In the video, the woman, in Spanish, appears to tell the child to swallow the food being pushed toward the toddler’s face. “Spit it out, I’ll put it back,” she tells the crying child.

Today, that vision is known as CRY (Child Rights and You). Its impact has fanned out across 20 Indian states, reaching around 4.7 million children. Their prime objective — to protect children’s rights ...