India is home to nearly a fifth of the world’s people. In 2017 the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs reported that the population is now over 1.3 billion and that by 2024 it is likely to be the most populous country in the world. It has a fast-developing economy with IT, business, culture and tourism all booming.

Alongside extreme wealth there is also extreme poverty. In poor countries, 1 in 4 children are engaged in child labour. Child labour is a growing problem in India, as children are forced to work in hazardous conditions in rubbish dumps, coal mines, and garment factories.

Learn more about Butterflies, India.

Stories from children in India

Project impact

19,224

children were directly supported by Butterflies.

1,296

out of school children were enrolled in formal education.

163

163 out of school children were enrolled in open schooling programmes.

15,466

children were involved with the Children’s Development Khazana and Child Health Cooperative from eight countries.

£62,570

was saved by members using the Children’s Development Khazana

194

children and adolescents took welfare and development grants.

543

Child Health Educators addressed 1875 medical cases.

1,330

children were in leadership positions and working as peer educators.

The problem

Just over a quarter of India’s 400 million children are working on the streets. The common understanding of the term ‘street children’ is that a child is without parental care. Many children who live and work on the streets of India have run away from dysfunctional families where there are problems of domestic violence, substance-abuse, neglect, and poverty. However, many are still with their families. They may work on the streets but return to their family at night or every few days. These 'street connected' children rely on the streets for income and to survive.

Many of these children are from migrant families who have left rural areas because of poverty or climate change. The agriculture sector in India is suffering affecting the 43% of the population who work in the sector. Traditional trades such as weaving, pottery, carpentry and blacksmithing have declined due to modern technology and competition from overseas. People who do not have alternative skills have lost their livelihoods as a result.

Other street-connected children have been born into urban poverty. Parents work on construction sites and as porters, rickshaw pullers and domestic workers. Children do odd jobs, such as rubbish picking or working in markets and street vending, or they get involved in petty crime to get by.

These children are extremely vulnerable and at high risk of exploitation and abuse. Forced into child labour, they are denied education and protection. They are harassed by the police, have poor nutrition, and limited access to healthcare.

​Our local partner

Butterflies has been working with street-connected children since 1989. They are one of ChildHope's oldest partners. Their focus areas are education and vocational training, development of life skills, financial management and health. Butterflies also has a research, advocacy and training wing and is an active participant in national and international networks for advocating and promoting policies, programmes and actions to protect the rights of children. Children are given their own prominent voice in the advocacy work through the children’s media projects Butterflies runs.

Project objectives

We have worked in India with street connected and working children for over 15 years with our local partner Butterflies. Our ongoing work with our local partner aims to support children to get out of crisis situations and develop the skills and resilience they need to build better futures.

We do this through developing programmes with Butterflies that are led by children, encourage child participation and decision making. We work with and support our partner to strengthen their own systems, develop monitoring and evaluation processes, and support child safeguarding.

​Our activities

Butterflies has a range of activities from mobile education, vocational skills training, research, broadcasting, support for children in trouble with the law and night outreach. Its two flagship programmes are the Children's Development Khazana and the Children’s Health and Sport Cooperatives.

The Children's Development Khazana is a life skills and financial management programme which at its heart has a community bank run by children for children. The programme’s primary objective is to impart life skills education and to teach children and adolescents how to prioritise needs, budget and save. The bank was the idea of a group of children who told Butterflies that one of their biggest challenges on the street was people stealing the small amounts of money they managed to earn.

Children aged 9-18 years are the members, volunteer managers and promoters, under the guidance of adult facilitators. Members nominate their own child volunteer bank managers and committee members, these children receive training in basic book-keeping and accountancy, communication skills and how to work in a team. Being able to save money keeps the money safe and helps the children to think about the future and plan. Children can take loans and grants from the bank to support their own development, many are choosing to use the money to pay for books and uniform so they can return to school.

Children’s Health and Sport Cooperative promotes safe and healthy living among children and communities. The cooperative has regular workshops where the children discuss health, nutrition, hygiene and environment issues and learn about how to prevent disease and sickness. By contributing a very small fee every month, transferred from their Children's Development Khazana account, children become members and learn the importance of budgeting for health care too. Child Health Educators are trained to promote healthy behaviour among their peers and community. The children undergo training which includes administering first aid and addressing minor health issues and are taken on hospital visits so they can understand how they work and no longer be intimidated by them.

Because both initiatives are based on a cooperative model, children lead the activities and are at the heart of decisions that affect their lives. They are also experiencing the power of collective action. These programmes have been so successful they now operate through 23 associate partners in eight countries - across India and in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Ghana.

Children and adults have received sports for development training and training in basic mental health and safeguarding, have participated in events and increased their understanding of the physical and mental health benefits of sport and play. We know that the members of these cooperatives have improved self-confidence and now understand how to stay healthy and plan for their future. However, we also know that their employment options are still limited.

Our donor

Comic Relief was our donor partner between 2011 and 2017. Through their support we were able to significantly scale up the work of Butterflies and develop their organisational sustainability.
We are actively seeking donor partners for these new projects so if you are interested in investing in this area, please get in touch.

In their words - Rohit’s story

“Prior to my involvement with Butterflies, I was addicted to smoking. I was quite unaware of the bad effects of my habit until I was a participant in one of the health sessions by Butterflies. I decided to distance myself from smoking and although it was quite difficult in the beginning, within three months I was able to overcome my habit. This was only possible because of the counselling, support, encouragement and guidance of the child health educators and the staff of the Children’s Health Co-operative.

Read more of Rohit's story

UN Sustainability Development Goals

  • SDG's - No Poverty
  • SDG's - Good Health and Well-Being
  • SDG's - Quality Education
  • SDG's - Gender Equality
  • SDG's - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG's - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG's - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Donors Who Supported ChildHope

Community Fund.jpg
States of Guernsey.jpg
FG-logo.png
traid.png
WCM Logo copy.png