Children as Rights-Holders

In most development frameworks, children are the beneficiaries of adult decisions. MASUM's children's rights programme turns this upside down: children are rights-holders with a legitimate voice in matters that affect them. And in MASUM's programme villages, that voice has institutional form — the Bal Panchayat.

What Is a Bal Panchayat?

A Bal Panchayat is a village-level council constituted entirely of children and adolescents. Members are elected by their peers, meet regularly, and present concerns and proposals to the adult gram panchayat. Issues they raise include: unsafe paths to school, lack of toilets for girls, child labour in local households, and non-enrolment of younger siblings.

These are not token suggestions. In several villages, Bal Panchayat representations have led to concrete government action — footpaths built, toilets constructed, irregular teachers questioned.

Girls at the Centre

MASUM's children's work pays particular attention to girls, whose voices are most often drowned out — by gender, by age, and by caste. Girl members of Bal Panchayats report transformative gains in confidence, and several have gone on to become community leaders and health workers as adults.

The Right to Property

One of the most innovative aspects of MASUM's children's rights work is its focus on girls' rights to property and inheritance. Legal literacy sessions teach adolescent girls about laws that give them equal inheritance rights — and give them the language to assert those rights in family and community settings.