The CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) is the nodal organization to support the development of the CHILDLINE service in India. CIF acts as the nerve center for the development of the CHILDLINE service, networking and facilitation, training, research and documentation, awareness and advocacy at the national and international level.

Key activities
Establishing CHILDLINEs in India: CIF works closely with the children, NGOs and the Government officials prior to the establishment of CHILDLINE. During the preparatory phase, CIF conducts a need assessment study and compiles a resource directory to determine the operational strategy of the helpline. In addition CIF conducts an intensive in –house training workshop with the CHILDLINE team to share with them the philosophy and learnings of the service from across the country.

Facilitating networking and partnerships: CIF closely works with partners in every city towards strengthening a child protection network. CIF work towards this through email based communication with partners on a regular basis and bi-annual visits to the city. In addition, CIF organizes annual Partnership Meets. These meets provide a forum for the CHILDLINE team members, co-ordinators and directors to share experiences and learn from each other. CIF also coordinates ‘ twinning’ visits between different CHILDLINEs to encourage in-depth sharing of experiences between team members.

Policy, Research and Documentation: CIF publishes reports on several issues affecting children such as child trafficking, missing children, child rights and the law. (Click here to view CIF publications). In addition, CIF shares the experiences of CHILDLINE nationally through its monthly newsletters that highlight the calls received and emerging issues. CIF also presents these issues to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to assist in the formulation of child friendly policies.

Awareness and Advocacy: CIF is also involved in creating a national brand image for the service. It develops innovative awareness materials for CHILDLINE cities to generate awareness about the service and mobilize resources. (Click here to view some of CHILDLINEs awareness material). Through its awareness campaigns, CIF aims at sensitizing the community about child protection issues and the need for a partnership to reach out every child in need of care and protection.

Developing new programmes and services: Based on the national trends that emerge in CHILDLINE cities, the CIF initiates innovative programmes/services to address the needs. These new services are undertaken by the CIF as experimental projects. It is visualised that based on the success of these projects, the CIF would hand over these projects to other organisations or formalise the same within the CIF structure.