Child In Need Institute (CINI)

Infobox Company
name = The Child In Need Institute (CINI)
company_
type = Non Governmental
foundation = 1974
location_city = Kolkata
location_country = India
key_people = Dr. Samir Chaudhuri (Founder), Veena Lakhumulani (Director of CINI Asha), Dr Rumeli Das (Director of CINI Bandahn)
services = Nutritional rehabilitation and prevention; sexual health education; healthcare; schooling; training
Mission = Helping poor women and children in India
homepage = [http://www.cini-india.org www.cini-india.org] , [http://www.ciniuk.org www.ciniuk.org]
footnotes =

The Child In Need Institute (or CINI) is a Non-Governmental Organisation with headquarters in Kolkata (formally Calcutta), India, whose activities to promote maternal health, malnutrition, poverty and other issues that span nations and states. CINI defines its mission as the achievement of “Sustainable development in health, nutrition and education of child, adolescent and woman in need” [THE CHILD IN NEED INSTITUTE (2008), About CINI [online] . Available at: http://www.cini-india.org/about.asp#Mission (last accessed 8th Feb 2008)] Since its foundation in 1974, the organization has grown to become active in five countries across the world, including India; the UK; USA; Italy; and Holland. CINI shares its approaches with other organisations working in related fields – especially smaller NGOs also based on the local community - and has gone on to win the Indian Government’s National Award for Child Welfare [http://socialwelfare.delhigovt.nic.in/Pdf/award4cw2007.pdf] in November 2005 [WADIA, J (2006), The cycle of life [online] . Available at: http://www.tata.com/0_our_commitment/community_initiatives/tata_trusts/articles/20060614_cycle_life.htm (last accessed 8th February 2008)] .

CINI is involved in several major community development focused projects in India, driving at the underlying social causes of disadvantage. It focuses primarily on the issue of malnutrition, which effects over 60 million children [GRAGNOLATI, M., SHEKAR M., DAS GUPTA, M., BREDENKAMP, C., and LEE, Y (2005), “India’s Undernourished Children: A Call for Reform and Action” [online] . Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1147272668285/IndiaUndernourishedChildrenFinal.pdf (last accessed 7th Feb 2008)] and causes 44.9% of women in rural West Bengal to have a below normal Body Mass Index [INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR POPULATION STUDIES (IIPS) (2005-6), “National Family Health Survey” (NFHS-3), India: Key Findings. Mumbai: IIPS] . CINI’s other priorities include providing training for traditional birth attendants who help at over one third of births; girl children’s access to education; and prevention and education about HIV/AIDS.

Heritage and Formation

CINI emerged in part from the work of its founder, Dr. Samir Chaudhuri, who began his medical career working in the villages and slums of West Bengal in the 1970s. His professional collaboration with other key stakeholders in the area at the time such as Sister Pauline Prince of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Rev Fr J. Henrichs S. J [WADIA, J (2006), The cycle of life [online] . Available at: http://www.tata.com/0_our_commitment/community_initiatives/tata_trusts/articles/20060614_cycle_life.htm (last accessed 8th February 2008)] lead to the Child In Need Institute’s foundation in 1974, which as now gone on to become one of the leading Non Government Organisation of India [COPAL PARTNERS (2006), “Child In Need Institute (CINI) Child Welfare and Development” [online] . Available at: http://www.copalpartners.com/Library/PDF/charity_reports/CINI_Final_Report.PDF (last accessed 7th February 2008)] .

In 1998 CINI was recognised as a National Mother NGO, under the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) program by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India [CENTRE FOR SCIENE AND ENVIORNMENT, INDIA (2007), “Health and Environment Newsletter from the Centre for Science and Environment” [online] . Available at: http://www.cseindia.org/html/healthnews/may-june05/may-june05.pdf (last accessed 7th February 2008)] . That same year it was also recognized as a collaborative training institute by the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), New Delhi [CINI INDIA (2008), About CINI [online] . Available at: http://www.cini-india.org/about.asp (last accessed 8th February, 2008)] and now consitututes the largest training facility in West Bengal for training health workers in nutrition, safe motherhood and HIV awareness. This training facility was extended from CINI’s own staff training centre to teach workers from other NGOs and government [CINI UK (2008), “Maternal Health Report”, forthcoming] .

In November 2005, the Indian government gave the charity the National Award of Child Welfare.
 


