Aflatoun NFE Manual Africa Inglês

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual
Child Social & Financial Education
Aflatoun
Non - Formal Education Manual

A manual for Facilitators on Child Social & Financial Education
All the editions have been through a process of creation, testing and revision based on work and feedback from the Aflatoun partner organisations, academics, teachers, pedagogues, Ministries of Education and children, as part of an ongoing bottom-up consultation process.
A special thank you to all the people who have made the creation of these workbooks possible: the children, teachers, parents, trainers, our dedicated partners, government ministries, donors, translators, designers, illustrators, the Aflatoun staff, volunteers, friends and family. AflatounTM 2005 Jeroo Billimoria This work may be reproduced and redistributed, in whole or in part, without alteration and without prior written permission, solely by educational institutions for non-profit administrative or educational purposes providing all copies contain the following statement: Copyright 2008. Aflatoun Child Savings International. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Aflatoun Child Savings International. No other use is permitted without the express prior written permission of Aflatoun Child Savings International. For permission, contact info@aflatoun.org Printing versions First edition February 2010
PREFACE
Welcome to the World of Aflatoun! As a facilitator, you will play an important role in teaching social and financial education in the nonformal education (NFE) settings. Child social and financial education are aimed to help children learn about critical thinking, rights and responsibilities, as well as financial knowledge and skills that enable them to make the best use of recourses. Social education teaches children responsible citizenship and the need to know and be involved in social issues that affect them while financial education involves teaching children the important skills of saving, budgeting, and engaging in financial enterprise while. This manual is designed for the learning facilitators and can be used for two general target groups: children in need of special protection or non-formal learners (out of school youth, street children, abused children in institutions, children in conflict with the law, children in drop-in centers, among others) and children in non-formal settings (micro-finance institution clubs, after school clubs). The manual is designed to address different issues that can make learning challenging for both groups. Children in need of special protection may have literacy and numeracy challenges as well as personal traumas which have affected their level of self-confidence and capacity to learn. Both groups may find it difficult to have a rigid schedule due to their different lifestyles. Hence, the manual aims to be as child-friendly and experiential as possible and to make learning a fun activitybased process. This is also designed to be flexible enough for facilitators to mix and match the activities depending on the schedule that is available to them. We have annexed a suggested curriculum plan at the end of this manual, depending on whether you work with children in special need of protection or children in non-formal settings, or whether you have only one 4 hour session or about 40 hours in a year. In the end, feel free to mix and match as you feel is appropriate. Activities can be delivered to both young and older children, unless specified. Young children refer to children 7 - 11 years old, while older children refer to children 12 - 17 years old. Please be sensitive to the competence of your participants and the appropriateness of the activities based on their competence given the varying experiences of these children. Here is to a fruitful learning with the children!
Acknowledgements
NFE Manual developed by: Psychosocial Support and Childrens Rights Resource Center Non-formal Contextualisation Workshop Participants: Manizeh Bano, Sahil Sirsa Qursha, Jordan River Foundation Nazan Mustafa, SOS Kosovo Nanre Mfizger, Lynx Nigeria Luis Claudio Celma, Vincularte CDIA Roberto Urbieta, Fundacion Paraguaya Raymond Wever, FMO Doreen Lobeek, FMO Mirjam Nagel, Alice O Gerlad Kinuthia Ana Correia Rodrigues Carolina Tamayo Lila Vega Aflatoun Secretariat Curriculum Development Task Force: Nanre Mfizger, Lynx Nigeria Sumitra Ashtikar, MelJol Lucas Barberis, Ejercicio Ciudadano Lucia Anna Stasselova, Children of Slovakia Writers and Module Developers: Arnie C. Trinidad and Faye Alma G. Balanon Activity Consultant: Marichu Belarmino Copyright 2009
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Contents
Introduction The Aflatoun Approach The Resilience Paradigm A Simplified Framework The Contents of the Manual How to Use the Manual Section 1: Aflatoun and I Module 1: Hello, pleased to meet you! Activity 1: Action! Activity 2: Great Expectations Module 2: This is me Activity 1: Mini Me Alternate activity: I am here! Activity 2: What is Aflatoun The Sounding Board 05 05 06 07 10 11 13 15 15 16 18 18 20 22 27
Section 2: Personal Understanding and Exploration 28 Module 1: My community, nation and world 30 Activity 1: My Own Community 31 Activity 2: Move in Space 33 Activity 3: The Groups We Belong To 34 Activity 4: A Piece of History 35 Activity 5: I Believe In 37 Activity 6: My World My Country My Aflatoun 39 Module 2: Learning more about myself 42 Activity 1: Things that I Love and Hate 43 Activity 2: A River of Hearts 44 Activity 3: A Time of Gift Giving 47
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Module 3: I am a good person Activity 1: Are You Alive? Activity 2: The Things I Do Activity 3: Build Me a Tower Activity 4: We can Solve This! Module 4: My Dreams Activity 1: I Will Become Activity 2: Water Ceremony The Sounding Board
48 48 49 51 52 53 53 54 55
Section 3: Rights and Responsibilities 57 Module 1: My Rights and My Responsibilities 59 Activity 1: Child, House, Storm.... 59 Activity 2: A College of Needs 60 Activity 3: And the Rights were Born 61 Activity 4: Guess the Next Scene 64 Activity 5: What Would Happen? 65 Module 2: Things my Family and I Own and Have 70 Activity 1: Heart Strings 70 Activity 2: What we Have 72 Module 3: Institutions I can Count on 73 Activity 1: Battle of the Bands 73 Activity 2: Dreams for the Future 74 Alternate Activity: Wheb I Grow Up 75 Activity 3: To the Future! 76 The Sounding Board 77 Section 4: Saving, Spending, Planning, and Budgeting 78 Module 1: The Things We Want and Need 80 Activity 1: The Questioning Ball 81 Activity 2: A Snapshot of our Needs and Wants (for younger children) 82 Activity 4: Is it True or False?
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Activity 3: Collage of Needs and Wants (for older children) 85 Activity 4: Is it True or False? 86 Activity 5: What if..? 86 Module 2: Saving for a Rainy Day 88 Activity 1: The Itchy Scalp Game 88 Activity 2: What Do I Need to Do? (For younger children) 90 Activity 3: The Happiness Bank 93 Activity 4: Word Relay Game 94 Activity 5: Helping Save the Environment 95 Activity 5.1: Aflatouns Journey to Planet Waste-eria (for younger children) 96 Activity 5.2: Wind Mobile from Recyclable Materials 100 Activity 6: I Can Save, I Have Saved! 102 Activity 6.1: Problem Solving (for older children) 102 Activity 6.2: What will I do? (for younger children) 105 Activity 6.3: Yes, I can Save! (for younger children) 107 Activity 7: Places to Save Money 109 Module 3: Where Should I Keep It? 110 Activity 1: The Aflatoun Box 110 Activity 2: The Aflatoun Wallet 112 Activity 3: The Savings Book 114 Activity 4: The Book of Good Deeds 116 Activity 5: Poster Making 118 Module 4: All About Spending and Budgeting 119 Activity 1: Introducing Budgeting to Children 119 Activity 1.1: Buying the Things We Want and Need (for young children) 119
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Activity 1.2: Planning a Party Activity 2: Monthly Budget The Sounding Board
120 122 124
Section 5: Financial and Social Enterprise 101 125 Module 1 My Personal Goal 127 Activity 1: The Trust Maze 127 Activity 2: Burning Our Past Hurts, Rekindling Our Spirit! 128 Activity 3: High Flying Goals 129 Module 2 Setting-up a Financial Enterprise 132 Activity 1: Deciding on an Apt Financial Enterprise (for older children) 132 Activity 2: All About Pricing (for older children) 135 Activity 3: Selling in the Community (for younger children) 137 Module 3: All About Social Enterprise 139 Activity 1: The Longest Line 139 Activity 2: The Goal Ladder 140 Activity 3: Our Goals within Our Reach 143 Activity 4: The Web of Life 144 The Sounding Board 144
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Introduction
The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual is a guide for facilitators of the Aflatoun Program for non-formal education learners (e.g. children in need of special protection who are in child care homes) and children learning in non-formal settings in social and financial enterprise. The Manual contains various Activities that will help the children attain the objectives of the Aflatoun program and develop the core competencies Aflatoun seeks to inculcate among children. The Training Program aims for the children to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Appreciate and respect their own uniqueness and special characteristics as well as the uniqueness and special characteristics of others; Appreciate and defend their rights and those of others, while fulfilling their responsibilities as good citizens; Know and value the appropriate use of natural material and financial resources and prioritize their use in a responsible manner; Value the importance of planning and budgeting resources; Set goals, plan and coordinate resources, and implement plans accordingly; Design and manage social and financial enterprises that contribute to self- improvement, the school and community, and Demonstrate perseverance, responsibility, critical thinking and creativity.
The Aflatoun Approach The Manual is anchored on the following principles that served as the framework in designing and crafting the Activities for this Training Program: The Five Core Elements of the Aflatoun Program and the Resilience Paradigm. The Five Core Elements The Five Core Elements of the Aflatoun Program have been developed to help children become positive changemakers within their communities. Each Core Element is seen as equally important. Core Element One: Personal Understanding and Exploration Self-confidence is essential for children who want to become change makers within their communities. Children are encouraged towards greater self-knowledge. Children are given the space to explore values, both individually and through interaction with peers. As part of that process they are encouraged to express themselves creatively. Aflatoun promotes child-centred learning. Planting the seeds of independence and self-reliance at an early age helps children develop into resourceful, self-motivated individuals. Aflatoun promotes values such as compassion and empathy. It emphasizes the childs position within a wider community, where all members are mutually dependent. Financial ethics are explored and children learn the importance of balancing financial skills with the judgment to use these skills responsibly. Core Element Two: Rights and Responsibilities Aflatoun is grounded in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), which identifies four sets of interdependent rights (survival, development, protection and participation). Whilst all the rights of the CRC are accorded equal importance, it is widely accepted that the participation rights (Articles 12 17) are of particular importance because they enable children to realize other key rights. Children who are confident at expressing themselves and ensuring their opinions are heard, especially in adult company, are their own best line of defence. The same is true of children who are
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well-informed and organized, who know how to access and share information. Furthermore, learning about rights helps children understand the plight of others whose rights are denied. Participation is a right, not a reward. That is why Aflatoun encourages child-centred learning where children are free to offer opinions and express themselves. Children should also learn about their responsibilities towards themselves, their family, their community and the environment and not just demand for their rights. This sense of responsibility will later help guide the decisions they make when they come to set up their own financial enterprises. Core Element Three: Savings and Spending In keeping with Aflatouns holistic approach to development, a broad definition of savings is promoted. It entails saving both material and non-material resources. Saving water and using natural resources responsibly is deemed as important as saving money. Saving is seen as a tool that helps children realize their rights. Children learn how to save and how to spend in a responsible manner. The amounts saved are of little importance. The benefit derives from introducing children to the concept and discipline of regular saving. Core Element Four: Planning and Budgeting Planning and budgeting are wonderful tools for boosting a childs self-confidence. Boys and girls come to see that they can make hopes and dreams come true. They are financially empowered when they can use their saving and spending skills to improve their lives. For example, a consistent savings habit can enable a child to start her own micro-enterprise. A consistent savings habit can enable a group of children to launch a social justice campaign. Core Element Four leads to beneficial outcomes beyond the purely financial. Through planning and budgeting, children learn to see the future as something that they themselves can manage. Core Element Five: Child Social and Financial Enterprise Children are encouraged to view themselves as active participants in, and shapers of their community. There is an emphasis on teamwork. Children are encouraged to organize and deliver their own social justice campaigns. They are helped in experimenting with generating revenue and gain experience of working financial enterprise models. Through managing community activities or entrepreneurial enterprises children begin to see how they can have a positive impact on their community. The Resilience Paradigm Aside from the previous paradigms, we also add another paradigm to enrich our framework: the resilience framework. We need to use the paradigm because most of the participants in the NFE programme are Children in Need of Special Protection1(CNSP). CNSP are children whose rights have been violated and who need special protective interventions such as education, health, social welfare, rescue, recovery, reintegration, legal assistance, and protection. They may belong to any of the following categories: child laborers victims of commercial sexual exploitation victims of physical and sexual abuse or those who experienced violence at home, in the community, and under authorities suffered discriminatory, inappropriate, and deficient laws and judicial processes and practices for CICL other-abled individuals street children are involved in armed conflict belong to indigenous communities
These childrens negative experiences in life have left some of them with self-esteem problems. Their capacity to see a brighter future and to empathize with others may have also been compromised by their experience. We need to help these children regain their sense of self and sense of compassion
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for others by tapping into their strengths. Resilience helps children cope with their experiences and to have a healthier sense of self and more positive outlook in life. Resilience is the: 1. Inner capacity of human beings to surmount difficulties or to recover from loss2 ; 2. Competence and inner strength to work well, play well, love well, and expect well despite the presence of considerable adversities3; 3. The latent capacity to resist distraction and the capacity or positive construction in spite of difficult circumstances4; 4. Capacity to withstand and recover and grow from negative experiences5.
This program aims to nurture childrens resilience at the same time that the Five Core Competencies are developed.
A Simplified Framework
To simplify and bring together all the frameworks we have just discussed, we adopt the four qualitative categories by Chok Hiew in the Integrating Child-Centered Approaches in Childrens Work. The four qualitative categories capture the principles being put forward by the various frameworks of the Aflatoun Program. It presents in an easy to understand manner what we want the children to accomplish in this training (see list below), which is for the children to realize what and who they are, what they have, and what they can, to give them the confidence to say, we will become effective changemakers in society. 1. 2. 3. 4. We are (internal resources and being a person)good self esteem, filled with faith and hope, autonomous and responsible We have (external resources)positive community life, agency intervention, family support, supportive school or community We can (competence and skills)leadership, problem solving skills, communication skills, ability to manage ones feelings We will (resolutions)change and transformation
The Table below shows how we have used the principles of the various frameworks and fitted them with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills we want the children to learn from this Program:
1. Protacio-de Castro, Elizabeth et al. 2004. Handbook for Social Workers on Basic Bio-Psychosocial Help for Children in Need of Special Protection. Quezon City: UP CIDS. 2. Rossi, R. 1995. Resilience and the Catholic Theological Tradition. Geneva: ICCB Series. 3. Garmerzy, N. 1985. Stress resilient children: the search for protective factors. In JE Stevenson (ed). Recent Research in Development Psychopathology, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Book Supplement. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 4. Vanistendael, S. 1995. Growth in the Muddle of Life, Resilience: Building on Peoples Strengths. Geneva: ICCB Series. 5. Banaag, C. 1997. Exploring resiliency among Filipino Street Children. In Resiliency: Stories Found in Philippine Streets. Manila: UNICEF. 2
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Core Activities We are

