With its non-institutional approach, Butterflies NGO does not run school buildings. Instead, it meets street and working children where they are. Qualified educators, who are Child Rights Advocates and Child Development Officers, are available at eight open air contact points six days a week to teach basic skills as they help children enroll in public schools. After school recesses, Butterflies provides supplementary enrichment through collaborative learning and peer tutoring groups.
Mobile Schools
Butterflies NGO equips a Mobile Learning Center (MLC), a van packed with books, study aids, art supplies, computer technology that reaches out to children, both in New Delhi and Uttarakhand (a state in northern India), who are unschooled or have been affected by natural disasters. Butterflies’ educators provide a quality education until children are mainstreamed to formal state schools. The Mobile Learning Center van regularly visits contact points where the Butterflies children gather after the school day and study together.
Since 1995, the Child Health & Sports Cooperative (CHSC) has promoted a healthy lifestyle among street children, their families, and communities. Child Health Educators (CHEs) elected by their peers for 6 month rotations, are trained to give workshops on first aid, dental health, nutrition, disease prevention, personal hygiene and the importance of a clean environment.
In 2001, Butterflies NGO initiated the Children’s Development Khazana (CDK), a financial management training program wrapped around a personal savings account. Working youth’s deposits earn interest, something like a bank. It is still going strong. Members elect Volunteer Managers who, for 6-month stints, run the khazana at Butterflies’ eight contact points under the guidance of adult facilitators.
Butterflies Broadcasting Children (BBC) offers street children opportunities to develop their voice, exercise freedom of expression, and access information. BBC members develop confidence as they produce newsletters, weekly radio broadcasts, digital stories, and theater. Through these creative media outlets their issues and concerns are brought front and center.
Since 1995, the Child Health & Sports Cooperative (CHSC) has promoted a healthy lifestyle among street children, their families, and communities. Child Health Educators (CHEs) elected by their peers for 6 month rotations, are trained to give workshops on first aid, dental health, nutrition, disease prevention, personal hygiene and the importance of a clean environment.
