CDI: Going beyond textbooks & imparting life skills to the poor for a better India

Character Development Initiative (CDI) has been involved in embracing street children from slums. Santosh Kalyani, the founder and Chief Mentor of CDI, says, “Every child is gifted but the society does not give a chance to those in the slums. Often they are victims of parental abuse, or a drunken father, poor education, and high school dropout’s rates. These kids are prone to crime, emotionally brittle, and suffer a poor self-esteem.”

Santosh was in his mid-twenties when he started CDI for street children in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. That was in 1996 and now almost twenty years later, CDI is his full time mission.

He says with fatherly pride, “During these years we have helped at least 10,000 children through our interventions. We have seen the miracle of unleashing a new light through the power of bonding and human warmth.”

CDI assists school dropouts and unemployed youth through various short-duration, part-time programs so that they can earn their livelihood with dignity. They run courses to train them to become car mechanics, or air condition experts, electricians, plumbers and car drivers. Being economically self-reliant is the first step for taking responsibility of one self.

Santosh explains,” Wherever possible we run courses that are recognized by Ministry of Human Affairs for a certificate certainly helps. We teach only those skills that are in demand in a metropolitan city like Delhi. These are short-duration courses that last about 2-3 months, and each day we emphasize values and character. The participants are made to watch inspiring movies, animation strips, documentaries besides regular interaction with me and the course teachers.”

The funding in the initial years was entirely from his own pocket but the community recognized the positive changes and pitched in. Santosh says, “Our biggest donors are those who have gone through our programmes and made a career for themselves. They refer their clients or employers and it is this word-of-mouth that has enabled us to meet our financial needs.”

What started as an intervention to uplift poor children and adolescent is now extended to helping young children in elite schools. CDI runs workshops for schools on personality development and character building.

“There is a strong need to creative a positive learning environment. Our workshops include running short clips from inspiring movies, stimulating a discussion to singing and even dancing. We enable the children to express themselves without inhibition. These children come from affluent families the problem is still the same – every kid wants to be loved and accepted for what they are and not what they must be,” Santosh observes.

CDI imparts life skills so that every child grows to be confident and surer of taking their own decisions. The best investment of human capital is in educating children, and CDI has shown both a heart and gumption to address those issues.

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