India: a safe haven for street children

Fact: Thousands of children are living on the streets of Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, India.

Aim: To help 2,500 children off the streets and into safe ‘drop-in’ shelters, where they can get warm food, counselling, education, training and the chance to return home.

Thanks to you: ActionAid helped 3,123 children to come off the streets and into safe shelters. Our highly trained volunteers worked with nearly 5000 children during the priority project.

Whether they received vocational training, re-enrolled in formal schools or received the support they needed to return to their families, you have given children like Rajesh opportunities to free themselves from poverty - opportunities that they would never have had without your generosity.

ActionAid will continue to reach out to India’s most vulnerable children, with a special focus on helping girls.

photo : ©Atul Loke/Panos/ActionAid

India's street children

  • UNICEF and Indian government figures suggest that between 11 and 18 million children work for low wages on India’s streets
  • Street children face exploitation and abuse, and many get caught up in illegal activities
  • They are often mistreated by police, who see them as criminals.

Real lives

Rajesh
"I visited the shelter and got the chance to bathe with soap, use oil and comb my hair which I had not done for ages."
Read Rajesh's story now.

Brijesh, 14, a former street child
"If I was still on the platform, I'd be a completely rotten person."
Read Brijesh's story now.

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