Living with a single mother struggling to make ends meet, Syed Shahnawaz was drawn to Butterflies’ Children’s Development Khazana (CDK) by a peer who crowed that he earned enough interest on his savings to buy a bike to get to and from school. The very next day Syed joined the CDK financial management cooperative hosted by the Mahilla Development Centre, one of Butterflies’ 39 partner organizations outside of Delhi. Thrilled to have his own passbook, Syed attended every CDK session possible, ran for the Child Volunteer Manager (CVM) post and got elected!
During his 6- month rotation he learned basic budgeting and bookkeeping as well as negotiation, and leadership skills. After completing secondary school, he went on to university. Today he is employed as the CDK focal person by Butterflies’ partner NGO in Bihar. He is pictured here running the bi-weekly general body meeting where the child members discuss real issues like how to overcome daily life challenges, set priorities and delay gratifying their wants to save for their needs.