Street Education Programme
Butterflies with its unique non- institutional approach endeavors to empower street and working children in various situations in the city of Delhi. The street project interventions are rooted in places like bus terminals, railway stations, market places, parks and so on, where the children live and work. Butterflies works in 8 contact points in Delhi (Chandni Chowk, Haathi Park, Kashmiri Gate, INA Market, Sadar Bazar, Jama Masjid, Nizamuddin Dargah, Okhla) and reaches out to more than 1,000 children on a daily basis.
The Street Programme of Butterflies has a team of qualified educators designated as Child Rights Advocates who are placed in the contact points and night shelter either in the morning, afternoon or evening.
Dimensions
Education
Our endeavour is to provide quality education even if it has to be on the street. So, we follow the formal/ national syllabus but an informal and interesting methodology. We are also accredited to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with several NGOs registered with us as part of NIOS. Life skills education is a vital part of the education programme. Sports and cultural activities are also used as a tool to educate the children.
Restoration of Children
Once an educator establishes a rapport s/he would find out why is the child in such a situation. The educator(s) would then try to find a family link. If the findings and analysis say that the child could return to the family, s/he is immediately restored back to the family following the legal procedures. Follow up is done to see that the child has a support system.
Engaging Children in Programmes
Those children who live and work on the street and fend for themselves and support their families become the prime focus of Butterflies programmes and the challenge of the educators is to engage the children in the programme activities. The major task is to ensure that the children become part of the education programme and also participate in activities viz. Child Health Cooperative, Children’s Development Khazana, Children’s Media {comprising radio(BBC), video, newspaper and theatre}, sports and cultural events.
Engaging with Community & Others
Our endeavour is to provide quality education even if it has to be on the street. So, we follow the formal/ national syllabus but an informal and interesting methodology. We are also accredited to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with several NGOs registered with us as part of NIOS. Life skills education is a vital part of the education programme. Sports and cultural activities are also used as a tool to educate the children.
Children’s Participation
Children’s participation is a core value of Butterflies. We ensure that children are consulted and their views taken seriously while developing programmes. We have facilitated two children’s forums, which are: BAL SABHA ( Children’s Council) BAL SAMITI The Bal Sabha and Bal Samiti meetings give us directions to introspect, make adjustments or take decisions in the interest of children.
Dealing with Crisis
Street and working children are vulnerable to police beatings, abuse by authorities, employers and others. There are umpteen numbers of cases of beatings by law enforcement agencies, employers not paying wages to the children, older boys beating the young ones, accidents or medical emergencies. On a daily basis we are dealing with cases of child rights violation and ensuring child protection.
Night Outreach
Recognizing vulnerability of children to exploitation and abuse in the night and the need to access children who are otherwise unreached during the day, Butterflies conducts night outreach every fortnight. Small teams of trained Butterflies staff reach out to vulnerable children while exploring areas of the contact points, handle emergency situations, interact with employers and parents of children and identify areas for intervention.
Photographs
Other Programmes
