. Grassroots NGOs who partner in alliances share best practices and collectively advocate for policy change. The result is that positive impacts can scale and be sustained. Dr. Digambar Narzary, Chairperson, Nedan Foundation, illuminated the problem of children in conflict zones where childhood is wiped out by fear, physical deprivation, and trafficking.
Dr. Kalpana Sarathy, Deputy Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus moderated the webinar with Mr. JB Oli, Head- Programmes, Butterflies offering the concluding remarks.
Watch the replay of the webinar here- https://youtu.be/PFQb6FghVOQ
