Towards a better world

Her petite build and soft mannerisms belie the powerhouse of strength and energy that she has. But that is only to be expected. As UNICEF Representative in India, Ms. MARIA CALIVIS begins her tenure with a huge agenda on her hands. She finds her current assignment, "both exciting and challenging" and made more so with the run up to the Global Movement for Children, that is to be held this month. Calivis minces no words while speaking about her job and the agenda that UNICEF has planned out, but as this gentle emissary reminds you, "There are no easy solutions to a lot of things.

We have to first create a space for the children - a safe space and only then have we taken the first step." At a glimpse, her biodata tells you that she is more than equipped to handle the task ahead. While talking about her current assignment and about the global movement for children, Calivis' enthusiasm is boundless. "We all need to join hands, be it governments, NGOs or corporates, to find a way out and help this become a success," she said in an interview with SUCHITRA BEHAL.

Excerpts:

SUCHITRA BEHAL: Could you tell us what the Global Movement means for children in India?

MARIA CALIVIS: The challenges facing children over the next ten years, despite progress in general, are still present in various areas. We know that globally there are three areas of intervention that are paramount, to make a difference in one generation. This is investing in the young child; ensuring that all children are in school, stay in school and come out of school with an accepted level of learning - a standard level of learning - as also empowering the youth with life skills. Now this is a huge agenda. It is not the responsibility of any one government and in order to carry it forward we need to build on what has been done so far. And we know that to make quantum leaps for children we need partnerships with government, with NGOs, with academic institutions, with the media, civil societies and with families. I think in India, given the social fabric, there are great opportunities for creating a movement for children.

What it means to India is building on the already existing partnerships, strengthening them and bringing in the corporate world, the academia, the media, in order to ensure an alliance with a shared vision and accountability that can bring change over the coming years.

What do you think are the three issues that India should prioritise on with this movement?

The one issue that comes up is focussing on the young child. We see that as a result of the census data, infant mortality rate has been stagnant over a number of years. Nevertheless, there are positive experiences too in different States where change has taken place. Though the infant mortality rate seems stagnant in India, when we look within each State and within each district, we find that some places have done well in curbing the mortality rate. The big challenge is how do we galvanise and mobilise support in order to address the main issue affecting the infant mortality rate and bringing about a change. I think a change is possible by focussing on the very young child, care for the new born and the mother. Safe motherhood is very important.

I think another area of concern is that of the nutritional status of children, especially the nutritional status of the under- three. Nutrition is another indicator that India needs to look into and I am very pleased to hear the Prime Minister announce that special resources would be allocated to the nutrition mission. We need to focus on the adolescent girl and ensure that her nutrition is adequate, especially when she nears pregnancy. Apart from this we would need to focus on the baby's growth monitoring, breast feeding, introduction of solid food at the right age and early care of the young child.

Do you envisage any major changes in the role that UNICEF has played so far?

The global agenda for children is a big agenda. And the agenda that India can implement for children is much bigger. "We will build over the next few years on the existing programmes. We believe that an inter-sectoral approach is the best approach, so we will always be focussing on the under-three. We will continue our programme on sanitation, the quality of water; we will also continue with our efforts to strengthen the health sub centres in the most remote areas. The big focus will be quality education with special focus on the girl child. We are also concerned about the HIV incidence.

Is HIV incidence high in India?

I'd go for the existing statistics. But learning from experience elsewhere, in the far east and other regions, we need to be vigilant. I think one contribution that we can make is to empower adolescents. Delaying the age of marriage and early pregnancies may cause awareness. I think the agenda of the global movement will be the priority that the country sees for children. Once this is adopted on September 19, it needs to be translated locally. And this will not just be government's responsibility but it will be the responsibility of a much larger coalition. So it is creating the coalition to tackle the various issues that is important. Education is one of the issues that has the possibility of changing one generation from the other.

This summit is supposed to have child representatives speaking out their experiences and their hopes. Why do you think it is important to involve children directly?

The participation of children is a right. There are already a lot of initiatives where we find that children are the ones that can best express their condition and what is best for them. And I think it is up to adults to listen, to take these into account in making decisions.

The voice of children is very important because they come out with truths about themselves that sometimes adults overlook. It is also a process of getting children involved in finding solutions to the problems they face. However participation should not be cosmetic - it is a process and we have to learn from this.

Traditional partnerships for such a process have been with agencies like the UNICEF, governments and NGOs. But of late there has been a lot of emphasis on involving corporates. Is UNICEF now going to tap on this major resource?

Yes, I think a very good example globally, is the global alliance for the vaccine initiative. It sees bringing together the UNICEF, government and some industries to make vaccines available at lower costs for countries that cannot afford it. We have alliances for polio eradication. It is a wonderful alliance with governments, NGOs and corporates. I think the corporates have expressed a sense of social responsibility and this will be a new factor to be taken into account. I think they can be an excellent partner in bringing about change. Very recently a MoU was signed between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the UNICEF and the government of Andhra Pradesh where the CII have pledged a social agenda.

What, according to you, are the pecularities of India?

I think it is a country of contrasts but despite the problems I think it has a lot of potential, because it is de-centralised and has a democracy. There are all these civil societies and NGOs which I think are valuable resources to tap on. I am fully convinced that the focus on the girl child - this year being observed as the year of empowerment of women - needs to be on the agenda for many years for some good change to come about.

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