ABOUT 

Our History

The DBRC had its origins in an initiative that came to be called 'Shelter Don Bosco' - a centre for street children set up in 1988 at Wadala, which was part of a world-wide tribute to our founder who began his mission to educate youth with street urchins and juvenile deliquents way back in 1841.  

Under the aegis of the provincial Fr. Chrys Saldahna, the pioneers of Shelter Don Bosco were Fr. Bosco Pereira and Fr. Raphael Lobo. They were suceeded by Fr. Xavier Devdas and Fr. Barnabe in 1995. They  began to maintain a comprehensive record of each child at Shelter to facilitate follow-up, counselling and vocational guidance. This encouraged them to propose a documentation and research centre in order to broaden the scope of their mission beyond Shelter as well as deepen their knowledge of factors crucial to the development of children at risk. Fr. Tony D'souza, the provincial consented willingly. Thus the Don Bosco Research Centre (DBRC) was established in 1998, 

From then on, it has built up a repertoire of studies in working with marginalized groups especially street children and adolescents. Over the years, small in-house projects of the Centre have given way to larger national and international projects that expanded the scope and breadth of research beyond street children. These include studies on youth and women from disadvantaged and vulnerable groups such as slums, commercial sex workers, street drug addicts, domestic workers, casual labourers, migrants etc. 

The Centre also initiated and carried out research on a variety of issues, translating them into publications, creating and feeding into platforms of advocacy on an international level, such as becoming the Regional Representative for South Asia for World Drug Policy by the UNODC, Vienna.  It also engaged in the creation of a database on different aspects of marginalized groups since its inception. Social and financial inclusion program for the rural and urban marginalized was implemented.

When Fr Ajoy Fernandes became the director of DBRC in 2015 he engaged in research concerning social and psychological disabiilties of  children. He also assumed the role of Director of Bal Prafulta.  He is well-known for his 2018 research on children of migrant workers in six cities across India. 

In October 2024, Fr. Peter Gonsalves was appointed Director of DBRC. His first initiative was to consolidate and make accessible all previous research carried out under the center’s umbrella.