The first life skills education programme for children on financial management.

Conceptualized and initiated by Butterflies in the year 2001, Children’s Development Khazana (CDK) is a life skills education programme, educating children and adolescents, democratic values and financial management. CDK’s primary objective is to impart life skills education, teach them to be responsible, prioritise needs, budget and save. Children between the age group of 9-18 years are the members, volunteer managers and promoters of CDK. Any rural, urban and ethnic communities’ child can be a member of Khazana, which is their own and is run by children themselves, under the guidance of adult facilitators.

In CDK, members organise general body meetings, nominate their own child volunteer managers (for six months) and members for the advance committee, who are then provided training to handle their responsibilities, in basic book-keeping & accountancy, communication skills and to work in a team. As part of a practicum children manage their own Khazanas on cooperative principles at set timings and members focus on becoming entrepreneurs or learning a professional skill and exiting from their situation of poverty and insecurity.
The core objective of CDK is to promote life skills education through democratic participation, and inculcate knowledge of cooperative and financial management, fundamentals of management, accountancy & banking principles and promoting entrepreneurship.

CDK is a Life Skills Education which – 

1.Enables children to meet their survival needs

2. Increases children’s life skills

3. Helps children develop financial management skills

4. Equips children with vocational and entrepreneurial skills

5. Facilitates children’s participation in decision-making processes

6. Educates children on democratic values

As of March 2019, CDK is operational in eight countries across the world and in ten states of India with a total membership of 23,247 children (10,926 girls and 12,321 boys) and savings amounting to US$ 103,484 savings. All the money is saved in mainstream banks.