The Centre for Child Rights (CCR) at the National Law University Odisha (NLUO) supported by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) launched the Child Protection Mentorship Program (CPMP) on July 18th, 2025.
The program is designed as a professional development initiative. It aims to empower a new generation of child protection practitioners by equipping them with critical knowledge, practical tools and ethical grounding necessary to respond to complex challenges facing children across the state.
The CCR at NLUO is a teaching, research and advocacy centre established to advance legal and social innovations in child protection. CCR engages in empirical research, advocacy, curriculum development, training of stakeholders and field-based partnerships. Over the years, it has emerged as a thought and practise leader in areas like juvenile justice, child participation, alternative care, child-friendly policing, child safety, survival, and economic-social rights of children.
The child protection practitioners will be equipped to support government schemes, strengthen NGO interventions, work with statutory bodies such as the Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees, and serve as watchdogs of child rights within their communities. Through structured learning, mentoring, assignments, and peer engagement, the CPMP envisions fostering reflective practitioners capable of critical analysis and compassionate action. The initiative aligns with India's commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and supports national goals of building a competent and accountable child protection workforce, especially in high-risk and undeserved geographies.
The CPMP is a response to the felt and expressed need of CP practitioners and the juvenile justice leaders in the sector. The course co-leads are UNICER supported Technical Consultant with NLUO-CCR, and Assistant Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the NLUO-CCR, Ankit K Keshri. The course curation was led by Ankit Keshri.
Mentees were selected with a combination of eligibility criteria, through an open and transparent process and commitment to Odisha and child protection were key criteria.
The inaugural event, held in a hybrid format, witnessed the participation of eminent dignitaries from the judiciary, academia and civil society, as well as development professionals from various parts of Odisha, with 100 selected mentees forming the first cohort of the program.
The valedictory address was delivered by Orissa High Court Judge, and Member of the Juvenile Justice Committee, Orissa High Court, Justice Murahari Sri Raman. The event was graced by the Mentor and Co-Founder of Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), Jagadananda, Child Protection Specialists, UNICEF, New Delhi, Vijayalakshmi Arora and Manna Biswas, and Secretary, Bakul Foundation, Sujit Mahapatra.
Eminent mentors such as lawyer and child rights activist, AK Asthana, former Executive Director of HAQ Centre for Child Rights, Bharti Ali, Executive Director and Founder of Counsel to Secure Justice, Swagata Raha, Co-Director, Restorative Practices, Enfold India and Co- Founder of Enfold Health Trust, Nimisha Srivastava, Child Protection Specialists, UNICEF, Govind Beniwal and Ghasiram Panda also joined digitally.
Chief Minister’s Chair Professor and Director, CCR-NLUO, Prof Biraj Swain delivered the opening remarks.
Following this, Vice-Chancellor, NLUO, and Patron-in-chief, CCR, Prof Ved Kumari delivered the welcome address where she reinforced the role of academic institutions as changemakers in the social justice landscape. She spoke about the interdisciplinary nature of child protection work and commended CCR's initiative to bridge the knowledge-practice gap through a mentorship model.
Prof Ved Kumar said, "Children and adolescents often take risks not because they’re defiant, but because their brains are still developing. With limited capacity to assess long-term consequences, continuous hormonal changes, what emerges is a 'bulletproof' mindset. They chase thrill, feel invincible, and remain less afraid of outcomes they barely understand."
Vijayalakshmi Arora spoke on the importance of building the social service workforce. She contextualized the mentorship programme within a national and global push for professionalizing child protection cadre and emphasized the role of training, mentoring, and reflective practice in building sustainable impact.
Drawing from his decades of community engagement and building and strengthening civil society engagement, Jagadananda, spoke on Odisha's development trajectory and the essential role civil society had played, from humanitarian crisis and rebuilding, to planning for long-term development, to building civic capacity to Right to Information and Food Security and state capacity to respond.
He also emphasized the centrality of investing in youth, young adults, adolescents, children for demographic dividends and society's development. He called for investments in leadership development and urged participants to remain grounded in community realities and shared pragmatic inputs on the 101 of working with state systems.
Sujit Mahapatra shared on the importance of art and creative works in trauma healing, therapy and building confidence amongst children. He spoke on From Art to Heart: Working with Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances.
Manna Biswas provided an overview of the CPMP and presented the objectives, framework, and expected outcomes of the program. Designed for Odisha-based professionals with a commitment to children of Odisha, it combines expert sessions, interactive discussions on topics such as child rights law, trauma-informed care, juvenile justice, ethical reporting, and crisis intervention. Participation is free, limited to 100 seats, and aims to ensure focused mentoring.
Biswas highlighted the program’s inclusivity and the provision of completion certificates based on active engagement and consistent participation.
Ankit Keshri then introduced the mentors and mentees, setting expectations for the collaborative journey ahead. He explained how the mentorship model aims to foster ongoing support, guidance, and reflective practice, enabling mentees to translate knowledge into action.
Keshri encouraged participants to see this as a collective learning ecosystem and urged them to take ownership of their development. He shared that 225 applicants registered from amongst whom 100 were selected through a fair and transparent process which was communicated to each one of the applicants.
This was followed by an open house discussion for the mentees moderated by Researchers in the Chief Minister’s Chair Professor team, Dr Swagatika Samal, Dr Pradipta K Sarangi, and Ankit Keshri. Some of the points raised by the mentees are:
The skill to build rapport with adolescents as sometimes it becomes difficult for the mentees to communicate and understand them while working with them
In case of mentally challenged children, how to seek full support from the non- supportive parents for better and timely treatment of such children
Awareness on child protection programmes and schemes being rendered by the government especially to the police/railway police personnel as duty bearers etc.
Justice Murahari Sri Raman delivered the valedictory address. He emphasized the critical role of the CPMP in strengthening the capacity of frontline child protection actors in Odisha. Highlighting the unique vulnerabilities children face due to systemic neglect and social challenges, he commended the programme’s restorative justice approach, community engagement, and legal grounding.
Justice Raman called for shifting from institutional care to preventive, rights-based interventions and praised NLUO’s KUTUMB initiative and the Centre for Child Rights’ leadership in driving community-based protection.
He urged mentees to act with compassion, vigilance, and accountability to uphold children’s dignity and rights. “Let Odisha lead the way. Let us become the state where child protection is not a scattered mandate but a shared value”, he stated and expressed hope that the CPMP would create a ripple effect, strengthening Odisha’s child protection landscape from the grassroots upwards.
A formal vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Pradipta Kumar Sarangi and Dr Swagatika Samal.
The event marked the formal commencement of the four-month online mentorship program which will unfold through 32 curated sessions delivered by experts in the fields of law, social work, child psychology, policy advocacy, and community engagement.
The NLUO-CCR is comprises of Amulya Swain, Ankit K Keshri, Dr Swagatika Samal, Dr Pradipta Sarangi, Dr Rashmi Rekha Baug, Dr Shubhanginee Singh, led by Prof Biraj Swain. Vice-Chancellor, NLUO is Patron-in-Chief of the NLUO-CCR.
The Centre also has 19 student members who have been selected by open competition. The student members are headlines by B.B.A LL.B. final year student, Dhruv Dhingra, and 3-year LL.B. final year student Aradhana Nayak.
For further information, please contact:
Ankit K Keshri: akeshri@nluo.ac.in Mob: 9475133988
Dr Rashmi Rekha Baug: rashmi@nluo.ac.in Mob: 7008617386
Centre for Child Rights (CCR), NLUO, Website: www.nluo.ac.in
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