Activities will revolve around knowing the childs capacities and weaknesses, understanding the experiences of the child, and facilitating the processing of the childrens experiences to help them recover their self-esteem/selfworth and to help them gain a better perspective of their life and make them more hopeful about the future.
Knowledge
I am unique and special despite my experiences
Attitudes
I believe in myself and can achieve many things
Skills
I can share things about myself and express how I feel
I am part of the world, which is diverse in gender, ageetc I understand that there are situations around me that need to, and can be, improved I am aware of my rights and responsibilities
I value diversity and equity
I can interact with everybody respectfully
I like to be a change maker
I can come up with meaningful ways to address social issues around me.
We have
The activities will revolve around helping the children realize that there are persons and institutions that could offer them various forms of support. This will also involve helping the children assess their resources, material or otherwise that are available in their community that could help them achieve their goals.
I want rights to be realized for every child in the world
I can claim my rights from whoever is responsible and I can help others I am able to creatively use, reuse, save, and protect resources
I know some of my resources are scarce and need to be valued
I value an appropriate use of natural and financial resources
I know my needs I am proud of and wants may be making careful, different well-thought through spending decisions
I am able to prioritize and distinguish between my wants and needs
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We Can
The activities in this part will ensure that the children have the requisite skills to engage in saving and industry. This will also be related to the activities in the I have portion. This is important because the resources children have will help them achieve their goals. This will also look into their capacities and capabilities that they can use in the program
I understand the importance of planning and recognize the different elements involved
I want to plan (before I spend/do things)
I am able to set goals and plan steps to achieve them, using available resources I am able to create a budget, and balance it against expenses
I understand the I appreciate the use of and the use of budgets in different elements my planning of budgeting
We Will
The activities here will help the children think about their social & financial goals, help guide them to find ways of achieving these goals, and help them plan how they could achieve these goals (i.e. financial stability).
I understand the basic principles of enterprises
I am eager to take the initiative to achieve something
I am able to research and decide what enterprise I want to start and am able to run it We are able to make decisions and carry out tasks together and achieve our goals I am able to achieve a certain level of financial independence
I know the importance of cooperation
I value working with my friends
I have strengths, which will help me achieve my goals. I may have weaknesses but I can do something about my weaknesses to help me with my goals
I can achieve my goals
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Contents of the Manual

The Manual is divided into five sections: Section Section Section Section Section 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: Aflatoun and I (Introduction) Personal Understanding and Exploration (We are) Rights & Responsibilities (We have) Saving, Spending, Planning, and Budgeting (We can) Child Financial and Social Enterprise (We will)
Each Section provides Activities that will help the children learn the competencies outlined in the Table above. Section 1 provides introduction activities to help the participants get to know each other and to lend you a hand in presenting the Aflatoun Program to the children. It also contains Expectations Setting Exercises to help you learn more about the programme needs of your participants. Section 2, Personal Understanding and Exploration, walks the children through the path of self-exploration to help them understand and know themselves better including their competencies, strengths, and their capacity to take charge of their lives. More importantly, it allows children to draw strength from and feel empathy towards fellow participants as they find resonances in their life stories and experiences. Section 3 takes the social preparation of the children a step further by teaching children their rights. This is balanced by the emphasis on good citizenship or responsibility not only towards the self but towards others and the community as well. The Section also assists children in listing the material, institutional, and personal resources they can tap to help them achieve their goals. Section 4 merges the Core Elements 3 and 4 of the Aflatoun Program Saving and Spending and Planning and Budgeting. As the section title implies, the section teaches financial management to children to help the children improve not only their financial status but their whole lives as well. One of the skills the children will learn from the section is saving, albeit in a broader sense as it teaches saving financial and nonfinancial resources as well. Section 5 teaches children about financial and social enterprise. This section emphasizes the inextricable relationship between personal and social responsibility. While financial enterprise can help the children achieve their personal goals, the children are encouraged to go beyond thinking about their own welfare. The Section encourages children to think beyond their own personal welfare to engage in activities that are beneficial to the community. The skills they learned from financial education should not end in selfbeneficial activities; instead, it can be used as a potent tool for social enterprise and social change
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How to Use the Manual

This manual is designed to be flexible to your needs. We understand that when working in the nonformal setting, you may encounter challenges: - - - - - Varying levels of literacy and numeracy skills Finding a regular meeting time Varying ages in a mixed group Varying levels of psycho-social needs Changing participants due to their migratory lifestyles or due to being unable to require attendance
An effective Aflatoun programme requires conducting lessons from all the sections with the children. Depending on who you are working with, what you would need to focus on, how many hours you have, we suggest that you feel free to mix and match the activities, ensuring that there is one activity from each section. For recommendations, please refer to the annex at the end of this manual. Some general notes on this manual: - The sections are designed to be used sequentially. The children have to undergo personal and social preparations (sections 2 & 3) before they can engage in the activities in Sections 4 and 5. - Each Section has a general objective with an overview of what the Section intends to accomplish. - Sections are further divided into Modules that contain related activities that will help us achieve the objectives of the Section. - Activities have objectives that need to be accomplished for that particular session. A suggested time limit and a list of materials for the activity are also provided. Procedures for the activities are carefully laid down. - Unless stated, the activities can be used for multi-age group. Some activities are specific for younger and older children. Some activities come with worksheets children that can be reproduced for distribution to the children. - You will have to deliver the modules in your own language to make the activities more accessible to the children.
Activities that are culturally inappropriate will also have to be adjusted to suit the cultural practices of your participants. Although the activities are contextual, the messages that will be delivered to the participants are universal. Look out for the following icons that signify an important part of the module: - Bright Ideas! suggest additional activities your participants can do. These are not required activities, though you may encourage your participants to go through them. - Notes to the Facilitator give tips on how to better run the Activities. They also give you alternative ways of doing the Activities and help you avoid potentially sticky situations and discussions. - Key messages at the end are those which you have to deliver. These are found at the end of each Activity. The messages usually contain the learning points we want the children to grasp after every Activity. - Sounding Board is where you ask your participants to give their feedback on the activities they have just done. This will come in handy in making useful and relevant changes to the Activities. It will also help gauge whether the Program is meeting its objectives. Take time to listen to what the children have to say. Accept all their comments and be open to the changes they suggest. Feel free to give them your feedback as well.
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SECTION 1:
Aflatoun and I
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Hello Facilitator!

The First Section contains activities meant to introduce your participants to each other and also to introduce Aflatoun to them. We encourage you to conduct the activities because they are fun and they serve as good icebreakers! If you have been working with the children for sometime, you may skip some of the activities. We start by having the children talk about themselves to get them out of their shells and to make them more comfortable about themselves! They will probably be shy at first, but with a healthy dose of encouragement , they will soon open up and share things about themselves. This Section will also get the children to know their fellow participants. This will be very useful because they will be together in the Training for quite sometime. They will need to establish rapport, friendship, and trust. You will also get to know them and they will get to know you too. This will benefit you because you can adjust the training based on the profile of your participants. The Section also helps them situate themselves in the context of the program we want to introduce, which brings us to another important feature of this module: the introduction of Aflatoun and its programs. The section aims to motivate children to make the crucial decision of becoming part of Aflatoun. It will help them realize that other children from all over the world have become Aflatouns. The lives of these children are now being changed for the better by that decision. The section will also help you find out the expectations of the participants and for you to lay down your own expectations from them. This will help you share a transparent and trusting relationship with them.
Section Objectives For this section, we will: 1. Facilitate introductions among the participants and foster trust and camaraderie; 2. Help children learn about Aflatoun and its programs; 3. Help children realize there are children all over the world who have joined the program and are now benefiting from it; 4. Encourage the children to make a commitment to become an Aflatoun.
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Module 1:
Hello, pleased to meet you!
As the Module title suggests, the activities are getting-to-know activities, which hopefully will facilitate camaraderie and friendship among and inspire greater cooperation and participation from the children.
Activity 1: Action!
Rather than going through the usual introduction, the Activity adds a new twist to make the name introduction activity lively and entertaining. It aims to break the proverbial ice. When done correctly, everyone will have a hearty laugh and will be energized by the activity.
Activity Objective
To have the children introduce themselves. To help break the ice among the participants.
Time 15 minutes Procedures

1. Ask the children to form a circle. Each participant will shout his or her name as a way of introducing him or herself. Start from the participant on your right then work your way till everyone has had his or her turn. 2. After everyone has finished, tell the children to shout their name again. This time they have to perform an action or body movement that they think best describes their personality. For example, Joey will jump up and down as he calls out his name because he is energetic. 3. After the participant shouts his/her name, the rest of the group should also call out the participants name and mimic the action s/he performed. Do this until everyone has had his or her turn.
Activity Objective To know the expectations of the participants from the facilitator and the Training Program. To share your own expectations from the participants. Time 30-45 minutes Procedures 1. Retain the circle from the previous activity. Ask the children what they expect from the training program, what they think will be discussed in the next few days, and the type of activities that will be conducted. 2. Instead of reporting verbally, ask them to act their answer out or use body movement. Encourage them to express themselves fully and to shed their inhibitions. Give them a minute or less to do this. 3. The children should continue acting out their expectations, but this time, they have to look for participants that seem to be acting out the same expectation. When they
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findsomeone with a seemingly similar answer, they should group together. In case they do not find anyone performing a similar action, they should continue their movement on their own. 4. When the children have finished grouping themselves, ask each group to act out their expectation while the other groups guess what the action is. All the groups will have their turn. Probable answers include: listening to the lecture, playing games, sharing their ideas and things about themselves, etc. 5. After everyone is done, the groups should continue to discuss their other expectations. Assign a question per group such as the following: What can you share as a participant to these activities? What do you expect from your trainer/facilitator? What do you expect from the other participants? 6. Give the groups 10 to 15 minutes to discuss their answers.
They can come up with as many answers as they can. When their discussion is over, ask the groups to present their answers through actions. The other groups will again guess the answers of the presenting groups. 7. Write down their answers on a white/black board or flipchart to make it easier for you to summarize. 8. Discuss the answers after all the groups have presented. 9. Share what the training will cover and what wont be covered. Relate your discussion with their expectations. Encourage them to participate and to speak their minds out. Tell them they will learn together. 10. Start to introduce Aflatoun at this point. Introduce Aflatoun as their new friend. Tell them they will learn more about Aflatoun as they progress through the activities. Introduce Aflatoun better later on as they progress through the activities.
Activity 2: Great Expectations

