Bal Mitra Gram Building a child friendly society

• 317 villages • 28, 812 children withdrawn from work and enrolled in school • More than 300, 000 children empowered • Approx. 800, 000 people in 317 villages reached • Welcome to the world of BMGs • A world where children walk shoulder to shoulder with adults

What is a BMG? • Bal Mitra Gram or child friendly village is a model to tackle child labour through education and empowerment of children – Withdrawal from work – Enrollment in school – Formation of Bal Panchayat- elected body of child representatives – Recognition by the Gram Panchayat

Why BMGs? • Villages- the biggest source of child labour • BMG prevents children from entering the labour force right at the source • Provides opportunities for growth of village through development of children • Community ownership through participation- Bal Panchayat, youth groups, women’s groups

Spread of BMGs

Where are the BMGs Multiple facets and manifestations of child labour rendered ineffective through BMGs in various states • Child labour intensive states where children are engaged in traditional forms of work- agriculture, domestic labour in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh – Tackling gender discrimination in Rajasthan – Addressing communal differences in UP • Preventing trafficking to other states through BMGs in Bihar • Assisting mining community through corporate social responsibility model in BMGs in Jharkhand • Environment sustainability through education of child labourers in Karnataka

How does the BMG work?

Voice of the children • Bal Panchayat is a forum of children to express their needs to Gram Panchayat • Bal Panchayat meets regularly to discuss the needs for better education, health and other needs • Presents its needs to the Gram Panchayat (the elected Village Parliament) • Gram Panchayat solves them or forwards them to block and district officials. Bal Panchayats keep a track of progress

Small steps to giant strides • Bal Panchayat of Dwarapur, led by Om Prakash succeeded in making education completely free (no tuition fee, or additional fee) – Panchayat did not heed; children wrote to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) which acted promptly and abolished fee across the State • Schools of Thanagazi block of Alwar district directed by the Block Education Officer to have school enrolment drive like in BMGs to ensure 100% enrolment

Small steps to giant strides • Hemlata from BMG Jagatsinghpura, Alwar was married off at a young age. She overcame the gender bias in her family and village to continue education – Later she went to the USA as a girls representative at the World Day Against Child Labour in 2008 • The entire village of Bamanbas Chaugan was filthy due to lack of a sewer, led to many diseases – Bal Panchayat demanded a sewer and better road – Now, the village has better sanitation and children are healthy

Replication • World Vision International: Adopted the BMG model in their work in Haryana • Backward Society Education, Nepal is replicating the model with the technical help of BBA in 240 villages in Nepal

Recognition for the model • Winrock International selected it as one of the holistic models to end child labour through education. Their partners in Ghana are implementing the project currently • Oxfam India considers the BMG model as one where community is putting as much effort as the Government in growth of villages • ILO and UN agencies recognize it as a good practice model at the village level to prevent child labour

Monitoring An in-house database software that captures and stores information of BMGs on a monthly basis

Future plan • Income generation plan in BMGs for women and youth for self-employment – Strategy being finalised, pilot in progress in Karnataka • International conference on BMGs: A conference with International NGOs, UN agencies and other partners mooted to increase replication of BMGs in India and other countries • Training of local organizations: BBA has already done some trainings in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This will be further extended.