Author: Smile Foundation

‘It takes a village to raise a child’. All of us have heard this African proverb, which means that it’s not just the immediate family but the entire community that plays a vital role in the upbringing of a child. It is a shared responsibility as a child’s development is influenced by the people and environment around them, including relatives, friends, neighbours, teachers and other members of society. 

Social Determinants of Health

“The World Health Organization (WHO), in the 1980s and early 1990s, spoke at length about the social determinants of health. Previously, health was purely a biological concept. For instance, you get a heart attack because you didn’t take care of your health, you didn’t eat healthy or exercise. But over a period of time, it is very clear that access to healthy food is determined by social factors, such as access to finances to purchase food,” says Dr Shiva Prakash, consultant psychiatrist, department of youth mental health at Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), adding that social determinants of health has expanded even to mental health.

When it comes to children, this is all the more important as the social determinants of health have expanded to include the family environment, immediate peer group and society in which the child is growing up, whether it’s the school or neighbourhood, says Dr Prakash, adding that the greater community has a huge role to play. 

The WHO established the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) in 1998. The CSDH was tasked with summarising the evidence on how social interactions, norms and institutions affect population health.

What Role does the Larger Community Play in Child Development?

The community contributes greatly to the development of a child as it exerts social, emotional, cultural and educational influences. 

Extended families and caregiving: In Indian society, the concept of family extends beyond the nuclear family, including grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Along with neighbours and close-knit community members they provide support, guidance, and care for children. Having multiple caregivers enhances a child’s sense of security, belonging and overall development.

Socialisation and values: This support system often passes on values, ethics, and cultural norms to children. These values include respect for elders, the importance of community, and understanding one’s role within the family.

Emotional and psychological support: The broader social network, which includes neighbours, religious leaders, and community elders provide emotional security and a sense of belonging to children. In many communities, local elders serve as advisors or mentors. 

The lack of such a support system or an environment that’s filled with negativity can have an adverse psychological impact on children. “The Lancet Commission talks about how rates of poverty increase the rates of domestic violence, which in turn is associated with anxiety and depression in children as well as other mental health problems. Even discrimination, whether it is due to caste or any other factor, is associated with higher rates of experienced trauma and mental health issues,” says Dr Prakash.

Educational support and knowledge sharing: Teachers act as role models and impart academic knowledge as well as life skills. They also help spot any distress in children and work with parents for the overall development of children.

Peer interaction: Children interact with peers in the community through schools, playing in their neighbourhoods and festivals, which helps them develop social skills, empathy, cooperation and creates a sense of belonging within their peer group.

Cultural and moral development: Indian festivals, rituals, and traditional events help children learn about cultural practices, spirituality and community bonding. Children gain a sense of identity and heritage through participation in religious and cultural activities. Many communities also teach values like honesty, respect and responsibility through stories and folk tales.

Protection and safety: Communities in India are increasingly involved in child protection efforts, such as preventing child labour, trafficking and abuse. “We have been working to end child labour and promote child rights. So, we have been empowering the community to protect children. It should become the responsibility of the community as a whole to ensure that their children are protected and not employed in factories, or anywhere else,” says Virgil D Sami, executive director of Arunodhaya, which works for realising child rights through child participation. “With that concept we started our intervention programmes that target the whole community – parents, siblings, close relatives, neighbours, school, police, the health department, local leaders and elected representatives such as councillors and MLAs, and any association that exists within the community such as women and youth groups.”

Arunodhaya starts by imparting training to the parents. “We talk to them about parenting and child rights so that they become more aware. We also train women’s groups so that they can call Childline or file a police report if they see a child being abused or spot instances of child labour,” says D Sami. “The idea is to involve various stakeholders in the community. For instance, to stop child labour, we sensitise the local temple priest and people running the local marriage hall. We do it through one-on-one talks, group meetings, community level programmes, campaigns, street plays, etc.”

Economic opportunities and support: In some communities, programmes that provide economic support for families (e.g., through microfinance initiatives or vocational training) indirectly benefit children by enhancing their economic stability, which, in turn, improves access to education and healthcare.

“At SCARF, we started giving micro loans to people with mental illnesses. While we haven’t yet studied the impact on their families, if prior knowledge is to be believed, it would have had some positive impact,” says Dr Prakash.

Gender norms and equality: Children often learn gender norms, behaviours, and societal expectations by observing what’s happening, and socially accepted, in their families, neighbourhoods and larger community. That’s why having role models, and breaking traditional gender norms can have a positive influence on children and instill in them respect, equality and empathy for people of all genders.

What the Laws Say

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted by the United Nations in 1989, views the community as the most crucial place for optimal child development and to ensure the protection of child rights, say experts. 

Launched in 2009-2010, the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), a centrally sponsored umbrella scheme under which various schemes for children in need of care and protection and children in conflict with law are covered, recognises the role of families and communities in taking preventive measures as well as facilitating swift responses for child protection violations.

“On paper, our systems are amazing. The Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) democratises access to mental and physical health for all adolescents on paper,” says Dr Prakash. “It states that there should be more adolescent peer supporters, where adolescents have the opportunity to get together and express their concerns to each other. But there are many challenges in implementing it on the ground.” 

NGOs Address the Issue

Smile Foundation has realised the need to involve the community for the holistic development of children. Our education interventions are focused on helping children from difficult circumstances to have access to equal opportunities for school completion and equitable learning outcomes. To achieve this, we have taken a holistic approach – access to quality education, training of teachers, enabling learning environment and parents and community engagement.

We have adopted a lifecycle approach and extended its thematic areas of intervention by supporting family health, livelihood and women empowerment. Children, their families and the community become the target group for our interventions as child education cannot be done in isolation, without ensuring the welfare of the whole family. Following the lifecycle approach, we have directly impacted the lives of over 1.5 million children and families so far.

For instance, one of our Mission Education projects at GTB Nagar in Mumbai is designed to provide holistic education to children from slums and pavements through the participation and involvement of their parents in their development process. Besides education, the centre provides holistic services of health, nutrition and recreation to these children, along with psycho social interventions. The project, which is done in collaboration with Sparsh Charitable Trust as an implementation partner, also focuses on sustaining the children already in the school system through community study classes.

Since parents are the key players in the process of development of a child, they need to be told about and made aware of, the importance of education. For a child to develop holistically, it is necessary to work with the parents, the environment and community of the children. The project includes all these factors influencing the development of a child. Parents are directly involved in the process through regular parent-teacher meetings, counselling sessions and training in child care. Special sessions are conducted on the importance of education for parents and members of the community.