Great Expectations is an Expectations-Setting Activity. This will help you gauge how much the participants know about the Training and the Aflatoun Program. It will give you the opportunity to correct the wrong notions they may have. You can also use this activity to find out how much the children are willing to participate and how much commitment you can expect from them. Likewise, the participants can also express their expectations from you and their fellow participants. This activity lays the groundwork for a fruitful training program. Activity Objectives To know the expectations of the participants from the facilitator and the Training Program. To share your own expectations from the participants. Time 30 to 45 minutes Procedures: 1. Retain the circle from the previous activity. Ask the children what
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they expect from the training program, what they think will be discussed in the next few days, and the type of activities that will be conducted. 2. Instead of reporting verbally, ask them to act their answer out or use body movement. Encourage them to express themselves fully and to shed their inhibitions. Give them a minute or less to do this. 3. The children should continue acting out their expectations, but this time, they have to look for participants that seem to be acting out the same expectation. When they find someone with a seemingly similar answer, they should group together. In case they do not find anyone performing a similar action, they should continue their movement on their own. 4. When the children have finished grouping themselves, ask each group to act out their expectation while the other groups guess what the action is. All the groups will have their turn. Probable answers include: listening to the lecture, playing games, sharing their ideas and things about themselves, etc. 5. After everyone is done, the groups should continue to discuss their other expectations. Assign a question per group such as the following: What can you share as a participant to these activities? What do you expect from your trainer/facilitator? What do you expect from the other participants?
6. Give the groups 10 to 15 minutes to discuss their answers. They can come up with as many answers as they can. When their discussion is over, ask the groups to present their answers through actions. The other groups will again guess the answers of the presenting groups. 7. Write down their answers on a white/black board or flipchart to make it easier for you to summarize. 8. Discuss the answers after all the groups have presented.
9. Share what the training will cover and what wont be covered. Relate your discussion with their expectations. Encourage them to participate and to speak their minds out. Tell them they will learn together. 10. Start to introduce Aflatoun at this point. Introduce Aflatoun as their new friend. Tell them they will learn more about Aflatoun as they progress through the activities.
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Module 2: This is me
Module 2 still deals with self-introduction. However, it will go a step further. This time, participants will share some personal information such as where they come from and other personal stuff about them. These essential pieces of information will help us find appropriate approaches and refine our techniques in dealing with them.
Activity 1: Mini Me
It is often difficult for children in need of special protection to share information about themselves for various reasons: having low self-esteem, feeling embarrassed about their experiences, or the unwillingness to open up to people. This Activity makes use of puppets to make children more comfortable and less intimidated in sharing personal information. Using a Mini Me gives them a feeling of security, of being less vulnerable given they are introducing someone elsethat is, a smaller version of themselves. Activity Objectives To help facilitate introduction and sharing of personal information and context. To initiate bonding between and among the participants and the facilitator. Time 30 minutes Materials Paper, tape, Popsicle sticks (or plain sticks), crayons or other coloring implements, yarn, other art materials, scissors and pastes, and pre-cut outlines of paper dolls (4-inches tall)
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Procedures
1. In this activity, the children will be making paper versions of themselves. 2. Give each participant a pre-cut outline of a paper doll. Tell them that the paper doll is a little version of themselves. 3. Draw faces on the doll using crayons or other writing or coloring implements. Create clothes, shoes/slippers, and hair using paper, yarn (for the dolls hair), or other art materials. 4. Afterwards, prop up the paper dolls using (popsicle) stick to make the doll into a puppet. 5. Divide the children into small groups of three or four members. Sharing with a small group will help lessen anxiety and pressure. Have the children gather in a circle. Instruct them to introduce their mini me to their group. 6. The children will answer the following questions with optional follow up questions depending on your assessment of the childrens capacity to answer follow-up questions: a.Name (Optional: Do you know the origin or meaning of your name?) b. Surname (Optional: Is the surname common? Where are your forebears from [region or province]?) c. Birthday (Optional: Tell us about a memorable birthday you have had. Ask about the birthdays of his or her siblings) d. Where do you live? (Optional: How long have you lived there? Tell us about the community where you live.) e. Do you go to school? If yes, where? What level are you in? f. Person who is close to your heart? Why? g. Do you work? If yes, what do you do? (Optional: How much do you earn? How many hours do you work? )
7. When everyone has finished sharing in the small group and they have already loosened up, you can have the children share in a plenary session.
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Alternate activity: I am here!

This is an alternate activity to the previous one. Instead of sharing in a group, the children will share information about themselves with a partner. Consult the participants if they are comfortable in sharing information about themselves in a one-on-one setting. If every thing is fine, proceed with the Activity. This serves as a powerful introductory tool as indepth personal information about the children is provided. It encourages trust between the dyads. Time 30 minutes Materials Paper, crayons or pens Procedure 1. Give each child a piece of paper and a pen/crayon. Group them into pairs. Ask them to place the paper on the floor or table. 2. Have the children place their hand on the paper with their fingers spread. They will trace their hand on the paper. 3. Ask the children to write their name and birthday on the palm of the outline of their hand. If the hand is too small, they may write outside the outline. On the fingers, they will write down the following information: a. Thumb the names of the members of their family b. Forefinger - Where do you live? c. Middle finger What do you like to do? (Examples: dance, play, watching TV, tell stories) d. Ring finger Person/s you feel is close to your heart e. Little finger (choose which is appropriate) Do you go to school? If yes, where? What level are you in? / Do you work? If yes, what is your work? / Organization that I belong to 4. Afterwards, each child chooses another child she/he is comfortable to share his/her drawing. The pairs will share with each other what they drew and wrote. Give them a few minutes for this. 5. Gather everyone in a circle. Each pair will talk about the hand print of his/her partner. While one is reporting, the other one should stand behind. The one behind will stick his arms out to make it look as if his arms were the arms of the reporter. He will also provide hand gestures while the reporter talks
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Note to the Facilitator You might find yourself in a sticky situation if the pairs are composed of male and female participants especially in more conservative settings. To avoid such situation, create same sex pairs. Another alternative is to have one perform a pantomime while the other one is reporting. 6. After reporting, ask the following: a. Do you know the origin or meaning of your name? b. Is the surname common in your community? From which region or province did your forebears come from? c. How long have you lived in your community? d. Are you close to anyone? Why are you close to that person? e. Etc.
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Activity 2: What is Aflatoun?

This Activity will be most useful for neophytes. It provides a good opportunity to introduce newcomers to the objectives and thrusts of the Aflatoun Program. On the other hand, seasoned participants will still benefit from this as the Activity deepens their understanding of the goals, objectives, and thrusts of the Program. It pays to issue useful reminders from time to time about the organizations Program thrusts. Activity Objective To introduce the Aflatoun objectives. Time 30 minutes Materials Paper, crayons or pens, scissors, tape, the childrens output from the previous activity (the paper doll or the hand) and a picture of the Aflatoun flame (Illustration of the Aflatoun mascot) or its stuffed toy version. Procedures 1. Give each participant a piece of paper and pen/crayon. Ask them to place the paper on the floor or table. 2. Tell the children to place their hand on the paper, this time, with their fingers together. Have them trace their hand on the paper. 3. Ask the children to cut out their handprint and color the hand yellow and orange. 4. Ask the children what the yellow and orange hand reminds them of. Lead them to realize that it looks like a flame. 5. Ask the children what a flame symbolizes. Possible answers: it is a symbol for warmth and light, it serves as a beacon, it could be a symbol for faith, etc. 6. Some will point out the negative aspects of flames. For instance, fire can get us burned, put us in danger, or cause us pain. Acknowledge these as valid answers. However, stress that we will be focusing on the more beneficial aspects of flames in this Activity. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Introduce Aflatoun. Underscore that Aflatoun has the beneficial characteristics of flames. He is bright, warm, and friendly. Show the children the Aflatoun mascot or a picture of Aflatoun. Tell them that the mascots name is Aflatoun and he is named after a program of the same name. Share that Aflatoun and the Aflatoun Program helps children all over the world by teaching them how to be resourceful, enterprising, and inventive. It also teaches children to be changemakers! As an example, Aflatoun teaches children to save funds and other resources. It works with children to help them act together on issues that are important to children. Tell the children that Aflatoun also NEEDS YOUR HELP! Ask the children what they usually do to make a flame bigger. Probable answers: you have to kindle it, stoke the fire with firewood, or blow on it. Tell them that Aflatoun the mascot needs their help to be bigger and brighter. They can do this by joining the Aflatoun Program and by attending and participating in the various Activities. Tell the children that by joining Aflatoun, all of us will be going through an exciting journey of exploring, thinking, investigating, and acting. By becoming Aflatouns, we are like little flames that light other peoples ways and serve as an inspiration to adults and other children. Ask them: Are you willing to become an Aflatoun? If they agree, ask the children to tape the flame at the back of the paper dolls head (or on their drawing of the handboth of these are from the previous introductory
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13. 14.
activities). Ask the children: As we put these two together, what message does it tell you? Summarize their answers and stress that the next activities will help make Aflatoun lessons part of their lives. As a final activity, teach them the Aflatoun song. It will be better if you have the recording of the Aflatoun song or if you have translated the song in your language.
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Aflatoun Song
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Another Bright Idea! Help older children form an Aflatoun Club, if possible. The participants of the training can be the clubs initial members. Organizing them will make it easier to mobilize them to perform group activities. The Club can initially be adhoc, meaning temporary. It can exist while the training is ongoing. Give the children the option to dissolve or retain the group once the program is over. However, encourage the children to retain the Club even after the Training is over. Explain to them the benefits of doing this. Provide them with ample guidance to ensure the clubs sustainability. You can help them: Come up with goals and objectives of the Club. Suggest activities they can do as a group. Elicit ideas what Activities they want to do. Encourage them to meet every after training to discuss their plans for the group. Search funding for their projects or provide fund raising ideas Suggest ways to save as a group and make their savings grow.
The more occupied they are in the Club, the more reason they will get the Club going. Encourage the group to conduct an election of Club Overseers (or Officers. We prefer the term overseers to highlight the fact that the officers are accountable to the members of the group). Election gives them a taste of the democratic exercise and gives them the opportunity to learn the basics of democracy. Here are things you should stress to the children: a. Elected overseers represent the interests of the whole group. It is not a position of power, but a position of responsibility and accountability. The power rests on the majority. b. Everyone is entitled to take part in ALL decisions pertaining to club activities. Decisions will have to be agreed upon by everyone. c. The general body or the whole group can decide to hold fresh elections should the overseers or officers not perform their tasks. d. There are three main elective posts: Representative (equivalent to a Club President) who coordinates the activities of the Club. While decisions are done by the general body, the representative is tasked to oversee that decisions are carried out as decided upon by the members of the group. Assistant Representative (equivalent to a Vice President) carries out the function of the representative in the absence of the representative. S/he assists in all administrative tasks of the group. Note Taker (equivalent to a Secretary) takes detailed notes of all decisions taken at meetings and attends to other administrative tasks of the Club. Custodian of Resources (equivalent to a Treasurer) is in charge of the finances of the Club.
e. The election should be done through a secret ballot. f. The positions are not permanent positions. The Club should hold regular elections (either once a year or every six months) to give all members the opportunity to lead the Club. Everyone should have the chance to lead to learn responsibility and to develop their leadership potentials. g. Club members should take the Aflatouns Promise before the first club meeting. A
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copy is provided below. You can distribute this to the children (Have this translated in your own language).
Note to the Facilitator Ask the children if they want to add their own promises. They should be free to do this. If you are working with a non-literate group, read the promise and have them repeat after you. h. Distribute copies of the Suggestions to Help Run the Club Smoothly to the children. This is provided below. Like the Aflatouns Promise, you can have it photocopied.
Note to the Facilitator Explain each line of the Aflatoun Promise. Ask the children to provide what they think the promises mean. Help them understand the importance of the Aflatoun promise. For those who are not literate, make them place their thumbmark on the document instead of asking them to sign it.
The Sounding Board

The Sounding Board allows you to find out how your participants evaluate the Activities you have conducted. It helps you to be in touch with your participants and to get suggestions how you can further improve the Activities and the Training. Accept all their comments, even negative ones. Their negative comments about the Program, how you have handled it, and the Activities you have conducted will help you refine the Training further. Do not be afraid to receive criticism. Acknowledge their positive comments too. The comments mean that you are on the right track and you can continue this in future trainings. The first Sound Board will be about mining the children for their feelings about the Training Program. This will help you gauge how you can raise their enthusiasm further in continuing with it. Procedures Gather the participants in a circle. Have them think of one word or phrase to describe what they feel about what they have just gone through. Give everyone the opportunity to speak. Ask follow up questions. For instance, when a participant says I was happy. Ask, What made you happy? What will make you happier in this Training Program? List down their answers. Note from Aflatoun Introduce the Aflatoun website (www.aflatoun.org) as a place where they can visit if they have access to internet to learn about other Aflatoun members and clubs.
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SECTION 2:
Personal Understanding and Exploration
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Everyday, we meet new people whom we want to get to know better. Getting to know new friends helps us to adjust our behavior and to deal with them better. We need this for smooth interpersonal relationships. In this Section, we aim to get to know the children more and to have them get to know each other as well. This Section will help you deepen your understanding of the participants more than just knowing their name and other basic information about them. The Section aims to facilitate the exploration and sharing of the childrens personal experiences, likes and dislikes, and their dreams. These pieces of information will set in motion the helping process because it will help us identify their individual needs and assess their psychosocial well being. The Activities will allow participants to gain greater self-knowledge and confidence and realize their unique and special traits. The Activities also promote understanding and empathy towards others as they share their stories with each other. These are all part of the first core element of the Aflatoun Concept. In the course of the activities, the children will also learn things about you. Open up and share things about yourself because the mutual exchange of information will cultivate trust between you and the participants.
Section 1. 2. 3. 4.
Objectives To help the children identify their personal strengths and social networks. To help the children learn from the experiences of other children who share similar circumstances, and from the adults in their lives. To help children recognize the value and appreciation of uniqueness and diversity. To facilitate the sharing of dreams and plans for the future.
Note to the Facilitator Remind the children that all discussions and sharing in the Training shall remain confidential.
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Module 1: My community, nation and world

The focus of the introduction will be more on the contexts where they come from rather than the basic information we asked in the past Section. We start by situating the children in their own community in Activity 1. Where are they from? What can be found in their communities? What is special about their communities? These are just some of the questions we will ask the children. In the next Activity, we situate them in the larger community - the Nation - to help them realize they share their traits, practices, and history with a larger group of people. These shared characteristics give them their identity as a distinct group of people. Lastly, we situate them in yet a larger group - the world. Although national identity and a sense of nationalism are not bad in themselves, too much of nationalism can have their negative consequences. It can lead to parochialism and discrimination. We must help the children realize that they also draw their identity from their shared humanity with citizens from the rest of the world. This shared humanity will help them realize that although others may seem different, these differences are immaterial and inconsequential because all of us are human beings who should be responsible for each other.
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Activity 1: My Own Community

