HAQ: Centre for Child Rights

Established in 1999 in Delhi, India, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights seeks to recognize, protect, and promote rights for all children and adolescents, especially those who are disadvantaged, through monitoring government's performance, providing public education, and conducting advocacy. Building on the promising outcomes of a previous MacArthur supported project, this final award supports HAQ to strengthen government's programmatic interventions in the state of West Bengal to prevent child marriage through training and monitoring of relevant officials. HAQ's engagement with communities, adolescents, and their families provides them with information and skills to act on the issue. The award supports the development of a book and a film, which along with the project's findings are used to advocate for increased attention of state and national governments to prevent child marriage.

Centre for Child Rights (HAQ) develops and implements a demonstration project that aims to prevent child marriage in select districts in the states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh in India. The project seeks to strengthen legal mechanisms and the government’s programmatic structures to prevent child marriage through training and monitoring of their functions, and holding them accountable. HAQ also engages with communities and adolescents to provide them with information and skills to act on the issue. The project is co-funded by the Ford Foundation and implemented in collaboration with NGO partners in the two states; the results are used for advocacy at the state and national level.