At YUVA (Youths Union for Voluntary Action), we believe that children, adolescents, and youth are not only the future but also active participants in shaping the present. Their energy, creativity, and potential for innovation are at the heart of our vision for inclusive and sustainable societal transformation. However, for thousands of children living in Naxal-affected and high-risk areas of Jharkhand, this potential remains stifled due to poverty, neglect, and systemic deprivation.

Understanding the grave realities faced by these children, YUVA has designed and implemented targeted interventions aimed at their protection, development, and integration into mainstream systems of education, healthcare, and social support.

YUVA’s groundwork in Jharkhand, especially in coal-mining areas like Ramgarh, revealed disturbing conditions in which many children were found to be living and working. Our formative research studies highlighted several overlapping issues:

• Many children are forced to live and work in harsh, exploitative conditions, often without access to basic human rights such as quality education, nutritious food, primary healthcare, clean drinking water, or proper sanitation.
   
• A large number of minors are engaged in hazardous and illegal activities, including coal scavenging and theft from abandoned or active coal mines — practices that not only endanger their safety but also jeopardize their physical and mental development.
   
• Several families are unequipped to provide care due to extreme poverty, lack of awareness, and limited access to support services, especially when children face mental, physical, or emotional challenges.
   

These conditions perpetuate a vicious cycle of child labor, illiteracy, poor health, and social exclusion, robbing children of their right to a safe and fulfilling childhood.

In response to these complex challenges, YUVA has implemented multi-layered and context-specific programs designed to uplift vulnerable children and their families.

Objective:
To provide a holistic and innovative model of education and health support for children residing in the high-risk and coal-belt regions of Jharkhand.

Model Overview:

• The DISHA Education Center offers a unique integration of academic learning, healthcare, and psycho-social support.
   
• Children attending the center receive non-formal education, nutritious meals, basic health check-ups, counseling, and recreational activities.
   
• The center also engages families and community members to raise awareness about the importance of education and child welfare.
   
• It functions as a replicable prototype — a working model that demonstrates the feasibility of transforming vulnerable children’s lives even in resource-poor settings.
   

Recognizing that children’s well-being is deeply connected to their home environment, YUVA also actively works with their families and guardians. Key focus areas include:

• Building trust and rapport with families to understand the underlying issues that drive child labor and neglect.
   
• Addressing poverty-linked dependencies by guiding families towards alternative income sources or social welfare schemes.
   
• Promoting awareness and access to healthcare, government schemes, disability support services, and schooling options.
   
• Supporting families with differently-abled children, connecting them with specialized institutions, therapies, and assistive resources.
   

Through this two-pronged approach — direct child support and family empowerment — YUVA ensures that interventions are sustainable, inclusive, and community-driven.

YUVA’s work in vulnerable child care is guided by a clear and transformative vision:

We aim to equip children with the tools, education, and confidence to break free from cycles of deprivation. Every child should have access to learning, healthcare, safety, and dignity — the foundations for a fulfilling life.

By facilitating children's inclusion in formal education systems, healthcare services, and social protection schemes, we help integrate marginalized families into the broader development framework.

The success of initiatives like the DISHA Education Center is being leveraged to advocate for policy-level changes and inspire the establishment of similar models in other coal mining and Naxal-affected regions.

Through these comprehensive and compassionate efforts, YUVA is creating pathways of opportunity for children who were once trapped in cycles of poverty, labor, and neglect. By tackling the root causes of vulnerability and enabling access to education, health, and family support, we are not just transforming individual lives — we are rebuilding communities from within.

YUVA remains committed to ensuring that every child matters and that no child is left behind, regardless of their background or circumstances.