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INDIA: Salesian Homelink/Missing Child Search Network Receives Award

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian Homelink/Missing Child Search Network was awarded a 2013 Certificate of Appreciation in Social Innovation presented by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in India. The award was given on Feb. 13 at the NASSCOM Forum on Indian Leadership in Mumbai and was received by Father Joe Prabhu of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the National Director of the Homelink/Missing Child Search Network.

The Homelink Network is one of the programs organized and promoted by the Indian Don Bosco Young at Risk (YaR) Forum, an organization committed to serving at risk youth in South Asia while working to influence state, national and international policies on the safety of youth.

NASSCOM is the first organization in India to direct public policy for the Indian software industry. It awarded the Homelink Network in recognition of its level of innovation and use of information and communications technologies for social development in the country.

India has many youth at risk, from those living on the streets and out of school to young refugees and victims of exploitation and abuse. India also has the largest number of child laborers under the age of 14 in the world, according to UNICEF. Many are engaged in dangerous occupations and live on the streets.

Homelink consists of proprietary Internet-based software, conceived and developed by the YaR Forum to gather information on children at risk throughout India. The Homelink Network System, utilized for over a decade, is used to trace under-age children with the goal of monitoring, seeking and rehabilitating youth who have been abandoned or who are on the street. Over the years the system has been subject to consistent updates and improvements.

“We are very happy that after a rigorous selection process the jury has chosen Homelink as an innovative high impact initiative with transforming potential,” says Fr. Prabhu. “This success is the right moment to recall all the years of service by Homelink Network partners for young people at risk and an occasion to rejoice at the recognition given.”

“It is also an invitation to network partners to continue their involvement and offer our best for the least in society, especially young people at risk,” adds Fr. Pabhu.

The YaR Forum operates in 73 centers in 19 states and territories in the Indian Union, working daily to find and rescue at risk children including those on the street and in prison, orphans, child laborers and those that are sick. On average each year, the YaR Forum assists more than 200,000 youth through its 300 partners throughout India.

Sources

ANS – India – Nasscom recognition for Homelink & Missing Child Search Network

Salesian Homelink – Website

UNICEF – India