KIDPOWER India is a new NGO being established by Dr. Vempadapu Venkata Ramana, founder of ARDAR. Dr. Ramana, who is internationally known as an advocate for children's rights, went to a conference in Montreal, Canada, in 2005 in sponsored by KIDPOWER TEENPOWER FULLPOWER International. He was impressed by effectiveness of the KIDPOWER method in teaching people of all ages, abilities, and cultures to protect their human rights and decided to bring these services to India.
The inspiration for KIDPOWER happened in 1985 when a mother and child development expert, Irene van der Zande, protected a group of young children from a man who was threatening to kidnap them. Ms. Irene gathered with a team of mental health professionals, law enforcement experts, martial artists, educators, and parents to create empowerment programs that would be hands-on, positive, effective, emotionally and physically safe, and adapted to the specific needs of different individuals. She is the co-founder and executive director of KIDPOWER International.
The importance of KIDPOWER is clear from the 2007 government report on child abuse which notes that more then 50% of children in India face some form of physical and sexual abuse. We believe that the success-based learning approach created by KIDPOWER International is the most effective system available for preparing young people to protect themselves.