Oli

Butterflies NGO

Butterflies is a registered voluntary organisation working with the most vulnerable groups of children, especially street and working children since 1989 in India. With a rights based, non-institutional approach the organisation endeavours to educate and impart life skills to vulnerable children so that they become self reliant and exit out of the cycle of generational illiteracy & poverty. Butterflies was born with the core value and belief that it must be a democratic organisation and children's voices have to be listened to seriously. Children's participation in decision making processes is central to Butterflies' work ethos. It is non institutional in its approach as Butterflies believes that institutionalising children should be the last resort. The importance of strengthening families and communities to protect and take care of children is strongly advocated as families are the first line of defense for children. Butterflies' emphasis is on supporting children to continue schooling, impart life skills education so that they can exit from generational poverty. The organisation's core belief is children have a right to be heard, to be consulted, to take their views seriously in all decisions that concern them. Butterflies is also a member of Family for Every Child, a global alliance of local civil society organisations from around the world working together to ensure that more children grow up safe and protected within families. Through Family, we advocate for better child protection policies and services, we share good practices and innovation, we carry out research on the issues faced by children in our contexts and we continuously learn from each other and with partners to improve the way we work.