Venkat Reddy, National Convenor of MV Foundation has been working for abolishing child labour, protection of children’s right to education and campaign against child marriages for more than two decades now. Under his dynamic leadership, MVF has expanded its work from 3 villages of Telangana in 1991 to 10000 villages spread across Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and many other states in the country. Through his innovative strategies and planning, MV Foundation was able to mainstream ten lakhs child labourers into full time formal schools in diverse terrains.

He trained and built capacities of thousands of youth, members of gram panchayats, and government officials at all levels on issues relating to child rights. He is involved in networking with government and non government organisations in Telangana and several other states in the country. He extensively travelled across African countries, Latin America, Europe and USA for sharing MVF experiences, orienting the partners and strengthening the alliances. He is instrumental in initiating the concept of the Area Based Approach for creation of Child Labour free Zones in the project area which was replicated by government agencies, national level NGOs and by the international “Stop Child Labour Campaign” partners in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Morocco.

He published several articles in the leading regional newspapers which is compiled into a book “Balala Paksham”. His persuasive nature and empathy for children fits well with his vision for deepening of democracy in India.