Magic Bus breaking the cycle of poverty, one child at a time

By Nidhi Singh, Guest Author at YourStory

The true potential of mankind is an unimaginable force that can do wonders if harnessed. As rightly said by the first African American President of the USA, “It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself, that you realize your true potential.” And that is what Magic Bus is all about. It is about breaking the poverty cycle, one child at a time, and helping children transform the world around them. It is about catalysing change in communities and children. It is about creating ‘magic,’ as the name suggests, all across the nation.

How it all started 

A young player from India’s National Rugby Team, Matthew Spacie, used to practice daily opposite Mumbai’s famous Fashion Street, a hub for street children. Being the warm-hearted man that he was, he couldn't resist inviting the Fashion Street boys over for a game. As time passed by, Matthew began to notice positive behavioural changes in the boys — a direct result of being part of a team and overcoming challenges together. These boys, who had grown up on the streets, became more goal-oriented and wanted to improve themselves and their attitudes towards others.

Matthew discovered that the growing influence of this approach not only helped them transform their attitude towards life, but also taught them how to challenge their current realities and overturn their obstacles into a route towards well-being and success. Over a period of the next 10 years, this crystallized into a formal pedagogy that is now known as the Magic Bus Sport for Development curriculum. An approach that would go on to redefine the lives and destinies of many.

How it works

Magic Bus started in the year 1999 and has now expanded to 250,000 children as well as 8000 youth in 19 different states across the country. Supported by Cox and Kings and Cleartrip enabled an academically grounded ‘sport for development’ curriculum to be established.

By training local, community-based young people to deliver long-term programmes that focus on education, health and gender equity, Magic Bus enables children to have more choice and control in their lives to bring themselves out of poverty.  A comprehensive curriculum that uses activities and sport and a long term-engagement are delivered through a child-friendly mentoring approach. At periodic intervals, the mentor provides constant feedback, and monitors the child’s behaviour to bring about proven behavioural changes.

When the child grows up, she or he has the choice of joining Connect, a supplementary programme that links young people to higher education or job opportunities. As a result of this marvellous work, more than 250,000 children and youth have access to better education and improved health as they work towards strong livelihood options for themselves as adults.

Magic Bus uses its concept to not only pull children out of poverty but also to change the mindset of their parents and families. For this reason, the World Bank Development Marketplace Award was presented to the NGO during its formative years.

How obstacles are tackled

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. When a stranger enters a community where all is unknown and throws a ball in the air, everyone gravitates towards the ball. That’s the power and attraction of play. Despite this, the attitude towards girls remains a hurdle across geographies and regions. Getting girls out of their domestic duties and into the public sphere is a hurdle. To avert this in the best possible way, Magic Bus makes use of advocacy tools and tactics, including parents’ meetings, door-to-door campaigns and community-level tournaments to gain support for the intervention, and bring all stakeholders together to build a community that is gender-equal and child-friendly.

I left my old perception to think afresh and hopefully I can do a thousandth of what Magic Bus does to change my Motherland, my home — the nation of many with all hearts beating as one — India.

Original Article by Nidhi Singh at Your Story. Edited for this blog by the Magic Bus Communications Team.

"Nidhi Singh is a Computer Engineering student at NTU Singapore & a Global Evangelist at YourStory.com. She has a passion for cars, non-fiction reads and music. Her hope is to create a dent in the universe, in her own way, some day. When she is not trying to find more opportunities to lay her hands on, you can find her writing, traveling or gorging on chocolate and cheese. ... read more on social.yourstory.com."

Mentoring India's Next Generation to Move Out of Poverty

Pratik Kumar is the CEO of Magic Bus, a TOMS Giving Partner distributing new, locally produced 
shoes to children in need in India. At TOMS, we’re proud to support partners like Magic Bus and their incredible programming, where shoes are just a small part of a much larger development program. We’ve invited Pratik to share some stories from the field in honor of One Day Without Shoes. Take it away, Pratik…

In just over a decade, 250 million youth will enter the Indian workforce. That’s the equivalent of the entire working population of the United States , all adding to India’s current labor pool by 2030 and all looking for employment.

