Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel launched the Say Yes campaign in April 2001 in a move to increase the focus on children's issues. The campaign is part of a greater Global Movement for Children (GMFC) and has drawn support from several high profile actors, world leaders and corporate figures. Say Yes asks people to agree on ten fundamental principles to improve and protect the lives of children. The votes, both on paper ballots and online ballots, will be collected and presented to national leaders at the UN session in New York.

Outreach in India has mainly been via paper ballots and the use of local United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) offices. Only one percent of India's population has access to the Internet, so online ballots have not been an essential part of the campaign. Off course, said Savita Varde-Naqvi UNICEF India's Chief Communications Officer, one percent of a population of 1 billion means 10 million people, which is not a figure to be scoffed at. Strategic placement on child-oriented Web sites such as pitara.com and netfundu.com has helped promote the use of online ballots.

Over a million paper ballots were distributed in New Delhi alone according to Varde-Naqvi. Further paper ballots were distributed through youth organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in several states. One million ballots were also distributed in Madhya Pradesh, the largest state in India. The ballots will be tallied in India through data entry companies and the final figures will be sent to UNICEF headquarters in New York.

"The top priority that has emerged thus far in India is 'Educate Every Child,'" said Varde-Naqvi. "Fighting exploitation of children and fighting poverty are the next two important issues." The final results from the field will be tallied by the end of next week.

Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Indian Opposition, signed onto the Say Yes campaign on August 28. At a function organized by UNICEF India and the Indian Parliamentary Forum for Human Development Gandhi stressed three imperatives: listen to children, educate every child and invest in children.

"Support from the Opposition is very important," said Varde-Naqvi. "The government is fully supportive of initiatives for children, but to pass bills and legislation it is essential to have across-the-board support in the parliament."

India has the largest number of children in the world ? 400 million. While there has been significant progress made toward achieving the goals set forth at the 1990 World Summit for Children, much remains to be done.

"The process isn't easy," said Varde-Naqvi. "India is like 25 countries put together and a lot of progress has been made in the past decade. We now need an effort to produce a single piece of legislation that will embody the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strengthen rights for India's children."