Mobile Creches

FAQ

Mobile Creches was born on a construction site (click for History). Children of migrant workers were our primary target group. Mobile Crèches would set up a crèche-cum-day care centre on the building site so the mothers could safely leave their children and go to work. When the building neared completion, the workers moved on and so did the centre. Hence mobile crèches! Over the years Mobile Creches extended its scope to include children in the slums and widened the programme from day care services to training in childcare and advocacy for the young child. The name remains to give us a distinct identity, keep us rooted to the ground and focused on the most vulnerable.

Q2. How is Mobile Crèches different from other organizations working with underprivileged children in India?

We are a pioneer in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD). What sets us apart is our dual focus on:

(a) The "young child" under 6 years: The early years of a child's life are normally a period of maximum growth, maximum vulnerability and maximum dependence on adults. Interventions at this stage - in the form of care by a trained, nurturing, responsible adult, in a clean, secure and stimulating environment - are critical to laying the foundations for health, learning capacities and personality.

(b) The "migrant child": The rural poor come to the city in search of work and their children move with them. The men and women often find work as daily-wage earners on a construction site. They live in shanties on the site, work under very harsh conditions, almost never get the legal minimum wage and have no skills. Their children, uprooted from their traditional habitat and thrown into an alien environment of urban poverty, are left to fend for themselves, with no secure home, health services, schools or playgrounds to go to.

Q3. Why work with the Migrant Child where the duration of contact is so short?

Mobile Creches works with this group precisely for that reason: these children are the most vulnerable because of the constant movement of their parents and the most invisible because most government programmes cater to "settled" populations. Mobile Creches provides a window of opportunity for them to break the cycle of malnutrition or get a first exposure to the joys of learning. Involving parents through our outreach programmes and advocating with employers and governments to create an enabling environment ensures that impact lasts beyond the MC intervention.

Q4. How many children does Mobile Crèches reach out to?

On an average we reach out to 4000 children in a year through daycare services provided at 25 odd daycare centres on construction sites and slums in Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon, and another 5000 children through our community outreach programs which include education and health campaigns, community meetings and grass root advocacy on the criticality of early care and crèches. The increasing thrust is towards training in childcare for the set up of neighbourhood crèches and lobbying to make government services accessible and functional for parents and children.

Q5. What is the organizational structure, and how many people work for Mobile Creches?

Mobile Creches has a General Body (GB) with 39 members where membership is by invitation. Members of the GB meet once a year to deliberate on policy and future directions and once every three years, to elect members of the Governing Council (the Board). The Chief Executive functions with her team, comprising departmental heads, office based management and field based supervisory staff and field cadres. Delhi employs130 staff that works with many community based facilitators, not on our rolls. Most of the staff and General Body members are women. Operations in Mumbai and Pune, till recently branches of the main body in Delhi, became independent entities on April 1, 2007. This is a major governance overhaul, in the making for the past many years. The objective is to work together on the same issues as sister organizations, but with greater flexibility and financial independence.

Q6. Are volunteers a big part of the Mobile Creches programme?

Mobile Creches has a great tradition in volunteering and the role of volunteers continues to be central and critical, though more limited in recent years. Board members, including a handful, who provide management support and the fundraising volunteers are the "regulars". Student and corporate volunteering has picked up and friends from abroad are a growing stream. Every volunteer opens a window to the outside world: they bring in ideas and expertise, give us a glimpse of what's out there and keep us on our toes. We could not have done it alone. Thank You!!! Click to view Volunteer Programmes

Q7. Why doesn't Mobile Creches open centres at more sites and in more cities?

Childcare is an unmet need for the 60 million children under the age of 6 years - living in poverty in rural and urban areas, on building sites and slums. It is not possible for a single organization to reach direct services even to a segment, say, the urban child. Mobile Creches can run a few centres to demonstrate the feasibility and the operational challenges of running such programmes. The objective is to sensitize others - communities, governments, civil society groups - to create an environment that will enable and sustain. The key is to understand the criticality and take on the responsibility of providing such services. Mobile Creches, as a Resource Agency, can provide training and consultancy to facilitate the process for others.

Q8. How effective is the Mobile Creches programme?

Assessing impact is always a challenging task. A non-profit-organization (or a non-government-organization, NGO, in India) cannot measure it by its profits or sales figures. We have to look at other ways of doing it. We are accountable, both to our target communities and our donors.

Number of children reached directly (at centres) and indirectly (health, education campaigns, training and crèche set up, etc.)
Contribution of builders and the "local" community. Increased support from "direct stakeholders" is the most reliable indicator of impact.
Tracking programme components - health (e.g. coverage of the immunization program, the number of partner agencies), education (enrollment, retention in local schools), training (number of children reached, quality of initiatives).
Assessing time bound projects funded by donors in terms of stated goals
Evaluating Mobile Creches' role in campaigns on the ground, in practice/policy
Assessing stakeholder participation: variety/quality of childcare models and by implication partnership models (with government, builders, community); quality of MC outreach in regions with/out a physical presence; number of Community Groups formed; ratio of MC staff to local crèche workers, facilitators and leaders readied by MC; functioning and access to government services.

Q9. Where does the money come from?

Our funds come from a variety of sources. For the year 2006-07 the bulk of the income of Rs. 44.99 million ($1.12 million) came from the following sources

Q10. How is the money spent?

In the year 2006-07, the total expenditure was Rs. 37.86 million ($0.94 million) Click here to view the break up