When we started Magic Bus in 1999 in Mumbai, we started with one question: are these young people job-ready? Only 20 percent of Indian youth finish high school , with many dropping out because the basics are out of reach: food, supplies and clothes, including shoes. We all know that without education, it’s very tough for the poor to move out of poverty.

A very large number are extremely poor: 33 percent of Indians earn just $1.25 per day. Our solution to make them job-ready was simple, to work from within and change their behavior, arming them with an attitude that is set for success. Behavior change does not happen overnight, though, so we invest early and for the long-term.

To make this happen, we employ the Magic Bus “Childhood to Livelihood” model, bringing in partners whose core competencies fill a dire need in the lives of these marginalized children and youth on their 10-year journey with Magic Bus.

Consider shoes. In India, shoes are a clear marker of where you are on the economic ladder. At the bottom of the pyramid, chances are you are only able to afford second-hand flip-flops. Walking to school, walking to explore, walking to playgrounds — all of these basic activities become a challenge for children without shoes.

This is where the TOMS and Magic Bus story begins. We work with 250,000 children, and our strategic partnership with TOMS enables these children to have the one basic article of clothing that literally takes them places. The TOMS Shoes fill a crucial programmatic gap, giving children the safety, dignity and confidence to step out of the home and participate in the Magic Bus engagement model.

This holistic approach works to empowering individuals and entire communities to make better
decisions in the areas of education, health and hygiene practices, gender equity, leadership and
livelihoods. A shining example of that empowerment is Gulafsha Ansari who went from
being a school dropout to joining Magic Bus and returning to school and being a youth leader in
her community. In 2012, she told her story as a Huffington Post blogger, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gulafsha-kumrulhoda-ansari/

Others, like Shanti from Hyderabad Old City, are taking their first steps. Shanti wears her TOMS
Shoes to school and whenever she steps out of her modest home in one of India’s largest slums. Her
Magic Bus journey began when she was just 10 years old and already a school dropout. We created local role models who encouraged her to join the program. She was attracted to our dynamic activity-based curriculum, which utilizes sport and play as the engagement catalyst. These sessions are designed to recreate real-life situations and challenges that Shanti can relate to.

Off the field, Magic Bus worked directly with Shanti’s parents and community to support them in
building a child-friendly ecosystem that takes care of every basic need, from health and hygiene to leadership and livelihood. TOMS will continue to give Shanti a pair of shoes every year, supporting her as she continues to battle the next challenges in her life, primarily fending off child marriage and completing her education.

The best part is that all of the shoes that Magic Bus receives from TOMS are locally manufactured
in India, continuing the cycle of community-centered development.

Over the last 15 years, Magic Bus’ unique ability to localize programming and help every child
reach his or her full potential has garnered the support of many strategic partners just like TOMS. Just last month, Magic Bus was proud to win the Laureus Sport for Good Award, bringing the award to India for the first time in history.

The task ahead remains difficult. The impact of a youth bulge in the population can be either beneficial or harmful, depending on how prepared they are and how we as a society respond. If we succeed, a larger number of educated, healthy young people will enter the workforce and will deliver major economic benefits to themselves and society as a whole. Strategic partners like TOMS help us break down our goal into achievable targets, which in Shanti’s case, means helping her go to school and reach her Magic Bus sessions
every day.

This year, we’ll be joining TOMS on One Day Without Shoes – the company’s annual day to raise
global awareness for children’s health and education. Like TOMS, we believe that with the complex issues surrounding poverty, there is not one solution, but many working together. We hope you’ll take off your shoes and join us.

For more information, visit www.toms.com/onedaywithoutshoes.

Pratik Kumar is the CEO of Magic Bus, Asia’s largest mentoring charity, working with 250,000
children and 8,000 youth mentors every week. Magic Bus USA is a 501(c)3
charity and focuses on building and developing partnerships in the USA for global program growth.

Original Article by TOMS.