MUMBAI, Oct 13, 2008: CRY – Child Rights and You, India’s leading child rights organization, invites applications for the third CRY- National Child Rights Research Fellowships.
Upto 10 fellowships will be awarded. Grant sizes may range from Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh and the duration of the research project can be from a month to a year. Proposals are invited in any Indian languages including English. Selection of awardees will be by an independent panel and their names will be announced on the CRY website latest by April 2009.
Open to all Indian nationals living in India who are over 18 years old, potential Research Fellows are encouraged to explore the principle of the ‘best interest of the child’ within the broad framework of justice for children. It also seeks to encourage research from the non-traditional ‘researchers’ communities. On the subject there is scope to expand and interpret the theme as CRY encourages original ideas, non conventional approaches and seeks creative methodologies. Details of possible themes are available on the CRY website; www.cry.org. There is scope to expand and interpret the theme as CRY encourages original ideas, non conventional approaches and seeks creative methodologies. Regional language proposals may also be sent by post to CRY Documentation Centre, CRY-Child Rights and You, 189 A, Anand Estate, Sane Guruji Marg, Mumbai 400011. Applications are due by October 28, 2008.
From the insights and information that researchers share, CRY hopes to learn more about the interplay of culture, tradition, law, ethics and policy in defining the best interest principle. Elaborating on the initiative, Ila D Hukku, Director – Development Support, said, “Despite the recent popularity of terms like ”inclusive growth” and "social justice", the views of children, especially girls and those from marginalised communities, remain absent from decision-making. The CRY Child Rights Research Fellowships aim to illuminate those children’s issues that are currently the most invisible. We hope this year’s applicants will help bring to light these critical issues and groups.”
The research results will be available to a broad audience of activists, academics, programmers and the general public through multiple fora, including language translations. It is hoped this will influence the course of the debate on child rights and the best interest principle.
Last year the Fellowship initiative, attracted 196 applications in eleven languages- English, Hindi, Telugu, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Urdu and Bengali- from 22 states/Union territories.
CRY – Child Rights and You, is India’s leading advocate for child rights. Over three decades, CRY has partnered NGOs, communities, government and the media to eliminate the root causes of deprivation, exclusion, exploitation and abuse.