Genesis/History:
Jeroo Billimoria, a pioneering social entrepreneur, and the founder of several award-winning international NGOs founded MelJol in 1991. After a successful pilot in India, Meljols programs, values and learnings were taken international when Jeroo Founded Aflatoun International in ____, on the lines of Meljol. Aflatoun International is today active in over 100 countires globally.
MelJol is a non-government organization (NGO) registered under the Societies Registration Act. MelJol was initiated as a field action project of Family and Child Welfare, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in December 1991. Since its inception MelJol has focussed on fostering healthy attitudes in children, creating awareness of the different needs of children from different backgrounds, and building spirit of confidence and entrepreneurship in order to create a civil society based on the co-existence and achievement.
In 1993 the programme was given new urgency and a broader moral imperative when inter-ethnic riots shook Mumbai. The programme responded by focusing on combating prejudice and discrimination through rights education. Expansion out of the city and into rural areas led to another key influence. The most entrepreneurial children were leaving the countryside and becoming street children and child labourers in Mumbai. To harness their energy and creativity at home, savings groups were incorporated and have remained a defining programme feature since 2001.
Rooted firmly in the belief that children have rights and that children must participate in the creation of child-friendly world, MelJol seeks to develop children’s citizenship skills by focusing on child rights and responsibilities and providing them with opportunities to contribute positively to the environment. Meljol has been working with children and youth from socio economic backward regions for the past 20 years and using the tools of social and financial education to help them break the cycle of poverty and face life with confidence. All of MelJol’s work is based on The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990 (CRC).
When MelJol began work in the rural, tribal and urban areas of India, the first step was to create child friendly curriculum and develop and design teachers’ manuals to help teachers to facilitate sessions in the classrooms. MelJol realised the need to form children’s clubs which are called Aflatoun Clubs to encourage child participation in the activities organised under this curriculum. Through these clubs and making use of active learning methodology, the children were introduced to the concepts of personal understanding, self-exploration, child rights and responsibilities, concept of savings and social and financial entrepreneurship. Experience of implementation of Aflatoun Social and Financial Programme encouraged children to manage their resources better and start social and financial micro-enterprises. MelJol seeks to develop a strong sense of citizenship in the children by focusing on educating them about what they are entitled to, what they can accomplish with that knowledge and providing them with opportunities to apply that knowledge.