Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Thursday lauded the West Bengal government's Kanyashree' scheme and said that it had not just helped retain girls in schools but also significantly brought down the number of child marriages, besides empowering them.

Urging stakeholders to work collaboratively for the welfare of children, he stressed that faith leaders of the country should support causes benefiting young ones.

"In the post-pandemic world, we must strengthen the social protection programmes that could directly be of help to children. I am quite impressed with the West Bengal government's scheme of 'Kanyashree'.

It has not only helped retain girls in schools, but also minimised the possibility of child marriages, trafficking and abuse. More importantly, the girls associated with the scheme have felt empowered," Satyarthi said.

He was addressing a South Asia conclave on 'Working Together to Combat Cyber Enabled Human Trafficking - Emerging Challenges' organised by the US Consulate in Kolkata.

"I have worked globally with many countries for 20 years. I can say that conditional cash transfer schemes have been extremely successful wherever properly implemented. I think both Kanyashree as well as Swayamsiddha schemes are quite impressive," Satyarthi stated.

Asked whether he would advise the central government to implement Bengal's globally acclaimed "Kanyashree" in other parts of the country, he said, "You cannot simply replicate the same thing in other places. Different states have different programmes.

They can definitely learn from each other as well as from Kansyashree and Swayamsiddha."

'Kanyashree Prakalpa' is a cash incentive-based initiative of the Bengal government to stop child marriages, while 'Swayamsiddha' scheme is aimed at thwarting abuse and trafficking.

Kanyashree was honoured with United Nations Public Service Award in 2017.