The activity encourages the children to share information about their community and place of origin. This will help us situate the child in the context of his or her community. Activity Objective To share about ones community. Time 60 minutes Materials Craft Paper (Standard size: 31X43), crayons or pens, adhesive tape, the childrens output from the previous activity (the paper doll, the hand, or the Aflatoun flame) Procedures 1. Form small groups. Give the groups craft paper and pens/crayons. Tell them to draw a detailed map of the community where they live. 2. Afterwards, ask the children to stick the paper doll and the Aflatoun Flame on the community map using adhesive tape. Give them the freedom to choose where they will put it. 3. Using the map, ask them to place a symbol on a) where they play b) where they work (if it is located in their community) c) significant places for them (places they will not forget or are very memorable to them). Let them identify safe and unsafe places for children in their community. Tell the children to investigate or find out why these places are safe or unsafe. These may be categorized as based on their personal experiences, experiences of others whom they know, and based on hearsays. Tell them to differentiate the items based on the three categories. They can place markers to identify safe or unsafe places such as () for safe places and (X) for unsafe places. Note: If the children can write, have them write Table Format. See example:
Based on their personal Experiences of others Based on hearsays experiences whom they know
4. 5.
Ask the children to gather and sit in circle. Each group will share what they have drawn and the result of their investigation. Ensure that the places they frequent (where they live, work, play, etc. and the safe and unsafe places for children in the community) are shared and discussed.
Processing 1. Ask the children what they have learned from the sharing.
2. Summarize their answers and share these Key Messages to the children: a. Our communities are alive and vibrant. It is where we live where we learn, play, laugh cry, work, and grow. b. Our families live with us in the community. Our family could be our biological family, friends, and other significant people in our lives. They are important because they protect us, provide our needs, and love us. c. There are places where we feel safe because there are people who protect and help us and ensure we cannot be harmed by the elements. We also feel safe because we feel loved in that place, etc. d. There are unsafe places which we must avoid, if possible,
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in order to remain secure and well. When we need to pass through these places we must be with adults or friends who can protect us. e. There are places that are rumored to be safe or unsafe. We must carefully separate fact from fiction. Ask trusted adults and friends about things that you are not sure about. Do not be afraid or ashamed to ask questions. Investigate. f. We must search for new safe places. This Training is a new safe place. We will be sharing our thoughts and experiences free from judgment. We will be learning together. We will be depending on each other to reach our goals. We will act like a community or a family.
End the session with the Aflatoun Song to remind the children that they are part of the larger Aflatoun community.
Note to the Facilitator Go back to page 24 for the Aflatoun Song.
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Activity 2: Move in Space

Activity 2 is an enjoyable game that prepares the participants for the next Activity by helping them loosen up, shed their inhibitions, and be more comfortable being themselves. This is a good energizing Activity as well. It also prepares them for the next Activity, which will involve some acting.
Activity Objective
To provide the children an energizing activity. To prepare the children for Activity 4 by going through a simple acting exercise. Time 15 min Procedure 1. Tell the children to move in space by performing actions such as jumping, crawling, skipping, dancing, wiggling, etc. They are free to do any action of their choice. 2. When you shout, FREEZE! they should stop and maintain whatever position they are in and wait for the next instructions. 3. Give the following instructions: a. You will all pretend that you are giants! Stand tall! Walk with big strides! Speak in a huge giant voice! FREEZE! b. Now you are dwarves. You are small. Shout like a dwarf with a small voice! Run with small steps! FREEZE! c. Relax. Stand still. Close your eyes. Think about a market. What do you see in a market? Who are the people that you see there? What are they doing? What are they saying? Now choose a character and ACT it out! FREEZE! d. Listen carefully, I will tap the shoulder of a participant and when I do, you must UNFREEZE and continue to act the scene. All the others are free to move their heads and watch the participant who got unfrozen. e. This time I will tap the shoulders of three participants. When I do, interact and act out a scene from the market. All the others are free to move their heads and look at the one who got unfrozen. 4. Repeat c, d, and e again with the following scenarios: a. At home b. In the street c. In school
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Activity 3: The Groups We Belong To

Activity 3 will introduce the children to the idea of sharing similar traits with other people. This similarity serves as a mark of belonging and gives us identity. While we share similar traits with others, there are others who are different from us. The more important lesson to derive from this is the need and significance of accepting the difference of others and of respecting peoples diversity. This Activity also serves as fitting preparatory activity to succeeding Activities. Activity Objective To introduce the idea of similarity and differences among people. To teach children to respect people who are different from them. Time 45 min Procedures 1. 2. 3. The activity is a grouping game. Let the children spread themselves around the room. When you say: Group yourselves according to_________________(different forms of possible groups they belong to such as gender, place of origin [e.g. town, city, province],their birth month, religion, color of hair, color of clothes, etc), they must gather together with other participants who belong to the same category . Ask them: What did you think of the game? Was it fun? How did it feel to know that you belong to a group? How did you feel about the others who do not belong to your group? For those who did not find others who share their category, ask them: How did you feel about not belonging to any group? Did you feel left out and alone? How do you think others think about you because of your difference? Based on your past experiences, how do other people react to people different from them? How do they treat them? What do you think people who are different feel when people treat them in a certain way (especially in a negative way)? How would you feel if you are treated negatively because of your difference?
Processing 1. 2. 3. 4. People share similarities and differences in terms of practices, customs, traditions, and rituals. Their similarities help them have a sense of belonging. Differences in practices, customs, traditions, and rituals could be sources of tension among different groups of people. This is especially true when a particular group is stigmatized for their customs, traditions, and rituals. Stress to the children that differences are a fact of life. When someone is different, it does not mean that this person is inferior. It simply means they come from a different background and have unique traits. We should respect and appreciate peoples difference from us. The world has become a smaller world, although we are different in some ways from others, we also share a lot of things in common. The most important thing we share with others is our humanityour being human beings.
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Activity 4: A Piece of History

Activity 3 helped the children realize they belong to various groups some of which are small like the family, school, church, etc. This Activity helps the children realize they belong yet to a larger community. While they belong to a local community, they come from a larger community called the Nation. Being a citizen of a Nation means we share a common culture, ancestry, and story with a larger group of people. This Activity helps the children rise above fixation with the self and feel at one with their compatriots. It will also inspire them to know the great things their people have accomplished. Session Objective To share and learn about ones country and culture. To help them have an appreciation of their history as a people. Time 30 minutes Materials Picture of the National Flag Procedures 1. Ask the children to form three groups. 2. Each group will choose a significant event in their countrys history, which they will present in tableau. Give them five minutes to plan. 3. When the children are ready, have them present the tableaus one group at a time. The children who are watching will be asked to guess what the scene is about. 4. After the children have guessed, tell the presenting group that you will be tapping the shoulders of some of their members. When they feel the tap, they will deliver a line consistent with the scene. If more than one child is tapped, their characters should interact. 5. When all groups have presented, ask the children to sit down in a circle. Ask them about the activity, what they did, and the scenes they saw. Show the children the national flag and ask them the following questions: a. What do the colors and symbols on your flag stand for? b. What local language/s do you speak? (Share how many languages are spoken in your country.) c. What is your religion? What other religions are practiced in your country? d. Are you part of an indigenous tribe? If yes, what? If no, what indigenous culture are you aware of? e. What are the positive characteristics of your people? f. What are the negative characteristics of your people? Note to the Facilitator Be prepared to provide information about the flag and a bit of your countrys background as the children might not know the answer to some of the questions. Discuss events in your nations history with participants who have little or no idea about historical events in the country. Choose the most prominent and significant events. After the discussion, you can have them act the scenes out complete with dialogue.
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Processing 1. Ask the children about what they learned from the session. From their answers stress the following Key Messages: a. Our country is rich in history and resources. b. Our people are diverse and different but we share similar and unique history, strengths, and traits. (Give examples of these.) c. We have weaknesses too. Some we have in common, others are unique to our lives. But cooperation with others will help us overcome weaknesses that we feel are too overwhelming. (Tell an example of a time when great obstacles were overcome in their country when the people united.)
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Activity 5: I Believe in
This activity focuses on exploring the childrens experiences and awareness of cultural and religious beliefs and practices of different people. In this activity, it is likely that the biases of children will appear. Accept them as they surface; however, stress that differences in practices and beliefs need not be sources of conflict. Instead, they should learn to mutually respect each others varying beliefs and practices. It is hoped that this activity helps them separate facts from fiction especially when dealing with these differences. Activity Objective To evoke the childrens awareness of different religious and cultural practices. To help the children appreciate differences in beliefs and practices of people. Time 30 minutes Materials Craft paper, pens, markers/crayons Procedures 1. Tell the children to form three groups. Give them craft papers, pens, markers, and crayons. 2. Instruct them to think of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds. What practices or behaviors have they seen among these people? Ask them to think of the things they have heard about the people who practice these religions or who belong to cultural groups.
Note to the Facilitator Begin with people who belong to religious or cultural groups within your participants communities. If the community is more or less homogenous, have them think of religious or cultural groups in other localities (towns, cities, or countries). Tell the children to feel free to include positive or negative answers. Assure them that all ideas will be accepted and discussed. 3. Tell the children to write or draw their answers in the craft paper categorizing them into the following:
What I have seen Religious Beliefs/ Practices Cultural Beliefs/ Practices

4. Have them share their findings to all the participants.
What I have heard
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Processing What have they learned from the session? From their answers stress the following Key Messages: 1. 2. 3. 4. There are various religions and cultural groups in a community. Aside from differences in beliefs, they may have different clothes, skin colors, language, food preference, etc. We may be different but in the end all the different beliefs aim to promote goodness, love, unity, cooperation, etc. We just express ourselves differently. We may have biases against others who are different. (The facilitator will lead the children in discussing the differences between rumors and facts especially the practices of the people in different religions because words can hurt and cause people to discriminate and hate. This goes against the core message of peace and love that all religions espouse.) Although we may have different beliefs we are all human beings. This makes us all alike regardless of what we believe in or where we come from.
Note to the Facilitator The item on cultural beliefs and practices might not be appropriate if you live in a culturally homogenous community. Extend beyond the borders of the community if this is so. Feel free to provide input or facts on practices of various religions and cultural groups.
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Activity 6: My Country, My World, and Aflatoun

The series of activities started out with the local community the children came from. The community grew bigger as the children explored the Nation. In this Activity, we take off from the last key message in the previous activitywe are all human beings and we have a shared humanity to uphold. In this Activity, we help children realize that there is yet a larger world out there that we are all part of. As Aflatouns, they are also part of the growing number of children who are being helped by Aflatoun and whose lives are being changed for the better. Session Objective To show that Aflatoun is present in other countries Time 45 minutes Materials Prepare small Aflatoun flames, which you will use to mark places in the map wherever Aflatoun Programs exist. 1. 2. 3. 4. Present the world map to the children. Tell them what the map is for and what it represents, in case they do not know what it is. Ask them to locate their country in the map. Flag it with an Aflatoun flame. Tell the children to look at the world map and to look at their country vis--vis the other countries. How do they think their country compares with the others in terms of size? Tell them your country is just a small part of the larger world. To make the activity more challenging, ask the children to name as many countries on the map as they can. Every time they mention a country where Aflatoun exists, flag the country with an Aflatoun flame. Make sure you know the countries where there are Aflatoun Programs. If the children cant name any country, do it for them.
Processing 1. 2. 3. 4. Tell them that billions of people now live in the planet Earth. These billions of people are different in terms of cultural practices, socioeconomic standing, political beliefs, etc. However, they share similarities as well. Remind them of your discussion in the previous Activities about the shared humanity of people. Tell them that all people basically want the same things too: to have stable lives, to be able to eat, to have access to healthcare and education, to have a conflict free world, to have a piece of land where they can build their home, etc. But reality tells us that not all people get what they want because some are more deprived than others. But this does not mean we cannot do anything about it. Aflatoun is one of the programs that are helping to make the world a better place. Tell the participants that children from other countries are learning with Aflatoun and that Aflatoun is trying to make a difference in the lives of these children. Like them, these children face similar problems as they do. These kids work individually and with others to overcome the problems they encounter in life. People should all do their share to make the world a better place. The Aflatoun Program is active in 75 countries. There will be about one million members by the end of 2010.
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Note to the Facilitator Go to www.aflatoun.org for an updated list of countries with Aflatoun Programs. Enlarge the map and show to the participants the extent and status of the Aflatoun Programs. To make the Activity more meaningful, let the children listen to the song Heal the World by Michael Jackson. Translate the lyrics if the children cannot speak English. Ask them what they think the song means. Discuss with them the meaning of the song. Stress the importance of people working together and transcending their differences to make the world a better place. 5. Ask the children if they are willing to work together to face problems. Encourage them to shout a resounding YES clap (BEAT: clap, clap, clap YES! [fist punches the air])
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Bright Idea! Show pictures of children from other parts of the world who have joined the Aflatoun Program. Show them sample letters from these children. This will help them see that they are part of a large network of children who are benefitting from the Aflatoun Program. Talk about some of the projects these children have done and the activities they do in their own communities. Inspire them to be like these children!
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Module 2: Learning more about myself

In this Module, we will get to know some intimate information about the children. The information may be more difficult for some to share given the traumatic experiences they may have had as CNSP. They may feel embarrassed or ashamed of their experiences. Some will definitely have selfesteem issues that will make them less willing to talk about themselves. However, because the children have been with you for sometime, some will be better prepared to reveal their personal experiences. At this point, they have hopefully learned to trust you and their fellow participants. This Module is all about mining the experiences of children so we can help them move on from their negative experiences in the past. Moving on often requires confronting the sad experiences but also acknowledging the happy moments in their lives. It is also making them see the people who love and care for them. We should also highlight their special abilities to help them feel good about themselves. Module Objectives 1. 2. 3. To be able to share ones happy and sad experiences. To identify ones resources and strengths and their limitations and weaknesses. To identify the people that care for them and those who could help them
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Activity 1: Things that I Love and Hate

