ABOUT US
Childhood is by far the most integral and vulnerable period in a person’s life. Happy childhood experiences are a lifetime treasure for any individual, since they lay a foundation for the future action; and stay captured as refreshing and joyous memories. It inevitably becomes the responsibility of the society to ensure that a friendly and supportive ecosystem is provided for growing children, especially in the burgeoning urban areas.
Most urban cities, in trying to fulfill the modern demands of infrastructure and automobile excess are eating up on the free and safe spaces for unrestricted childhood. Children have less cycling paths or play areas and more video games and TV channels. The closeness to nature, running around bare foot or on cycles, climbing up the trees, feeling safe in the neighborhood is completely losing out to technology and modern infrastructure.
To create “a Child friendly city” - a city which accords safety to the child; where the child has freedom to explore, derive fun and joy, has ample opportunity and builds happy memories for a lifetime.
aProCh, a community based initiative was born out of this need for change. To fulfill the vision of aProCh, various initiatives were designed and implemented.
Testimonials
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"I really enjoyed doing yoga through story-telling with children at Parimal Garden for 'Parents of the Park'. To see a 'smile' and 'enthusiasm' on each child's face, with so much eagerness to learn more and more, made my Sunday".
Pooja Todi, Parent, The Riverside School
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"It was a very beautiful experience to spend Sunday morning with kids from all backgrounds. A lot of hard work and efforts are dedicated to make them learn something new, which makes them good human beings. aProCh is a good initiative and represents equality and harmony amongst all. Love from the kids gave me a sense of gratitude and smiles. Thanks for giving me this opportunity and experience"
Namrata Sheth, Nutristudio
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"Children are our future and if you involve them at a very young age in matters about the city’s prospects, the city’s problems, their role in the city, how is the city growing, what is the expectation of the citizens from the city – aproch is a good attempt to sensitize the children toward the city and their role as an emerging citizen of the future Ahmedabad. So I think it is a very good initiative and it will really make children involved in the city building exercise."
Mr. Guruprasad Mohapatra Ex Municipal Commissioner
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“Wonderful experience with the team. they are really very creative and bring out the best in students. Marvelous way of working with team spirit. On the whole city comes out LIVE involving the teacher and the taught. All the best."
Dilip Mahajan Currently President Corporate Affairs, Reliance
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"The initiative was set out with a very clear purpose at the outset – the purpose being that a child who lives in this city should be able to say that this is my city, the freedom that he feels in is house, he should feel the same freedom in his city. What child needs is space – because play and activity is of utmost importance to a child. Its cognition comes only from his activities and its learning is also from doing. How does a city offer this to its children? So this initiative gives a clear message to the children and its citizenry that we need to give space to children, to allow them time and opportunities and freedom to explore different activities. How a child becomes one with the culture of the city has in my view been actualized by this initiative."
B H Joshi, Registrar, GLS
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“It is an amazing experience to entertain to all age group children from all religions across the city and my aim is to see a smiling world and bring smile to each child’s face."
Rahul Raj, Entertainment Manager, US Pizza
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“Working with aProCh has been a very fantastic and satisfying experience for us. The very concept of making the city child friendly is wonderful. The team of aProCh is doing a commendable job in fulfilling its purpose. We, at Shrinath travel agency really feel happy in giving something back to the society which has given us so much.”
Bhavesh Kabra, Shrinath Travel Agency
Team
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Kiran Bir Sethi
Kiran Bir Sethi
Founder
"aProCh" - a Protagonist in every Child was started in July 2007 by the Director of Riverside School Ms. Kiran Sethi. She was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2008 for this initiative. She was also featured TED speaker at TED India 2009.
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Kirti Zala
Kirti Zala
Co-ordinator
Meet Eduhero Kirti - also known as Persipatient! On a typical day, you will find her feeling strongly about creating opportunities for Children to engage in free play; imagining different ways to add value to the community - especially children, making sure that aProCh doesn’t mean just fun but also learning. To achieve these objectives, she enthusiastically organises different initiatives like Street Smart, Parents of the Park, City on Cycles and Mov’ing Experience. She is always excited about adding value to the stakeholders and inspires them to take ownership of the vision of aProCh.
When we met her stakeholder Mr. Neeraj from NGO Saath, this is what he had to say about her, “Kirtiben has provided an opportunity for children to experience and explore spaces outside their community. She is able to handle situations under pressure in calm and confident manner, making each experience beneficial for the child.
Other stakeholder Mr. Soham Shukla from Spark Foundation adds “Her endurance and persistence for the idea is amazing and inspiring. Her dedication to make programs valuable and successful, her relationship building skills and continual support ensures partners are always motivated.”