[NEW DELHI,  June 13, 2004] - A bank run by a group of Indian street-children for
three years has decided to go global, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

The Bal Vikas Bank, or Child Development Bank (CDB), was started for Delhi's
street-children by the non-governmental organisation Butterflies three years ago,
the report said.

The bank has 12 branches in Delhi and now plans to open branches in other Indian
cities as well as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal in the near future, according to
a representative of Butterflies.

The CDB's 400 account holders -- mostly "rag pickers" and street-children -- own and
run the bank from its headquarters at a night shelter for homeless children. Many of
the children, some as young as 10 and 11, sell newspapers, boxes of tissues and
other wares at traffic intersections. Some work on daily wages. Others collect waste
and then sell it for recycling.

"They already earn a living and we are trying to help them to invest in themselves,"
said Rita Panicker of Butterflies.

To open an account, a child first has to become a member of the club that works as
collective guarantor. The bank also disburses loans, but the applicant has to sign
an undertaking that the money will not be used for wasteful expenditure.

Butterflies recently organised a workshop for directors, country co-ordinators and
managers of the bank -- all children -- from organisations in Bangladesh,
Afghanistan, Nepal and the Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir
and Delhi.
Members of the CDB, including 17-year-old bank manager Anuj, addressed the new
initiates on the nitty-gritty of taking deposits, disbursing loans and maintaining
account books.

Mohammed Yousef, a member of the Afghan NGO Aschiana said the bank would be very
useful for children who were forced to work after being left homeless by the war in
Afghanistan.

Bijaya Sanju from Nepal's NGO Concern said the concept should be implemented in all
countries that had street children.

"It will help them become self dependent and gradually move off the streets," he said. [Source: CRIN]