N’kana-my dream: community action towards the holistic child development in india

Abstract Every child has a right to dream for their future. Children are vulnerable and face challenges in accessing their rights, including but not limited to joyful family and community life; quality health, education, and career facilitation; and an understanding of their ecosystem. Innovations in holistic child development are essential and require child-centered and right-based approaches in the welfare system. There is a need for a customized and personalized approach to bridge the gap in the child development process and to help children explore and enjoy their rights and realize their full potential as rights-holders in society. To address this need, Trust for Youth and Child Leadership (TYCL) initiated N’KaNa, a holistic mentorship program for children living in difficult circumstances, such as institutional care and vulnerable communities such as slums and Dalit and tribal villages of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu regions of India. N'KaNa aims to build brother/sister relationships between needy children and local pre-assessed and pre-selected professional mentors. The program relationships include a mentee (child), a mentor (professional), and a student volunteer. Mentorship progress is tracked through a mobile application. This paper has been developed based on the impact measurement of the N’KaNa project. The researchers adopted a decolonizing research methodology to theorize a postcolonial indigenous way of conducting research and applied a triangulation strategy to qualitative research approaches. Focused life story interviews with children of N’KaNa assessed holistic child development indicators such as education, health, relationships with friends and family, community support, safe environment, and personal hygiene. Triangular feedback and child mentorship tracker data was used to cross-validate the qualitative data. The study found that the children's lived experiences highly influenced their career goals and that the program helps them track their progress systematically. The research also observed positive indicators of change in children's education, health, family safety, community environment, attitude, and behavior. This paper captures the model of the N’KaNa project, a participatory holistic child development process, its outcomes, challenges, and lessons learned from the process and recommendations for key stakeholders of the child welfare system in India.