VITAL for Children is a charitable organization which works to eliminate child poverty. It has registered offices in England and the United States. The charity is 5013 registered in the U.S. The main administrative function is carried out at the office on Grosvenor Road in London, England. VITAL aims to restore the basic human rights to all children suffering from the oppression & injustice of poverty by supporting projects which ensure the many disadvantaged and vulnerable children. That they receive access to quality education, healthcare facilities, nutrition and clean water, protection and emergency shelter. "In the very heart of Kolkata. From the red light district to the slums and the slave trade, VITAL is tremendously changing the quality of life among untold numbers of children."
Projects
Red Light Project
Red Light District is part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented business, such as sex shops, strip clubs and adult theaters are found. The Red Light District project provides protection, counselling and schooling to over 500 children living in dangerous red light areas where there is a high concentration of hazardous sex work and human trafficking. Vital for children partners with Indian Non-Government organization and together they work day and night so that if a child is thrown on to the dangerous, busy streets of the Red Light District while his/her mother works, the child is not left vulnerable. This system prevents cases of trafficking and abuse which are common in the area by providing basic healthcare services, intensive counselling, therapeutic and recreation activities and monthly mother’s meeting and house visit which gives the mothers the opportunity to find jobs outside of the red light areas. The choose this project because there is an estimated 400 red light districts in India with millions of prostitutes working in them and 30% is children. The children in those areas are among the most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse as they exist in an environment which is involve with drugs, violence, alcohol, and child trafficking. Many of the children are traumatizes and suffer low self-esteem, hence counseling plays an essential role in our project.
Child Protection and Education
VITAL is partnered with the Child In Need Institute for this project which aims to protect 300 children living in and around the red light area of Rambagan in Kolkata from exploitation and abuse. The charity provides the many disadvantaged and vulnerable children of the area with access to quality education, protection and basic health services, counselling and recreational activities as well as opportunities to develop leadership and other skills that will provide them with employment prospects.
Child Watch Program
The Child Watch Program was created to help the many needy and vulnerable street and slum children at high risk, who are lost, abandoned, orphaned, exploited, abused, and suffering from malnutrition or illness. VITAL in partnership with the Hope Kolkata Foundation, helps identify those children at high risk and protects them by providing day and night surveillance of troublesome areas, 24hr emergency shelter, medical care, nutritious meals and clean drinking water, repatriation of children with their families or placing children in a Hope Home, counselling, education, and recreational facilities.
Anirban Rural Welfare Project
VITAL has partnered with the Anirban Rural Welfare Society to fund a new project in a community of West Bengal, India. The project comprises a newly implemented school that provides necessary elementary education to 500 underprivileged children living in rural subsistence farming areas.