In this Activity, the children will explore the things they love and hate. This will help them understand themselves a little better. We help them realize that they share likes and dislikes with others but at the same time, they have unique likes and dislikes. But despite the differences, people still love them for who they are. Activity Objective To be able to share about things that the children love and hate/like and dislike. Time 30 min Materials Pre-cut paper shaped like a heart (as big as a short bond paper), pre-cut paper shaped like a broken heart (with a tear in the middle), crayons or pens Procedures 1. 2. 3. 4. Give the children a heart, a broken heart, and writing materials. Tell them to draw symbols of the things they love on the heart, for example, food, clothes, toy, and events like a birthday or holiday. Tell them to draw symbols of the things that they hate on the broken heart, for example, food, clothes, toy, and events or holidays. Ask the children to sit down and to share what they have drawn to the rest of the group.
Processing 1. Ask the children what was common among the things they shared. Ask what they thought was unique and different. 2. Ask the children what do they have in common with their friends what they commonly like and dont like.
3.From their answers, stress the following key messages: a. What we like and dont like are important parts that make up who we are. b. We all have things that we feel are unique to us and those that we have in common with others. c. Our commonalities and differences bind us to the people in our lives like our friends and family. They love us and we love them despite the differences.
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Activity 2: A River of Hearts

Knowing the happy and sad experiences of children will give us a general idea of their emotional state. We can be more effective facilitators and helpers of children when we know and understand their emotional state. It allows us to determine whether they need to refer them to specialists incase they are suffering from depression or we need to give the psychosocial intervention. This Activity makes use of creative means to evoke the sad and happy experiences of the children. Activity Objective To have children share their happy and sad experiences. Time 45 minutes Materials Paper (16 x 22 or two short bond paper pasted together), Pre-cut paper shaped like a heart (small ones about an inch in height), pre-cut paper shaped like a broken heart, crayons or pens Note to the Facilitator Go back to the community map in the previous activity. The community map can serve as a deepening activity for this activity. Prepare as many hearts and broken hearts as you can to allow the participants to use as many as they need.
Procedures 1. Distribute the paper and drawing materials. Show them the picture of the a river.
2. Ask them the characteristics of a river. Possible answers could be: It has twists and turns; it moves forward; the water can be high or low; it can be wide or narrow; the water moves rapidly in some areas and slow in others, there are quiet portions but there raging portions as well; it can be deep or shallow, etc. 3. Tell the children that a river is similar to life as we move forward in life, we experience
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ups and downs. We have moments of deep sorrow and intense happiness, sometimes life seems fast other times slow. Sometimes we have money and sometimes we dont or what we have is not enough. There are times when we have friends and sometimes we argue with our friends, etc. Like the river, life also has its ups and downs. 4. Ask them to draw happy and sad moments in their lives using the river as a metaphor for their journey. On the paper, make them draw a river with bends, rocks, trees, etc. Along the river, tell them to draw symbols of happy and sad moments in their lives. They will paste a heart if they were happy or a broken heart if they were unhappy during the particular event in their life. They can also paste both if the event brought both happiness and sadness at the same time.
5. The children will then show their drawings to everyone. Whenever they share a high or low point of their lives, ask the children who they shared their happiness and sadness with. They could be family members, individuals, or organizations. 6. Ask the children what they learned from the stories they heard. Ask them who were there to support them during sad moments who were there to share their happiness.
Note to the Facilitator If the group is too big for individual reporting, form smaller groups. Ask the children to share what they did with the members of the small group. Afterwards, they will discuss what was in common among all their reports (for example, three important happy or sad experiences). They will choose a reporter for this or they can choose to do it as a group. Processing Use their answers to stress the following Key Messages to the participants: 1. It is important to move on from sad events in our lives. Sad memories will always come to haunt us. The important thing is to not allow it to affect us. We should also learn to get back on our feet and get on with our lives. Dwelling on the low points in our lives will stop us from reaching our goals. 2. Happy moments in our lives make life more bearable; hence, it will be more helpful to remember these. 3. People have been behind us in times of happiness, successes, and triumphs .They have been around to share these moments with us. Some of these people are from NGOs or from other organizations who help us.
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4. Sometimes we also ask help from God/Allah/Deity/Universe and we thank Him/Her for helping us. 5. In times of sadness or failures, we should not be afraid to share our sadness and frustrations with friends, families, God/Allah/Deity/Universe, counselors, and staff from NGOs. These people can help us through the rough patches of life. We have our own strengths and skills but we become stronger with the help of others. 6. We find strength and fortitude from people around us those who share both our joys and sorrows. 7. Through it all we are never alone. We have our family. A family is a group of persons who support each other and love each other no matter what. We may have more than one family the one where we are born to and the one that we make with our friends and adults whom we look up to. Stress to the children we can go beyond the usual notion of the family made up of blood relations. Friends and other significant people can be considered family as well.
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Activity 3: A Time of Gift Giving

The past two activities unearthed both the positive and negative experiences of the children. The unearthing of the negative experiences of the children may have left some children feeling emotional and emotionally drained. With this, we will try to end the Section on a lighter note, an Activity that will affirm what is good in them to help them regain their equilibrium. In this Activity, we ask the participants to give gifts to each other to recognize a special trait the gift recipient has. By this time, they can easily identify special traits of fellow participants because they have been in the Training for a few days. This activity affirms that each child is a special person who deserves to receive attention, care, and love. It also helps children realize they can depend on their fellow participants for support. This serves as a good prelude for the activities lined up in the next Module. Activity Objective To help the participants appreciate each others uniqueness and their special traits. Time 30 minutes Procedures 1. For this activity, group the children into dyads. Have the pair think of a special trait that their partner has. 2. 3. 4. They will recognize this special trait by giving their partner a gift. The gift does not involve an actual exchange of material gifts. The gift giver will think of a gift, portray this through action, while saying I am giving you this gift because (mention the special trait the receiver of the gift has; e.g. you have the cutest smile in this room, you are very caring and understanding, etc). The receiver should then guess what that gift is by acting out how s/he will use the gift. Each partner will have their turn to be the giver and receiver of the gift.
Processing 1. Ask the children: Did you like the gift you received? Why or why not? How did you feel that you received a gift and a compliment from your partner? Why did you choose to give that gift? What did you see in the person that makes you think she deserved the gift? 2. 3. The Activity helps the participants learn more about themselves through the eyes of others. It also teaches them to be more mindful of and to value the special traits of others. It encourages children to be supportive of and to develop stronger bonds with each other.
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Module 3: I am a good person

We will help the participants appreciate their talents and what is basically good in them in this Module. Knowing their abilities and what is good in them can help address self-esteem and selfconfidence issues they may have. I am a Good Person stresses that they are special in their own right because they have talents, skills, and abilities they can use to make their lives better. We also aim to strengthen the childrens decision-making and problem solving skills because children who can handle problems in life will have a healthier self-concept. Module Objective 1. To identify important values that translates to good behavior towards others. 2. To further improve decision-making and problem solving skills
Activity 1: Are You Alive?

This is a preparatory activity that involves chanting and body movements. It will help the children to loosen up and feel relaxed. The different body movements that they will do will also keep them energized, and as the title of the Activity suggests, alive. Activity Objective To prepare the children for the next activity. To engage children in a physical activity that would keep them awake and active for the succeeding activities. Time 10 minutes Procedures 1. 2. 3. 4. Ask the children to form a circle. Lead the children to march in place. Tell the children that they will responding to the chant you will lead: a. Facilitator: Are we all alive? b. Children: YEAH, YEAH! c. Facilitator: Let us show that were alive! d. Children: OH YEAH! e. Facilitator: Let us show it with our _________. The facilitator will name a body part, for example, head, arms, hips, legs, etc. f. The participants will move the body part while continuing to march in place and while they are chanting uhm-ah-uhm-ah- ah. Repeat the whole process and end by saying, Let us show it with our whole body! End the activity with this chant: I am good! I am strong! We can do things on our own! Tell the children to add action to the chant.
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Activity 2: The Things I Do

In this Activity, we focus on the childrens abilities, skills, capacities, and traits. Making them realize the good things they can do will help the children believe in themselves more. We can also convince them that they can do things they set their minds to so long as they used their abilities. We also need to ground them in reality by pointing out their weaknesses as well. However, we will do this from the vantage point of an optimistwe will help them recognize their weaknesses and transform these into strengths. Activity Objective To facilitate sharing of the strengths and weaknesses of the children. Time: 1 hour Materials Paper (big and tall enough to accommodate a whole person), crayons or pens Procedures 1. Distribute the writing and drawing materials. Group the children into pairs. Tell them to choose a partner that they are most comfortable with. They will reflect on their good and bad side. Help them by giving them the following questions: What are the things I am good at doing? What are the things I am not so good at? What are my good and bad characteristics and attitudes? 2. The partners will take turns tracing each others bodies on the paper. Afterwards, the participants will individually work on their own body trace.
3. They will draw a line in the middle of their body trace. On one half of the body trace, they will draw what they look like when they are doing good things. Tell them to add a face, clothes, accessories, etc. Beside the drawing, on certain body parts, they will write down the following or draw symbols for it (ask the appropriate questions based on the participants background) : a. Head Are you good in any of your subjects at school? Do you have a special talent? Are you good at solving your problems? Etc. b. Mouth Are you good in singing? Talking? Telling stories? c. Heart Do you have a generous and forgiving heart? How do you show that you love someone? d. Hands What are you good at doing with your hands? (writing, drawing, cooking, washing clothes, cleaning, working, etc?) e. Feet What are you good at doing with your feet? (dancing, walking, running, etc.) 4. On the other half of the body trace they will be drawing what they look like when they are not doing good things. As with the earlier instruction, they should add a face, clothes, accessories, etc. to their body trace. Beside the body parts, have them write the following or draw symbols for the following (ask the appropriate questions based on the participants background) : a. Head What are the bad things that you think of sometimes? Are you stubborn? Do you worry too much? Are you to passive about things? b. Mouth What are the bad things that you say that hurt others? Do you find yourself fibbing or lying? c. Heart What do you do when you are angry? Are you very sensitive about what others think and say about you? Do you get affected easily by other peoples criticism? d. Hands What do you do with your hands that hurt people or yourself? e. Feet What do you do when confronted with problems or hurtful words?
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Ask the children whether people usually notice their good or bad side. Tell them that sometimes we get frustrated because people around us only see the bad side and never acknowledge the right things we do. Tell them that is okay, because not all people know who we really are. Only we know ourselves best or sometimes, significant others can tell us who and what we really are. Ask them what goes unnoticed among their good behaviors. As a capping activity, have them affirm each other: You are a good person. There are lots of things you can do well. If there are bad things about you, you can change them for the better on your own, with my help, and with other peoples help.
Processing From their answers stress these Key Messages: 1. 2. 3. 4. There are times when they might believe that everybody is against them because of mistakes that they may have made. Remember that what could have been wrong was what you did the action itself. Not you! You are an innately good person. People can always change for the better. It is important to have a balanced view of ourselves. We should both be able to recognize our strengths as well as our weaknesses. We also have to acknowledge that we are bad at doing things or we have attitudes or characteristics that are not good. This will help us improve ourselves. We must constantly work to make ourselves better individuals. We all need to strive to be good persons although we know that it is not always easy. We also need to hold on to important values. (Ask the children to give examples of important values and how these values can be translated into good deeds.)
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Activity 3: Build me a Tower!

This is a preparatory activity to Activity 4: We can Solve This!, an activity that helps children acquire important decision-making skills. The ability to make decisions and solve problems is an important skill to learn for children. Knowing that they can get past their problems will help them gain better confidence in and appreciation of themselves. However, before going through this activity, we must prepare them properly by helping them grasp the concept of decision-making and by pointing out that decision making almost always involves problem solving. This group activity will help the children understand that crucial to decision-making is understanding and carefully analyzing the problem. Activity Objectives To go through a simple activity that will help introduce to them the concept of problem solving and decision-making. To teach participants the value of cooperation in problem solving. Time 30-45 minutes Materials Old newspapers, masking tape, and other found materials Procedures 1. 2. 3. Group the children into groups of four or five members each. In this activity, the children will be tasked to build the tallest tower they can using newspapers, found materials, and masking tape. The objective is not only to build the tallest tower but to build one that would stand on its own. Give them 30-35 minutes to work on their towers. Have them display their creations. Choose the tallest tower. Acknowledge the members of the group that built the tallest tower. Compliment the groups that tried their best too.
Processing 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ask the participants, Did you enjoy the game? What did you like about it? What didnt you like about it? Was it difficult to build the tower? Ask the winning group the following questions: How did you manage to build the tallest tower? What difficulties did you encounter while you were building it? How did you try to solve the problem? Did you have problems working with your team mates? How did you solve this dilemma? Ask the other groups, Why were you not able to build the tallest tower? What were the hurdles or problems that you faced? How did you try to solve these problems? Was there another thing that you could have tried to solve the problem? How else could you have tried to solve the problem? Stress to the children the importance of teamwork and cooperation in trying to solve a problem. All problems have a solution. In decision making, one should consider various options and weigh the consequences involved.
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Activity 4: We can Solve This!

