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• 28,812 children withdrawn from work and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.