"The
bank is a reality and gives children security"
Rita
Panicker, director of Butterflies, is uncomfortable
in a chair that swivels in her small office in Delhi.
She'd rather walk the streets of the city making friends
with children. A social worker from the Tata Institute
of Social Sciences Mumbai, Rita
got interested in street and working children while
commuting in Mumbai's trains. Her first project was
a credit and savings scheme for adolescents who'd spent
years in juvenile institutions. But that didn't fructify
when Rita moved to Delhi and her links with Mumbai snapped.
"I never forgave myself," she says. But the
success of the Children's Development bank has made
up for the ghosts of the past. "The bank is not
a gimmick. It's happening, it's working," she said
with quiet excitement.
Panicker told Civil Society that she hopes the bank
will spread globally and rival established lending institutions.
How did the Children's Development Bank evolve?
It
started as the Bal Vikas Bank in April 2001 but began
in September, that year.
When we got funding from CIVA they had suggested a Youth
Bank. We discussed it in the Bal Sabha (Children's Assembly).
The kids said, look, we are not youth, we are children.
The Youth Bank gave grants to young people if they wanted
to work for the community or do some business enterprise.
The kids said, all the money will vanish.
They said we want a children's bank and we'll run it
with our own concepts and rules.
The
bank caught the imagination of the children. Some of
them do not take part in any other of our programmes
but they bank with us. Interestingly, it also caught
the imagination of the media.
How
did the bank spread?
News
spread through the media. We thought let's run the bank
for a couple of years and see what happens. We can learn
lessons and then we'll expand, after two years. Then
NGOs began to write to us saying they would like to
start a bank for children too.
The
banks in South Asia started in August this year. All
of them are doing well. In Kabul we have two. They have
nearly 200 members already. There are a lot of working
children in Afghanistan. Our partners will take it to
Mazhar-i-Sharif soon.
Since
those banks started recently they are not giving any
loans. The kids decided they would first save and build
their capital. Although they have the seed money they
want to see how the children will use the bank before
giving out loans. The philosophy and methodology are
the same in all countries.
Although money is sent directly to them by our funders,
meetings are held in India and the children come here
for training. It's very difficult to get things printed
in Afghanistan so we gave them piles of ledgers and
pass- books. You know they had to carry all that back
with them.
Are
you planning to link the banks?
Sure.
Next year we are going off to Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
We are also getting requests from Sudan, Iran and Central
Asia. By 2006-2007 we should be able to move into those
countries. We'd like to see how it works in South Asia
first.
We
are looking at an International Children's Development
Bank which will be located in Delhi and would have banks
in Latin America, Africa and Central Asia. We hope to
form a federation of all these banks. If you can have
an Asian Development bank giving money to nation states
to do things, why shouldn't children have their own
banks for their development?
How
does it empower the children?
It
empowers children in democratic functioning. The bank
is not just a place to take loans. It makes you responsible.
If you are the manager and everybody's saving with you,
you have to be responsible for that. You can't behave
in an autocratic manner. You have to be polite, answer
all questions and be patient. You need to be a good
counsellor in getting kids to become members.
Saving is a life skill. Children who are managers are
learning management, accounting and book- keeping. Loan
committee members are learning how to assess a loan
applications.
What about small enterprises?
We
make kids over 15, who want to run enterprises, assess
the business venture they want to start. Do they have
any skills? Are they passionate about it? If there's
a group of kids who want to take a loan we have a workshop
with them.
By the end of the workshop most often they change their
plans. We have been suggesting businesses which can
be run cooperatively and which would bring higher returns
than what they could get individually.
Doesn't
all this take away from their formal education?
It
is mandatory for boys who take loans to continue their
schooling. They are part of NIOS, but they can continue
their business as well.
What
is the most important feature of the bank?
It
gives the children a feeling of security. They know
this is one place they can get credit for their education
or to run a business. They feel this bank is theirs
and nobody will ask them ten thousand questions because
they are poor and illiterate.
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