This Activity helps children to acquire good decision-making and problem solving skills. This is one of the more vital skills they need as children and later on as adults. The skills they will learn here will also come in handy in the Financial Education Section where the children will be made to make crucial decisions as regards their finances. Activity Objective To learn decision-making skills. Time 45 minutes Procedures 1. Group the participants into two or three groups. Tell them that they will be creating a skit/drama about a problem that they encountered and how they were able to solve this. 2. 3. Have them apply the skills outlined in the Processing Section, namely: being clear about what the problem is, identifying people they can listen to for advice, thinking about various solutions and possible consequences, choosing a path or a plan, and acting out that plan. All these information must appear in their skit. Each group will take turns presenting.
Note to the Facilitator Provide situations for younger children to make things easier. Sample situations include there is no money for tuition fee or medicines, what should they do? What can they do if they flunk in class. For instance, how would they break the news to their parents? What will they do to ensure they will no longer flunk in class? What will they do if someone takes advantage of them? Processing Ask the children about how the problems in the stories were solved. Take note of their answers and use these as examples in presenting the following guide for solving problems and making decisions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Be clear about what the problem is. Listen to the advice of people who are important to you. Be sure about what they are suggesting. Do not be ashamed to ask for clarifications. Think about various solutions and their consequences. What will happen if you take a certain course of action? Who will be affected positively and negatively? How will this affect you? Remember that whatever you decide you must do no harm to yourself or to others. Choose a path and plan. If you need to talk to family, friends, or other significant adults do so. Act. If you need help, ask for help.
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Module 4: My Dreams
This is the last Module for this Section. After reflecting and sharing about their present life, it is time to look towards the future. In this Module, we help the children continue dreaming, an ability that may have been compromised by their negative experiences. By going through the Activities here, we stress to the children that it is all right to dream again. We also encourage them to believe they can make their dreams into reality. Despite the negative experiences, they must never quit hoping for a brighter future. Module Objectives 1. 2. 3. To share their dreams for the future. To help children identify the kind of support they need to fulfill their dreams. To help the children identify what they can do for themselves to achieve their dreams. Activity 1: I Will Become The Activity helps the children realize what they want to become in the future. It will make the children realize that they need to take concrete steps to realize their dreams and that there are individuals and organizations who can and are willing to help them achieve their dreams or goals.
Activity Objectives To help the children articulate their dreams for the future. To help them take concrete he steps to achieve their dream. Time 45 minutes Materials Pre-cut paper shaped like a star (as big as a short bond paper), pre-cut paper shaped like feet or footsteps, string or a ball of yarn, crayons or pens, tape Procedure 1. Distribute the stars and art materials. The star symbolizes their dream. The children will write (or draw a symbol) their dream on the backside of the star. Tell them to attach a string at the end of the star. 2. Distribute paper cut outs of right and left feet to the children. On the right foot, the participants will write the support they need from others in order to reach their dreams. On the left, they should write what they should do in order to make their dreams come true. 3. Tell the children that they will attach the feet to the strings under the star. See the illustration below (Please illustrate this).
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Each one will share their dreams.
Processing 1. Ask them to recall the previous Activities. What lessons did you learn from these? What things did you learn about yourselves and the people around you? How have these activities made you feel? Take note of the answers and use these as examples to stress the following key messages: a. Each of them is unique; b. They have family, friends, and other people who care and who are willing to help them; c. They have strengths and resources but they also have limitations and weaknesses but things can be done to address their weaknesses; d. They can help themselves and other people because they have skills they can use; e. Remember that it is hard to walk with only one foot. If we work together we can overcome greater odds.
Activity 2: Water Ceremony

We end the activities in this section with a meaningful exercise. The Water Ceremony will help children realize that the things they have learned so far and the things they will learn in the next few days or weeks will all contribute to making them better individuals. They will also be meeting a lot of friends, some of whom will become their lifelong friends whom they can depend on for emotional and perhaps even material support in the future. The ceremony also helps them realize that they need to contribute to making the succeeding Activities successful. In the same way, each of them has a role to play in helping each other achieve their dreams. Time 30 minutes Materials Water, plastic glasses, a container of water/jar Procedures 1. Tell the children to fill their glasses with water then come back and form a circle. Place the water container in the middle of the circle. 2. Ask the children about the uses of water. 3. Now ask the children (keeping in mind the uses of water) what does water symbolize? Acknowledge all answers. Ask the children to close their eyes and reflect, be thankful for the friendship and support from those who participated in the activities. 4. Now one by one, the children will go to the water container in the middle. Before pouring the water in, they will say what they feel about the activities they went through. Processing 1. After everyone has finished, ask the children what the container in the middle symbolizes. Acknowledge all answers and if necessary add that the container also symbolizes what they have accomplished together, of their team work, and their commitment to the activities. Ask the children who benefits from one glass
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2.
of water? The most probable answer would be one person. Ask them again who will benefit from a container of water? Many. Add that for this activity water symbolizes all the lessons that they have learned and the new friends that they met and have known over the past activities with Aflatoun.
The Sounding Board Because the Activities have been about personal exploration, we will still focus on looking into the feelings of the participants. You will need paper and poster paint for this Activity. Distribute these to the participants. Ask them to create a painting, using their fingers as their brush. The colors of their choice should express their feelings right now about the Activities they have gone through. Give everyone the opportunity to present their paintings and to talk about their feelings. Ask follow-up questions and jot down their answers.
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Note from Aflatoun

Other Aflatoun clubs in Uganda had made cards where they celebrate their identities. They made inspirational cards that said Proud to be Ugandan, or You can make it. What kind of messages would you like to share to other Aflatoun clubs around the world? If you would like to share it with us, please send it to us at info@aflatoun.org
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SECTION 3:
Rights and Responsibilities
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Every one of us is born with rights regardless of who we are or where we are from. Our rights are enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Children, as an especially younger group in society, have special rights aimed to help them in their development. These rights are written in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UN CRC), which a great majority of Nation States have already ratified. This Section gives life to the third Core Element of the Aflatoun Concept, which promotes the four sets of interdependent rights (survival, development, protection, and participation) and teaches children their various responsibilities to the self and others. This Section will be most beneficial for children who have not had any education on childrens rights as it introduces the childrens rights enshrined in the UN CRC. For participants who are already familiar with the UN CRC, this Section will give occasion to the review of their rights. Rights need to be discussed as often as possible to help children better understand and remember them. The children must also be reminded of the challenges of fighting for what is due them. A key learning we have to stress to the kids is that regardless of whether we perform our responsibilities or not, we must be able to enjoy our rights. However, children must also learn responsibility and good citizenship. In this Section, guide them not only in claiming their rights but also performing their responsibilities towards themselves, their family, their community, and the environment.
Section Objectives 1. 2. 3. To learn about childrens rights To learn about responsibilities and good citizenship. . To identify the people and institutions that support and help the children in everyday life
and in times of trouble.
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Module 1: My Rights and My Responsibilities

Some adults fear that teaching children their rights make them stubborn thinking that children who are aware of their rights demand for their rights while altogether avoiding their responsibilities. There must be a healthy balance between rights and responsibilities. Responsibilities go hand in hand with their rights as the second core element of the Aflatoun Programs states. In this Module, we help them learn the history of human rights and childrens rights to help them have a better appreciation of this. We also help them learn both their rights and responsibilities and the need to balance both. We also lead the children to find out people who can assist them in fulfilling their rights. Activity 1: Child, House, Storm The Activity introduces the idea of needs through a game. Participants will pretend that a storm is coming. The objective is for the child to find shelter to protect himself from inclement weather. This lively game will help evoke from the children their basic needs. The concept of needs will be used to introduce the concept of rights in the later Activities. Time 30 minutes Procedures 1. Form groups of three members each. One person will be assigned as the it of the game. 2. Two participants of each group will hold their hands together and stretch their arms to resemble the roof of a house. The third group member will play the role of the child and will seek shelter in the house when the storm comes. Spread the participants around the room, to give them space when they run and switch places.
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3. The it of the game will chant child-house-storm, child-house-storm thrice. At the end of the chant, the it must choose one of the three words. If the it calls out the word child, the participants who are playing the role of the child must seek shelter in a different house. If the word house is chosen, the participants playing the role of the child stays put while those playing the role of the house will have to find a child to shelter. If the it chooses storm, everyone should switch places. The person who is left out after each round becomes the it. 4. Run the game several rounds. Afterwards, process the activity with the children.
Processing 1. What happened to the child and the house while the storm was raging? 2. If we look at the storm as a symbol, what do you think it symbolizes (possible answers: issues and problems that children face)? 3. What are some of the issues and problems children face? What are some of the problems and issues that you face? 4. What do children need to address these issues and problems? 5. Jot down all their answers then point out that some of the needs that they raised are actually rights of children.
Activity 2: A Collage of Needs

This Activity takes off from the previous discussions on needs. However, the discussion will be taken a step further by relating the concept of basic needs to the concept of rights. The provision of basic needs is important not only to the survival of a child but also to live with dignity, to achieve development, to allow participation, and to be protected from harm. This is a pre-exercise where the output will be carried over to the next activity. Activity Objective To discuss and learn about childrens rights Time 1.5 hours Materials Old newspapers and magazines, poster-sized paper, scissors and paste
Procedures 1. Form two or three groups. Distribute old newspapers, magazines, and art materials. 2. Tell the children that they will make a collage of the things they NEED to live well and with dignity. 3. Afterwards, ask the groups to present their collage while the facilitator takes note of their answers. Proceed to the next activity.
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Activity 3: And the Rights were Born

It is never enough to simply inform children that they have rights. It is also important to make them understand where their rights came from or how they came to be. This will allow not only the understanding of ones rights but a deeper appreciation of them of why these rights need to be protected and upheld. Activity Objective To teach the children about the concept of rights. Time 30 minutes
Procedures 1. Summarize the reports from the previous activities and introduce the concept of rights. Tell the children that rights are standards that must be followed to live with dignity. Proceed to tell the story of the founding of the UN CRC. Use the visual aids. Be as animated as you can be while you are telling the story: a. 1944, World War II broke out. (Ask the children if they have heard about WWII before.) In this War, millions of people died and lost their homes all over the world. People were kept in huge prisons because of who they were not because of what they had done. (Clarify this by asking the children about why people are put into prison in the first place. A possible answer is because they have done bad things). During WW II, millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and other discriminated groups were incarcerated in concentration camps and killed. (Based on the facilitators assessment of the participants capacities, more or less information could be shared.) b. When the war ended in 1948, the nations banded together to vow that the atrocities of WWII will never happen again. They agreed that all human beings have rights whoever they are, regardless of their skin color, sex, religion, language, economic status. Under this framework, these differences will NOT MATTER anymore. We all have the same rights. We all have the right to be alive and to live with dignity. (Remind them of your discussion regarding diversity in the previous Section). c.(Ask the participants the difference between adults and children. Possible answers could be adults are bigger and stronger, children are smaller and weaker, adults are wiser than children, etc. Tell the children that the differences mean that children are not necessarily inferior). Children are special because they are still in the process of growth and development. Because they are still growing and learning the ways of adults, they have needs that must be provided to them. These needs contribute to their survival, development, participation, and protection. They need all these to help them become productive adults later on. So in 1989, the
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nations united once again and committed to uphold CHILDRENS RIGHTS. Ask the children if they have heard about childrens rights before. Acknowledge their answers but tell them that the next activity will help them gain more understanding of their rights.
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Processes 1. There are a number of childrens rights but these can grouped into four big parts (use visual aids): Right to Survival This set of rights includes the right to life, an attainable standard of health, nutrition and an adequate standard of living. It also includes the right to a name and nationality. Right to Protection This right includes freedom from all forms of exploitation, abuse, inhuman or degrading treatment, and neglect including, the right to special protection in situations of emergency and armed conflict. These rights seek to ensure that no one takes advantage of children and that their minds and bodies are protected. Right to Development This set of rights includes the right to education, support for early childhood development and care, social security and the right to leisure, recreation and cultural activities. Development includes childrens right to study, play, practice their own religion and culture and to respect the uniqueness of other cultures, religions, opinions and views of others in their environment. The right to have ones own identity and registration of ones birth are also an important component of this set. Right to Participation This set of rights includes respect for the views of the child, freedoms of expression, access to appropriate information, and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. These rights seek to ensure that children are allowed to responsibly express their opinions and feelings, and respect those of others. It also refers to children working towards ensuring that their peers enjoy the same rights. The Right to Participation is often the most misunderstood of all child rights. Adults may feel threatened by children who are capable of articulating their opinions and taking action to meet their needs. Questions are raised whether children can be trusted to be responsible or whether they are mature enough to make decisions. It has been observed that the biggest resistance from teachers arose when the issue of child participation was discussed. Some teachers feared it would result in behavioural issues in the classroom. Aflatouns experience in facilitating child participation demonstrates that if child rights are explained in the context of the larger community and as complementary to their responsibilities, children rarely abuse opportunities for discussion and action. 2. Remind the children that values guide our behavior and actions. If you have good values then your actions towards others are good. In fulfilling childrens rights, we need to hold on the several values as a guide to all our actions. These are: Non-discrimination EVERY CHILD has rights no matter where they come from, what their color is; whether they are girls or boys; rich or poor; Muslim, Christian, Hindi or Buddhist; able bodied or disabled. Best Interest the childs best interest is the MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION in all actions Participation Children must be given support and opportunity to share their views, opinions, and thoughts on any matter concerning their best interest.
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Activity 4: Guess the Next Scene

The object of the Activity is for the children to predict the scene that will come next by performing mime, supplying dialogue, or acting out what they think the following scene is. The scenes they will give will serve as your jump off point when you discuss childrens rights with them. Lead them to a thorough discussion of their rights and make sure to cover things that you have not covered in the previous discussions. Activity Objective To discuss the rights of children. Time One hour
Procedures: 1. Give the children a particular scene. The scene must evoke discussions on childrens rights. Their task is to think of the following scene. They must act, supply dialogue, or perform a mime. 2. For example you can give them the following scene: A father and child are together the father is holding a belt, what do you think the next scene will be? Act it out, supply a short dialogue, or perform a mime. 3. Call out several volunteers or if you do not have a lot of participants, give everyone a turn to act out the next scene. 4. 5. 6. Write down their answers on a white board or a manila paper. Classify their answers either as upholding the rights of children or violating their rights. Relate their answers to the rights of children, particularly the four clusters of rights.
Note to the Facilitator Give them other scenes and repeat the process in case you do not have enough materials to thoroughly discuss the rights of children. Other scenes could be a mother carrying a baby, a woman dragging a child, a child speaking to a man, etc.
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Activity 5: What Would Happen?

