Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: The monthly magazine "Ankurodgam", carries exclusive contributions of news and views from children. It is an initiative of UNICEF to inspire a journalistic vision in the children of the region, to see things with clarity and more introspection. It aims at making children message bearers for society in the fields of health, education, sanitation and water facilities in their villages.
Koraput is one of the developing districts of Orissa in India. The district with its rich cultural heritage, natural beauty and mineral resources has been in the back yards of development. The conditions especially in villages are slowly coming out of earlier negligence with the intervention of government and non government agencies. UNICEF has played a vital role in making things better for children. The monthly magazine ANKURODGAM, carrying exclusive contributions of news and views from children, is an initiative of UNICEF. Children contribute their views on issues such as health, education and sanitation in their villages. Children are provided with diaries where they write their daily observations in the village and the school where they study. They also note down their dreams as and when they appear to their minds. They interview people in the villages and all those who visit on their strengths and weaknesses along with their commitment to do better for their village. They also interact with officials on the development in their villages. In this way they have developed a sense of continuous writing as they visualise their village through their writings. This has also developed children's confidence to ask questions and so they come out of their classes with answers to their questions from their teachers. The district administration also takes interest in their writings and endeavours to solve many of their problems. Thus children want to be equipped with more and more knowledge and information. This has further strengthened their social belongingness and they have been participating actively in all possible developmental activities. There are now 100 child reporters from 10 villages in the district. There are plans to reach every village and every child. With the assistance of UNICEF, child reporters are given a good amount of exposure to different villages, state Capital to attend several child related programmes as the journalists and also as the participants. Two of them have also taken part in the First International Children's Forum in Beijing from 27th to 31st October 2005. They were the only children from India to have participated in the forum. Inspired by such achievements other districts in the state have shown great interest in the process and another district in the state, Dhenkanal, has begun with the same number of child reporters. The news of this unique venture is reaching all over the world and the Koraput Farmers Association is now receiving queries from agencies, organisations and people interested in various fields related to children and their activities.