Having grown from humble roots, CINI's work has achieved increasing recognition. Recently this resulted in Dr. Chaudhuri’s receiving the World of Children’s [http://www.worldofchildren.org] 2007 Children’s Health Award for making “a significant lifetime contribution to children in the fields of health, medicine or the sciences” [WORLD OF CHILDREN (2007a), “Eight Child Advocates Honored at 10thAnnual World of Children Awards Ceremony” [online] . Available at: http://www.worldofchildren.org/news_2007_winner_release.HTM (last accessed 8th February 2008)] (see also [YOUTUBE (2007), “Dr. Samir Chaudhuri 2007 World of Children Honoree Vignette” [online] . Available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sLhtChMBZYg (last accessed 7th February 2008)] ).

Work/Priorities

All of CINI’s work aims for the sensitization of the local self-government (the Panchayat) about the health needs of the community and the development of effective communication at different levels of the community - especially between the Panchayat and the government health systems [CINI INDIA (2008), About CINI [online] . Available at: http://www.cini-india.org/about.asp (last accessed 8th February, 2008)] . Aside from this, there are four key areas that CINI operates in: Malnutrition, maternal health, HIV/AIDS prevention and education and education for all. Specific aims are to improve access to healthcare for the poor, which the Indian Government has started with its National Rural Health Mission [http://mohfw.nic.in/NRHM/Documents/NRHM%20Mission%20Document.pdf] ; empower women and their communities; provide education for all and provide the skills that allow poor women to take care of their own nutritional and sexual health in order to bring up future generations of healthy families.

Malnutrition

‘Maternal and child under-nutrition have a life-long impact on the health and prospects of the child, potentially affecting future generations’ [MEDICAL NEWS TODAY (2008), Malnutrition In Young Women Can Leave Communities Stuck In A Poverty Trap [online] . Available at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/95315.php (last accessed 7th February 2008)] and India has one of the worst records in terms malnutrition among its population, despite its recent economic growth.

CINI’s work tackles malnutrition from the root, focusing on poor maternal nutritional status at conception; low maternal weight gain during pregnancy due to inadequate dietary intake; and short maternal stature due to the mother’s own chronic malnutrition since childhood [CINI UK (2008), “Maternal Health Report”, forthcoming] .

Maternal Health

India accounts for one fifth of maternal deaths globally [DFID (2007), “Maternal Health Strategy Reducing maternal deaths: evidence and action Second Progress Report”, April 2007 [online] . Available at: http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:yyBd2j4trvMJ:www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/maternal-health-progress-report.pdf+maternal+health+india&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=uk&client=firefox-a) (last accessed 8th February 2008)] and the link between underdevelopment, poverty and maternal health has been clear for more than a century according to the Lancet [LANCET (2006), “Lancet Maternal Survival Series”, September 2006] . Though the Department for International Development (DfID) believes the Millennium Development Goal to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters by 2015 remains the greatest challenge [DFID (2007), “Maternal Health Strategy Reducing maternal deaths: evidence and action Second Progress Report”, April 2007 [online] . Available at: http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:yyBd2j4trvMJ:www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/maternal-health-progress-report.pdf+maternal+health+india&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=uk&client=firefox-a) (last accessed 8th February 2008)] , CINI continues to remain active in the field of improving maternal health. Specifically it runs an emergency ward that provides emergency nutrition for the dangerously underweight and counselling for new mothers.

Education for all (CINI Asha)

The urban wing of CINI was launched in 1989, in order to meet the needs of deprived urban children. A critical review of primary education in India in 2004 pointed out that CINI ASHA works to improve education, health, and the basic need for survival, protection, growth, and development [AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH (2004), Critical Review of Primary Education in India [online] . Available at: http://www.equip123.net/docs/eq1-Critical_Review_PrimaryEd_India.pdf (last accessed 7th February 2008)] among slums, squatter colonies, railway platforms and red light areas.

CINI Asha has mainstreamed over 10,000 children into formal schools, both residential and non-residential. The majority of these children are from the slums, squatter colonies, railway platforms and red light areas.

HIV/AIDS prevention CINI Bandhan

With the creation of Bandhan, CINI has become involved in reducing the increasing magnitude of HIV/AIDS in rural belt of South 24 Parganas district and other parts of West Bengal.

Community-based HIV/AIDS initiatives of CINI are geared towards minimizing risk behaviors in order to contain the spread of the disease and to ensure better quality of life for HIV/AIDS-infected women, young people and children in a holistic manner through a life-cycle based approach.

CINI International

A globally focused NGO was set up on 1 February 2000, as the northern arm of the Child In Need Institute, Kolkata.

"CINI International" works to establish North-South and South-South linkages to facilitate sharing and learning among partners working for children, adolescents and women in different parts of the world.

External links

* [http://www.cini-india.org Child In Need Institute Official Site]
* [http://www.ciniuk.org CINI UK]
* [http://www.cvi-usa.org CINI USA]
* [http://www.adottaunamamma.it CINI Italy]
* [http://www.ciniholland.nl CINI Holland]

References