A possible cause for children becoming stubborn when they start to know their rights is our failure to teach them their responsibilities. We should always stress the balance between the two. As some people say, rights should go hand in hand with responsibilities. While children must realize rights are inherent whether or not we do our responsibilities, they must realize that they must perform their responsibilities. It is not enough that people enjoy their rights. We should promote the idea of responsible citizenship to children. We must also stress that rights are not enjoyed just for ones own good, it should also be used for the good of others as well. Not performing these responsibilities could have negative consequences to oneself and others. Activity Objective To teach children about their rights and responsibilities. Time 30 minutes Materials Pictures of children going to school, selling on a street full of cars, eating well, refusing to eat, laughing with friends, speaking to adults with adults listening to them, not listening to what adults are saying, refusing to study, children playing in a park, children leaving their toys on the floor, a child hurting another child intentionally while playing, littering in the streets, performing house chores, sitting around while mother works very hard, etc. Procedures 1. Distribute the pictures randomly to the children. 2. The children will take turns describing what is happening in the picture. After they have described the scene, ask each of them What will result to the actions being portrayed in the pictures? Processing 1. Every action has consequences. Consequences could be good or bad. 2. For every good that we do, someone will smile and approve what weve done. It may also contribute to our success. Although generally true, not all our good actions are rewarded. Despite this, it still good to be responsible and to do good. 3. For every mistake or bad thing that we do, someone might get hurt. It may also result to our failure. Some bad things we do go unpunished, but this does not mean this did not have any negative effects on anyone including us. 4. We must put to good use all our rights by performing our responsibilities to ourselves and others. When we fail to perform our responsibilities, this could have negative consequences to us and people around us. 5. We all have a responsibility towards ourselves. For instance, we have to know ourselves well including our strengths and limitations. We have to make responsible choices. We must anticipate consequences of our actions and own up to the effects of what we have done. We should be responsible enough to keep ourselves healthy and clean, among others. 6. We have a responsibility towards our family. One of this is performing household chores, expressing appreciation to family members or caregivers, respecting our elders, helping our young brothers or sisters, etc. 7. We have a responsibility towards the community. This may involve an awareness of mutual interdependence, appreciating and respecting contributions made by people, being sensitive towards the needs of the marginalized, respecting the diversity of people, etc. 8. We are also responsible for the environment. We must do our share in maintaining
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cleanliness in the environment, putting to practice environmental principles, etc. Rights go hand-in-hand with each other. For instance, if a child has the right to be fed, s/he has the responsibility not to waste food. If the child has a right to education, s/he has the responsibility to ensure that s/he takes school work seriously.
Responsibilities of the Child Rights go hand-in-hand with duties and responsibilities. A simple example: if a child has a right to food, she also has a responsibility to not waste food. If a child has a right to education, she also has a responsibility to ensure that she takes schoolwork seriously. Responsibilities of the child include: Responsibilities towards self Before children can understand the other basic elements of responsible citizenship, they need to first understand themselves. This involves the issues of their identity, their selfhood, their choices, and so on. Responsibilities towards the family/ care giving environment These responsibilities include doing small tasks at home such as laying the table, cleaning dishes etc. and in doing so, expressing appreciation to family members and/or caregivers. Responsibilities towards the community These responsibilities involve an awareness of mutual interdependence, appreciating and respecting contributions made by people and things in their environment, being sensitive towards gender or people with different abilities. Responsibilities towards the environment These responsibilities include maintaining the cleanliness of the neighbourhood, discussing environmental issues and putting into practice conservation strategies.
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Module 2: Things my Family and I Own and Have

It is delicate to discuss the issue of ownership especially with children who have few possessions. To make this Section more uplifting and positive, we will not focus solely on material resources but also on the people who make a difference in the lives of children because these serve as important resources or life line to children. We start with an inventory of the significant people in their lives because they are probably the most available resources to these children. Module Objectives To identify the childrens material resources and significant people in their lives. To help the children appreciate what they have. Activity 1: Heart Strings This Activity will help children make an inventory of the significant people in their lives whom they can turn to in times of need. Identifying these resources is a crucial factor in building their resilience because these people serve as a social support system or an important lifeline in times of great need. As facilitators, we will be with the children for a limited time. We need to help the children realize that family members, friends, or other significant people play an important supportive role in their lives. Activity Objective To identify people whom the children can turn to for help. Time 45 minutes Materials Paper, scissors, drawing materials, fabric strips, colored paper, ribbon, yarn Procedures 1. Tell the children to fanfold a piece of drawing paper evenly. 2. Draw half the dolls body on the folded paper (please see figure on the right). 3. Cut the pattern to create several dolls holding each others hands. 4. Draw faces on each doll and clothes using markers. They may also glue trimmings on the dolls using ribbon, yarn, colored paper, or fabric scraps. 5. Encourage the children to make two sets of dolls. One will represent the family that the children were born into and the other represents people not necessarily related to them but whom they trust and turn to for help. Allow the children the freedom to choose if they want to do one set or both sets. The dolls should represent people who are dear to them and those whom they depend on. 6 6. Once finished, tell them to share their output. Have them discuss who the dolls represent. Why have they chosen to represent these people? What have these people done for them to earn their trust, respect, and confidence? How have these people shown that they can be depended on? Allow them to share instances when they have depended on these people for their material, emotional, or psychological needs. Do they think they can rely on these people for their future needs?
6. http://home.howstuffworks.com/paper-dolls3.htm
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Processing End with the following key messages and anchor these on the childrens answers and reflections: 1. It is important to find people who support and love us no matter what. These people can be considered as family even if they are not related to us by blood. 2. A family could be our biological family or the one we are born into our parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents. 3. If we extend our arms further (or for those who do not have a biological family), a family could include our close friends, teachers, social workers, counselors, peer educators, and other significant adults, etc. 4. No matter what your family appears to be, these people are your treasures. They serve as your resources. They will help you grow and be good persons. They will help in fulfilling your rights and reaching your dreams and goals.
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Activity 2: What we Have

After an inventory of the people who can offer emotional, psychological, or material support, it is now time to take stock of the material resources of children. This Activity will help the children focus more on what they have and not on what they dont have. Hopefully, this will help them have a more positive outlook in life. This activity is especially challenging with some children as they have limited material and monetary resources. Still, what is important is to inculcate the value of maximizing what they have. Activity Objective To identify the material resources that the children have. Time 45 minutes Materials Paper, scissors, water color or poster paint Procedures 1. Give the following instructions: Draw where you and/or your family live. 2. Using poster paint or water color and their fingers, have the children create a finger painting things they own they cannot live without. These materials might be food, bed or beddings, cooking materials, home appliances, clothes, shoes, slippers, school supplies, or whatever they have in their homes (or if they live in the streets, the place where they seek shelter). Allow them to make as many as they want. 3. Hang the paintings on the wall. Ask everyone to go around and look at the outputs like they were looking at paintings or posters in a gallery. Give them 10 minutes. Processing 1. Ask the children what they saw in the gallery. Take note of the answers. 2. Guide the children to look at what they have not what they lack. Engage the children in discussing how they can maximize what they have. Ask for concrete activities or actions. For example: a. How can they take care of their belongings? b. How will you ensure clothes will last longer?
Base you questions on the childrens output. Stress the key message of maximizing their available resources. This concept will be tackled further in the upcoming sections.
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Module 3: Institutions I can Count on

Taking
off from the previous Module, this Module helps the children list down people and organizations that will help the children protect and fulfill their rights. It aims to continue teaching the children not only in assessing their people resources but also in helping them realize what they can do on their own to protect and fulfill their rights. Module Objective To help the children list people who and organizations that can help them fulfill their rights. Activity 1: Battle of the Bands This is a pre-exercise that will lead the children to realize the importance of working together with others to reach their goals. Activity Objectives To understand the importance of cooperation. To identify different resources that need to be tapped to reach a goal. Time 20 minutes Materials Found materials Procedures 1. Ask the children to look around and find an object or material they think makes an interesting sound when tapped, pounded on, blown, etc. Give them a few minutes to do this. 2. When theyre done collecting, ask them to form a circle and explore individually the sounds that the objects can make. 3. Divide the children into groups and tell them that they will be performing like a band. Have them think of a name for their band. 4. 5. Assign a certain rhythm for each group. For example: a. Group 1 1,2,3 4 / 1,2,3 4 / 1,2,3 4 b. Group 2 1 2 3 / 1 2 3 / 1 2 3 c. Group 3 1 rest 1,2 / 1 rest 1,2 / 1 rest 1,2 Let the children get the feel of their instruments and the rhythm.
6. Conduct the band. Point to a group/s to play their instruments using the rhythm you assigned them. You can point to the groups one at a time at the start, then you can make them play their rhythm all at the same time. 7. Afterwards, ask the groups to make their own beats tell them to make the rhythm as complicated as they can. Just make sure they play the instruments at the same time. Give them a few minutes to practice then ask them to perform their music.
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Processing 1. Ask the children about the objects they found: Where did they find them? What sounds can these objects produce? 2. Ask about teamwork: How did the work together as a team in their band? Was it hard or easy? What was easy about producing the music? What was difficult about it? 3. Ask about the groups final output: What can they say about the beat that they made? What was important in making good music with their band? 4. From the answers, share this key message: It is important to work together to reach goals.
Activity 2: Envisioning a Better Future for Children

We need to encourage CNSP to imagine a bright future for children including them. This is part of the Aflatoun goal of making children effective changemakers. In this Activity we will also help children realize they can contribute something to the fulfillment of childrens rights. These will give them the feeling of being in control of their lives rather than unknown forces controlling them. Moreover, it will also mitigate too much focus on the self and their experiences and will help them feel a sense of solidarity with other children like them. This is a pre-activity, the output of which will be used for Activity 4. Activity Objective To help the children envision a future where childrens rights are upheld. Time 1.5 hours Materials Paper (flip chart paper/manila paper) and drawing materials Procedures 1. Divide the children into two or three groups. Ask each group to sit down in a circle. Place the drawing materials in the middle of each circle. 2. Ask the children to recall what they learned about childrens rights in the previous Module. Based on the discussions on rights, have them imagine the future they see for children in general. Ask the children to think about the following questions: How do the children look like? What are they wearing? What are they doing? Where are they going? Think about their homes, their schools, and their communities. What do these look like? What do you see? Are they happy or are they sad? 3. Ask the groups to talk about their vision and, as a group, draw it on the paper provided. 4. Afterwards, ask the groups to explain their drawing. Take note of their answers.
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Processing 1. Ask the participants what are common in the presentations. Ask what they have discovered. 2. Group the childrens answers into the categories of childrens rights. 3. Ask the children what people usually do to reach their dreams. Probable answers: they work hard, study, or they ask for help. 4. And more concretely, ask them what they think they can do on their own to ensure that their rights are fulfilled. 5. Use these answers to segue to the next activity.
Alternate Activity: When I Grow Up Activity 2 is all about the children dreaming a better future for children in general. In this Activity, which is a follow-up to Activity 2, we ask the children to come up with a specific vision for themselves. Here we will ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Having a vision for themselves can help the children stay focused with their goal to have a better life. This will also help them reinforce their resilience as they look forward to a better future. Activity Objective To help children express what they want to be in the future. Time One hour Procedures 1. Gather the children in a circle. Tell them to think of an occupation they want to have in the future. Ask them the following questions: Why do you want to have that occupation? What do you need to do achieve that dream? Give them a few minutes to reflect on their answers. 2. Call a volunteer. Ask her to stand in the middle and mime what she wants to be in the future. The volunteer should not say anything because the other participants will be made to guess her occupation of choice. 3. Once the others have guessed the occupation, have the volunteer answer the two other questions. 4. Have the others have their turn. Processing Deliver the following Key Messages: 1. Having a better future always starts with a dream. Thinking of a possible occupation in the future is a useful start. 2. Things should not end in having a vision of a better future. People have to act and pursue their dreams actively. 3. There are people usually willing to help us achieve our dreams. Their help can come in various forms.
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Activity 3: To the Future!

