>About Us>About JJND

Considering the lack of coordination of the available resources and the lack of collective attempts to deal with the Juvenile Justice Issues on a single platform or through a united forum, the Navajeevan Balabhavan Society of Vijayawada initiated a process of bringing together organizations and individuals from across the country that are committed to working for the children in need of care and protection and those in conflict with law.

 

Navajeevan’s initiative led to two National Consultations held in Vijayawada and Hyderabad on February 2008 and September 2008 respectively. Two hundred and forty Juvenile Justice (JJ) professionals and practitioners representing various Government organizations, local and international NGOs and CBOs participated in these meetings. UNICEF facilitated both national consultations. 

 

The participants articulated the need to be in constant touch with each other, to share information, experience and resources, and evolve into an effective national forum to influence policies, support each other and address common concerns related to Juvenile Justice. The participants of the second national consultation had met the travel expenses for the meeting on their own and this demonstrated the commitment of the organisations to actively engage in the process of creating a community of practice on juvenile justice.

 

Navajeevan Balabhavan Society has been able to bring in active participation of groups like the Centre for the Child and the Law in the National Law School University of India and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in the community of practice.

 

A concrete proposal that emerged out of this expressed need was to create a mechanism to coordinate such an effort in the form of a National JJ Desk. The Hyderabad Consultation mandated Navajeevan of Vijayawada to take upon the responsibility of initiating and facilitating the efforts towards the Open Forum through a coordinating body, named the JJ National Desk (JJND).

 

Initial efforts to institute the National Desk began in October 2008 and by December end the same year a team of four, a rented office facility and other resources, physical or otherwise, were in place, just enough for JJND to become functional. The support from UNICEF Country Office in all these has been critical.

 

In the initial three months of operation from December 2008 to March 2009, the Juvenile Justice National Desk demonstrated the potential of networking through proactive involvement in advocating the approval of Integrated Child Protection Scheme by organising an e-based advocacy campaign towards the Planning Commission to approve the ICPS. The efforts of the network were acknowledged and lauded by the Planning Commission.

 

In addition to enrolling a substantial number of practitioners and professional in the JJ community of practice, Navajeevan has been able to rope in support of organisations like Cordaid and Railway Children to the network efforts. These organisations have shown interest in supporting the efforts of the community of practice in capacity building efforts.

 

Information sharing about the intervention of the Supreme Court for the accelerated implementation of Juvenile Justice Act in February 2009, the order of the Delhi High Court in February 2009 on the need to put an end to the practice of getting signed confession statements from the children who come in conflict with law are two examples about the potential of using this community of practice to influence policies across the country. The Juvenile Justice National Desk also shared information about the order by Delhi Police Officials putting an end to getting signed confessions from children in conflict with law with immediate effect.

 

The network has already developed a data base of over 300 members in the community of practice and is expected to increase the membership to over 500 by the end of the year.

 

The spread of the members of the network to all the states of the country will ensure that the information on juvenile justice in each of the state will be available to members. This speedy sharing of information will facilitate the policy influencing functions in each state and can thereby speed up the implementation of the JJ Act in each state and make it more child-friendly.

 

Beginning May 2009, during the next one year, JJND team will be travelling to 12 States to meet partners and associates to strengthen its links with them and involve their active participation in the making of JJND. The National Desk would like to be driven by the needs and expectations of its contact groups and organizations in the network, and the ownership of what JJND is and what it is set to become may truly be shared by all participants in the process.