Billimoria Jeroo
Organization: Aflatoun, Child Social and Financial Education
Year Founded: 2005
Country: Netherlands
Website: www.aflatoun.org
By empowering children through teaching them about their rights and responsibilities and how to deal with money, Aflatoun is breaking the cycle of poverty in 28 countries. Focus: Children and Youth, Education, Financial Inclusion Geographic Area of Impact: Global Model: Leveraged Non-Profit Number of Direct Beneficiaries: Over 540,000 children (2008) Annual Budget: US$ 2.2 million (2008) Percentage Earned Revenue: 0% Recognition: Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum Background Jeroo Billimoria began work with street children in India, many of whom had run away from home and were forced to fend for themselves. Answering their calls through help hotlines, he noticed that many of the children demonstrated attributes of good entrepreneurs: they were brave, smart, innovative and creative. Yet many children reverted to crime, drugs or prostitution. Billimoria wanted to tackle the problem at its roots and saw Aflatoun as a solution. Innovation and Activities Aflatoun provides children aged 6-14 years old with social and financial education. The programme teaches children about their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the world and about democratic principles. It also offers basic, but comprehensive, financial education on saving, spending, planning, budgeting and entrepreneurship. Children are inspired to believe in themselves, manage their resources and start their own small social and financial enterprises. The Aflatoun curriculum is taught in the classroom and through non-formal education centres, reaching street children, juveniles and other vulnerable children. Through a cascaded training methodology, teachers are encouraged to adopt creative and interactive ways to engage the children through games, songs and role-playing. Children develop the skills to save small amounts of money, organize themselves in clubs with democratic elections, and learn about their rights and responsibilities and ways to actively claim them. The Aflatoun secretariat, located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, operates as the hub in a network of partner organizations. National coalitions are built in which local NGOs, international NGOs, microfinance institutions, education and finance government departments, and central and commercial banks all work together to implement the Aflatoun programme and raise awareness about children’s social and financial rights. The programme reaches more than 540,000 children in 28 countries, with 33 countries preparing to launch. It is expected to be integrated into the national curriculum of some countries, including Egypt. The Entrepreneur Jeroo Billimoria was born in 1965 in Mumbai, India, to a family of professionals. Billimoria's mother instilled strong social values in her from a young age. She was 18 when her father died. During the days following his death, long queues of people formed to say their last goodbyes to a man who had been a “quiet” philanthropist – so quiet that Billimoria had never realized he had reached out to help so many people. This realization led her to join the Tata Institute of Social Sciences rather than becoming an accountant as her father had been. A passionate advocate of children’s rights and empowerment, Billimoria founded a number of successful organizations in line with her cause. As well as being the founder and current head of Aflatoun, she also founded and is chair of the board of Child Helpline International. In India, Billimoria founded the Childline India Foundation. She also founded and directed the Indian not-for-profit organization MelJol, where she now functions as a board member. In 2006, she was one of the recipients of Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship.
<< back