Dil Se Rainbow Homes, New Delhi
Non-custodial, long-term, comprehensive care homes for former street-living children
1. Dil Se Campaign & Rainbow Foundation India – What We Do
The Dil Se Campaign in New Delhi is part of Rainbow Foundation India that currently runs 50 homes in the country for boys and girls that formerly lived and survived on the streets of our urban cities. These homes are located in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Patna; and collectively house over 3,500 children. Each home is run in cooperation with the State Government (including partial funding), and operates under the Right to Education Act, or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, under the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
The parent NGO of this foundation – Association for Rural and Urban Needy, or ARUN – is a registered society, headquartered in Andhra Pradesh. With a complete profile of registrations, including licensing for 80G and FCRA, ARUN has spearheaded nearly two decades of impactful social development interventions for homeless children, men and women in India’s growing urban cities. The organization believes in working with several stakeholders – including grassroot-level work and advocacy with the government and civil society – to bring about sustainable, long-term and relevant changes to society.
There are currently 3 homes in Delhi under the local banner of the ‘Dil Se Campaign’, run with the help of our local implementing partner- Aman Biradari:
- Khushi Rainbow Home for 100 Girls, located at Tehkhand Village, Okhla Phase 1
- Kilkari Rainbow Home for 120 Girls, Located at Chaabi ganj, Kashmere Gate
- Ummeed Sneh Ghar for 150 Boys, located next to Qutub Minar, Mehrauli
Aman Biradari was established as a registered Trust after 2002 as a people’s campaign for secularism, justice and caring. It attempts to bring together people of diverse faiths, caste, class, educational background and gender, to work together for causes of justice and caring, including hunger and the right to food, homelessness, street children and communal harmony, and promote marginalised people’s organizations. Aman Biradari teams currently work in several locations, with survivors of mass communal violence, children without adult protection on city streets, homeless people, and people living with hunger.
2. About our Children
Each of the children in our homes was formerly homeless (not those living in slums, but on the streets). Many are orphans, or children of single homeless parents, and nearly all have faced varying degrees of abuse, violence and threats that are unimaginable in severity for most of us from the economically stronger sections of society. The children land up on the streets either because they are lost and cannot find their way back home, or they have run away from terribly abusive households. Some are even born on the streets, never knowing what a home or stable roof feels like. Each one comes in the home malnourished and suffering from systemic diseases. Very few have ever had any exposure to formal education, having survived instead by engaging in casual labour to make ends meet.
A dedicated Field Worker from each of the 3 homes works in homeless clusters (Nizamuddin, Old Delhi, Modi Mill, all Railway stations, ISBT, etc) surrounding the homes to reach out to the local homeless population, and touch base with vulnerable children in need of care and protection. After months of interaction directly with the child and/or her parent(s), the child is brought into the home based on her explicit consent and willingness to live with us.
3. Provisions Within Each Home
The Child Care Plan of each home is focused on the all-round growth and development of the children, including a comprehensive education program, nutrition (to counter malnourishment and ensure proper growth), health care (preventive, curative and promotional), career counseling, talent mentoring, and individual child care and progress plans.
The homes are staffed by a residential team that stays 24/7 with the children, along with day-staff like teachers and mental health counselors, etc. A Project Management Team overlooks the collective needs and progress of the program across the state.
4. Our Sources of Funding
Annually, we spend on average Rs 68,000 per child (incl food, child-care, home-care & HR costs). Roughly 22% of our annual budget is sponsored by the state government, and 52% is received from committed national and international institutional donors. The remaining 26% funds are mobilized through the year from various fundraising activities with individual donors of the civil society, Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives (incl. with Deloitte, Capital IQ, Fluor Daniels, etc), and in collaboration with community aid/charity groups.
Learn more: Dil Se Campaign