Butterflies

Butterflies is a child rights organisation founded in Delhi in 1989. It works to protect and empower street connected children and children in vulnerable situations, so that they become self-reliant and break the cycle of generational illiteracy and poverty. The organisation says it exists to make sure every child is free from exploitation, can get quality education and healthcare, is loved and supported, and has a safe childhood. Its approach is democratic and non-institutional, and children take part in decisions about matters that concern them. This principle of children's participation runs through its programmes, from children's own cooperatives to a radio show made by children.

Headquarters: Delhi, India

Major Areas of Work

• Education: Helping street connected and out-of-school children learn, and bringing them into formal schooling.

• Long Term Change and Healthcare: Supporting children's health and building their self-reliance over time.

• Networking and Advocacy: Raising children's issues with the public and policymakers, including sexual violence against boys and children's mental health.

• Emergency Care and Protection: Protecting children on the street and in vulnerable situations who need immediate care.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• Mobile Schools in Uttarakhand: Run with the Government of Uttarakhand under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, multipurpose mobile schools with learning materials and educators help out-of-school children in urban Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar prepare for and join formal schools.

• Children's Cooperatives: Savings and life skills cooperatives run by children themselves, set up with support from Butterflies and now running in several Indian states and other countries.

• Butterflies Broadcasting Children (BBC): A weekly radio programme, "Bachon Ki Nazar Se – Through the Eyes of a Child", made by children and aired on All India Radio FM Rainbow Delhi 102.6 MHz. Butterflies describes it as India's first radio show by children.

• Life Skills Through Sports: Uses sport to build life skills in children.

• Comic Books: Butterflies has published comic books for children and adults since 1995.

• Blue Umbrella Day: A campaign to bring attention to the widespread but hidden problem of sexual abuse of boys.

Impact

Butterflies says that every year it directly reaches over 2,000 street connected children in Delhi and 1,200 children in remote parts of Uttarakhand. It reports that the children's cooperatives it started now run in several states of India and in several other countries. The organisation has received the International Cooperative Innovation Award.

Partners

• Government: Government of Uttarakhand

• Funders and partners: Misereor, Comic Relief, FIFA Foundation, H&M, Sapient, Family for Every Child, Butterflies USA

Leadership

• Rita Panicker, Director

Butterflies suits people who want to work directly with children on the street and in hard-to-reach communities, where the children themselves help shape the work. Staff get hands-on experience in non-institutional child protection, education outreach through a government partnership, and running programmes led by children, such as cooperatives and radio. The organisation also does advocacy and public campaigns, so there is room to work on the ground and to influence wider policy on children's issues. With over three decades of work in Delhi and a growing presence in Uttarakhand, it is a good fit for social workers, educators and child rights practitioners who want to stay with the work over the long term.