A three-member delegation from Aide et Action International & France, Gwenaëlle Bouillé, President – AEA France & Treasurer of AEAI Board, Pierre-Marie Delaroche, Member- AEAI Board and Charles-Emmanuel Ballanger, Director – AEA France/Europe, visited India on 28th October 2018. The purpose of the visit was to interact with beneficiaries of projects in Hyderabad and review the AEAI South Asia Convention of Objectives 2019 presented by South Asia thematic, regional and functional units in Chennai.

The team accompanied by Ravi Pratap Singh, Regional Director – AEAI South Asia and Suresh Gutta, Regional Manager – Hyderabad Operations visited one of the Child Care & Learning Centres in Hyderabad. They interacted with the migrant children in the construction site and the project frontline staff to understand the services provided to the bénéficiaires and their families.

In addition to the migration project visit, the team visited the homes of two children with disability who have been receiving educational and health services through the AEA implemented “ENLIGHT” project.

They interacted with the children and their family members to understand the challenges in accessing services and how AEA and COMMITMENTS (partner NGO) has helped the children by arranging corrective surgeries and enrolling in the special and regular schools. They also interacted with the parents at the ‘Sahajeevana Sangam’ meeting.

Harideekshita is a child with a locomotor disability. Her mother shared about how they have failed to identify Harideekshita’s medical condition in spite of visiting as many as 20 hospitals in Hyderabad. Her disability was identified and corrective surgery was performed through the ENLIGHT project. She also informed that Hari now attends the government school and aims to become a teacher.

Rabiya Begum is an 11-year-old visually impaired girl who joined the special school after intervention by AEA. In a short period, she is able to read and write basic letters and words in Braille.

On the 30th & 31st October, the board was joined by V Rukmini Rao, AEAI SA Advisory Board Member & Sanjeev Kotnala, AEAI SA Advisory and India Board Member, who reviewed the activities of thematic, sub-regional and functional units for 2018. They also shared their inputs on the concrete action plans presented by the South Asia team for the year 2019. Dr. Bernard D’sami, Coordinator – LISSTAR, Loyola College, and research scholars from Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development were part of the external review team.