Through the Social Innovation Incubator class, I will be looking at ways to tackle the problem of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in India. A number of studies have shown that the number and proportion of children who have undergone abuse is shockingly high [1][2][3], going above half of the surveyed populations. More than half of the children affected were found to be boys in a 2007 study backed by the Indian government
Despite this, my personal experience has been that most people in India are not aware of the widespread nature of this problem. The culture of silence around the topic of CSA can very largely be held responsible for this.
One solution I am exploring is to start a company which offers its services to schools in India. These services will include a holistic solution - educational sessions held with children, training sessions for teachers and parents, child safety audits of schools, and access to a network of people (lawyers, therapists, activists) that the company will cultivate.
I am contemplating a business model in which schools pay for this on a per child basis. Companies from which I am taking inspiration are Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) consultants [4][5][6][7] which help companies ensure that they are diverse and inclusive across the lines of gender, race, disability, religion, etc.
These companies offer an array of services from workshops and training sessions to audits. The similarities I see are that in both cases (CSA as well as D&I), this is something that the original parties (schools and companies) could be doing by themselves, but are not. They thus require help to ensure that systemic changes are carried out and sustained. In the case of a CSA prevention consulting company, there would be an added pressure from parents who wish to see schools keep their children safe.
Is this a robust analogy to draw?
A concern also is that the consulting company I plan to set up will charge the school money for its services. Could this be perceived negatively as profiting from helping a vulnerable population?
I am considering charging privately run schools a higher fee (they charge students high fees and are generally very profitable for their owners) and am exploring ways to have this reach government run school. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Sources
Despite this, my personal experience has been that most people in India are not aware of the widespread nature of this problem. The culture of silence around the topic of CSA can very largely be held responsible for this.
One solution I am exploring is to start a company which offers its services to schools in India. These services will include a holistic solution - educational sessions held with children, training sessions for teachers and parents, child safety audits of schools, and access to a network of people (lawyers, therapists, activists) that the company will cultivate.
I am contemplating a business model in which schools pay for this on a per child basis. Companies from which I am taking inspiration are Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) consultants [4][5][6][7] which help companies ensure that they are diverse and inclusive across the lines of gender, race, disability, religion, etc.
These companies offer an array of services from workshops and training sessions to audits. The similarities I see are that in both cases (CSA as well as D&I), this is something that the original parties (schools and companies) could be doing by themselves, but are not. They thus require help to ensure that systemic changes are carried out and sustained. In the case of a CSA prevention consulting company, there would be an added pressure from parents who wish to see schools keep their children safe.
Is this a robust analogy to draw?
A concern also is that the consulting company I plan to set up will charge the school money for its services. Could this be perceived negatively as profiting from helping a vulnerable population?
I am considering charging privately run schools a higher fee (they charge students high fees and are generally very profitable for their owners) and am exploring ways to have this reach government run school. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Sources
[1] http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1303/S00236/breaking-the-silence-finally-on-child-sexual-abuse.htm
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