Children need not be alone in their quest for a better future. There are people, institutions, and organizations that can help them fulfill their dreams. This task ideally falls on the family and the State, which are obligated to protect and uphold the rights of children, provide their basic needs, and provide structures that can contribute to helping children achieve their dreams. However, the ideal doesnt always translate to reality. But other help is always on the way. This Activity helps children identify people and organizations who can help them make their dreams into a reality. Activity Objective To identify the people and organizations whose support are needed in the fulfillment of childrens rights. Time 20 minutes Materials Pre-cut paper arrows (see below), pens, and the previous activitys output. Size: use a half bond paper for each arrow
Procedures 1. Distribute the arrows and pens. Tell the children to sit down in a circle and place the previous activitys outputs in the middle. 2. Tell the children to look at their visions of the future. Think of the people and organizations that can help them reach their vision and dreams. Who could help them finish their studies? Who can help them be healthy? Who would protect them? Who would help them speak up and demand for their rights? Feel free to ask questions. Give them a few minutes to reflect on this. 3. Tell the children that they will write (or draw a symbol of for those c cannot write) the names of people or organizations on the arrow. They can use as many arrows as they need. 4. Each one will share their answers before placing the arrows around the pictures that they have previously drawn (see the diagram below).
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Processing Stress the following Key Messages: 1. Visions for the future are similar to goals we want to reach. 2. It is often difficult to reach these visions alone. We need to identify people and organizations that are willing to help us because that will help us make our visions into a reality. A lot can be accomplished if people work together even if it feels that the challenges are too big to overcome. Do not be afraid to seek their assistance. 3. We used arrows to represent these people because they will show us the way to or help us reach our goals. 4. Fulfilling childrens rights is our goal and dream both for now and for the future. Children can, by themselves, act together towards this goal (refer to the childrens answers in the past activities about what they can do. You can also ask them what they think they can do to fulfill their rights). But children also need help (For examples, use the childrens answers in this activity.) 5. Never believe that you are alone. There will always be people children and adults who are willing to help you. BUT it is important to help yourself, too.
The Sounding Board In this Sounding Board Activity, we go beyond the exploration of feelings. We look into what the participants think about the things they learned from Section 3. Have them pretend they are writing a letter to a friend. They do not need to go through an actual letter writing exercise. Have them complete the following: Dear (name of close friend), Today (what the participant feels or thinks about the topics covered). Ask follow-up questions. Note from Aflatoun Other children in Aflatoun clubs in India organized a trip to the local education department when they learned that they had the right to education, and complained about their teacher absenteeism. What rights do you feel need to be realized in your community? What can you do? Please share your stories with us by writing us at info@aflatoun.org
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SECTION 4:
Saving, Spending and Budgeting
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This Section fulfills the third and fourth core elements of the Aflatoun Concept by delivering lessons on saving, spending, planning and budgeting. It introduces the learning of skills that may aid in achieving financial independence and realization of rights. The Module on Saving teaches children principles of and techniques in saving. However, it takes the concept a step further by incorporating non-monetary resources as things children could save. Saving natural resources is just as important to inculcate the habit of responsible usage of resources and having a healing relationship with the environment. Saving non-monetary resources (such as relationships, happy memories, and others) is apt for children in need of special protection given their socioeconomic conditions, often marked by instability and lack of economic prospects. The principles they learn will come in handy because they can use the same principles to save monetary resources later when they have money. The Module also covers lessons on saving monetary resources. The last two Modules of this Section teach children rational spending and financial planning. Through these modules, children will learn thrift and skills to make rational and beneficial financial choices. For instance, they are taught to differentiate their wants from their needs, which will guide them in making sensible expenditures. They are also taught to handle their finances through budgeting and monitoring savings. Children are also taught these various skills through simulation games, hands-on activities, and problem solving exercises. The hands-on activities give the children the opportunity to experience financial planning and making actual financial choices. The children can carry all the useful skills they will learn from this Section well into their adult lives. Hopefully, this will contribute to them realizing their dreams and achieving their goals sometime in the future.
Section 1. 2. 3.
Objectives To help the children understand the difference between wants and needs To teach the children the importance of saving monetary and non-monetary resources To teach the children how to plan, budget, and spend on what they need.
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Module 1: The Things we Want and Need

People who cannot grasp the distinction between their wants and needs often find themselves spending more than they should. This affects their economic situation as they dip into their savings or spend more than they should. Learning to differentiate the two helps people allocate their resources properly and make rational financial choices. While spending on wants is okay, this Module advocates this to be done sparingly. Needs should always be top priority. However, teaching children to distinguish the two poses a lot of challenges given the consumerist culture being promoted by media and the advertising world. Happiness and self-worth are increasingly measured based on the things one owns. In such a culture, the line between wants and needs are blurred. As facilitators, it is our duty to help children become more critical of the messages they hear from media to allow them to make rational choices in terms of spending and saving. This Module addresses all these by helping children make the critical distinction between the two. They are also taught in this Module to approach advertisements with a critical spirit. Module Objective To teach children the difference between their needs and wants.
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Activity 1: The Questioning Ball

Children may already have ideas about needs and wants, particularly older children. This is a word association Activity meant to evoke the participants concepts of needs and wants, but with special emphasis on needs. It serves as a preparatory Activity to Activities 2 and 3. It will also help you gauge their knowledge on the topic so you can make necessary adjustments in your discussions. Activity Objectives To warm children up for the activities in the Module To draw out the childrens ideas about needs and wants. Time 30 minutes
Materials Ball, marker, and white board or flipchart Procedures 1. Throw the ball to a participant. Have the participant catch the ball and say the first word or phrase that comes to his or her mind when s/he hears the word. The participant will then pass the ball to another participant who will do the same thing. The process will be repeated until the participants run out of ideas or until everyone has had their turn.
2. Begin with any word of your choice just to get the children going and to get the children used to the Activity. You can start with the word red for instance. Then proceed with other words. 3. When the children are warmed up enough, start giving words that are related to needs (e.g. clothes, food, house, etc). 4. Write down their ideas pertaining to need on the white board or flipchart. You will use these when you process their answers. Processing 1. Summarize their answers. Draw out the important points they may have raised about needs and wants. For instance, from their answers, you may be able to show that needs are things that are essential to ones survival, development, or protection. You can also say that needs are things that are indispensible. From their answers, perhaps, you can also conclude that needs are the same as rights while wants can be equated to luxuries or things one does not necessarily need. 2. You may ask them, why they think there is an importance to distinguish between the two before segueing to the next activity.
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Activity 2: A Snapshot of our Needs and Wants (for younger children)

Making use of familiar images and everyday objects, the activity is meant for younger children to grasp the difference between wants and needs and relate this to their everyday lives. In this Module, needs are regarded as related to ones rights while wants are associated with luxuries a person can do without. In other words, needs are essential to childrens survival, development, protection, and participation rights while wants are not. Activity Objective To help young children differentiate needs from wants. Time One hour To draw out the childrens ideas about needs and wants
Needs
Wants
Clean Air
Fashionable Clothes
Clean Water
Mobile Phone
Decent Shelter
Playstation
Clothes
Money to Spend
7. Adapted from http://www.unicef.org.uk/tz/games/index.asp# and http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/pfocus/english/spring2001/worksheets/pr02.pdf.
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Needs
Wants
School
Personal computer
Medical care
TV set
Nutritious food
Own bedroom
Playground and recreation centers
Junk food
Church
Fast food
Freedom to practice ones own culture and language
Money to spend as you like
Right to be protected from abuse and neglect
MP3 player
Right to be protected from discrimination
Fashionable accessories for children Others (you can also cut out pictures from magazines)
The opportunity to express your opinion and be listened to
Others ( you can also cut out pictures from magazines
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Procedures 1. Photocopy the two sets of pictures. There must be enough for all participants to receive one picture each. Cut the pictures out and distribute. 2. Have one volunteer hold a metacard with the word Need written. Another volunteer should hold up a metacard with the word Want, while another holds a card with the phrase Undecided. All three will stand in front. 3. Ask the children to classify the illustration they are holding by lining up in front of one of the three children holding the cards. 4. After everyone has settled down in their chosen categories, ask the children why they decided to classify the illustration as such. 5. Take note of their answers on a flip chart or white board. 6. Discuss the differences between the two. Relate your discussion on the definition of needs and wants to their answers. In case the definition does not surface from their responses, explain the following. - A want is something you like or desire but is not necessary for your survival, development, participation, and protection. - A need is something essential for us to live with dignity. It is our right to have this, although there is no assurance that these rights are being met all the time. 7. Go through their answers one more time. Ask them if they think some of their initial answers need to be re-categorized. Processing 1. Ask the children the following questions: What are the hindrances to your needs being met? What can you do to ensure that your needs will be met? How can your contribute to meeting your own needs? What can you do in order to fulfill your own needs? 2. Relate your discussions to your discussions on Childrens Rights in the previous Section. Point out that not all their rights are being fulfilled. They are still in the process of being fulfilled. Children must work together with adults to ensure that they will fully enjoy their rights/needs. Tell them that their needs are synonymous to the rights enshrined in the Childrens Rights. 3. Most of needs are provided by the State or the government such as education, healthcare, etc. But in reality, the government cannot provide for all our needs, thus, there are times when they should act to meet their needs. However, they should still be able to demand for what is rightfully theirs.
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Activity 3: Collage of Needs and Wants (for older children)

The objective of this Activity is similar to the objective of Activity 2; however, it targets an older set of children as it requires higher order thinking skills. It is a fun activity that encourages creativity and helps children practice their linguistic skills. At the same time, it deepens their understanding of their wants and needs. Activity Objective To help children differentiate their wants from their needs. Time One hour Materials Old magazines and newspapers, glue, paper, scissors Procedures 1. Give your participants copies of old magazines and newspapers. Each participant should cut pictures of things that represent their wants or needs. 2. Each person should create two collages, one representing their wants and another their needs. 3. When they are done working on their collage, divide the participants into several groups. Let them discuss their collage with the group. Some points to discuss include: a. Why have they classified the pictures as wants? As needs? b. Have they included needs in their collage that are not being provided? Why are they not being provided? How do they feel about this? c. How can they ensure that these needs will be provided for them? d. Do they think it is important for them to get their wants? Why or why not? 4. After their discussion, assign each group to come up with a group poetry about their wants and needs, which they will present to everyone in the plenary session. During the group activity, ask the children the same questions listed in the Processing Section in the previous Activity. Furthermore, ask how their needs should be provided by the adults around them and what they can do to press the adults to provide their needs. Processing Every child should demand for their needs from the State and their adult caregivers. However, in situations where it is difficult to demand for their needs to be given, children should not wait for help. They should be proactive in helping themselves acquire their needs. This will teach them self-reliance and independence. Note to the Facilitator For some children, this might be their first time to write poetry. Read samples of poems to give them an idea what it is. Read something that has a nice rhythm to get the children interested. However, tell them that the poetry does not need to rhyme. It will add more fun to the activity if their poems actually rhyme, though. Alternatively, they can also create a rap incase they are more familiar with this medium.
8 Adapted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/pfocus/english/spring2001/worksheets/pr02.pdf http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/pfocus/english/spring2001/worksheets/pr02.pdf
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Activity 4: Is it True or False?

Advertisements are widely used by companies to promote their products. They present products as if they were essential to our well-being. For instance, some whitening products are made to appear as if we need them to be beautiful, attractive, desirable, and lovable. However, advertisements mostly target the unsuspecting who may take the messages as truth. Children should separate fact from fiction, to tell the difference from truth and deception. In this Activity, we show the children how advertisement can create false needs. We help them to be critical of the messages being delivered by ads. Activity Objectives To help children distinguish real from false needs. To develop childrens critical thinking skills. Materials Newspapers and magazines, scissors, glue, and paper. Time 45 minutes Procedures 1. Group the children into groups of 4 to 5 members each. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Each group should choose one print advertisement that interests them, cut them out, and glue them on paper. The group will discuss what they think the messages of the advertisements are. They can start out by looking at the text that describes the products. Depending on the capacities of your participants, ask them to think about the implicit (not so obvious) messages that the ads are putting across. Ask them to discuss amongst themselves the answers to the following questions: Do you think the ads are being truthful? Are the products essential to your survival, development, participation, and protection? Are they promoting a real need? Do you really think you need the product? Will buying the product make you happier? Will it make you more fulfilled as an individual? Why or why not? After discussing the answers to the questions, make them write a jingle (a song like in commercials) about the two advertisements they chose. The jingle should capture the i mportant points they raised during their discussions. Have them mount the pictures on walls. Everyone will go around in groups to view the ads. When the group comes to their ad, they should sing the jingle like they do in television ads. Open the floor for discussion. Some guide questions could be: Is the advertisement for the best interest of the child? What values are the ads promoting?
Activity 5: What if..?

Knowing WHY they need to do something is better for children than simply being told they have to do it. As they understand the reason better and learn the consequences of their choices, they will be better inclined to prioritize their needs. The Activity provides case stories where the participants will hypothesize the consequences if the characters prioritize either their needs or wants.
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Activity 3 serves as a fitting segue to the next Module, Saving for a Rainy Day. Activity Objective To help the children understand why it is important to prioritize our needs over our wants. Time 45 minutes Procedures 1. Divide the participants into five groups. 2. Assign one of the following situations to each group : a. Rabindranath gets a few rupees of allowance money from his mother daily for school. The money is meant for his lunch money. However, Rabindranath has a sweet tooth so he prefers to buy candy over real lunch. For several years now, he has been buying junk food while skipping lunch to save money because junk food is cheaper. b. Mila was given money to buy books for school by her mother. On her way to the bookstore, she sees a pair of shimmery shoes that she really likes. She tells herself, I need to buy those shoes because someone else might buy it ahead of me. The shoes will looks good on me. Anyway, I can always borrow books from friends. c. Okwonko received money from his aunt on his birthday. The money is enough to throw a party with his friends. His friends have been asking him to treat them out on his birthday. However, his mother needs some money for her business. She tells Okwonko she needs to borrow the money. She promises to return it once she earns money from her business. d. Rahim saved enough money to buy himself a pair of new shoes. The soles of his shoes are falling apart. However, before he could buy the shoes, Rahim gets sick. His parents do not have money to bring him to the doctor. Rahim thinks that if he rests, he would get well. He says he does not need to see the doctor. It is more important for him to buy new shoes because his classmates are already teasing him for having worn- down shoes. e. Rahel earned money from selling a local dessert. She intends to buy a new school uniform and another dress. She needs to replace her school uniform because she has already outgrown it. Since she saved enough money to buy two dresses, she wants to buy another dress, which she could wear when she goes out with friends. 3. Have the children discuss the situation that was given to them. They are supposed to answer the question: What do they think will happen if the child chooses to prioritize his or her wants? What if the child prioritizes his or her needs? Allow them to imagine the various possible consequences for their decisions. 4. Have one group member report the discussions they had with their small group in a plenary session. Processing 1. Prioritizing ones wants over needs could have negative consequences to oneself and ones family. 2. It is okay to indulge yourself once in a while by buying your wants. However, it will be wise to do this only when you have extra cash to work with. If not, it is always best to save the money in case there is a greater need in the future.
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Module 2: Saving for a Rainy Day

Have you heard of the adage, Saving for a rainy day? The saying came from observing ants who work the whole summer trying to collect food so they would have enough come winter or the rainy season. People have a lot to learn from the ants. There is a need to save for times of need, which is what the rainy season represents. It helps people get by during times of crisis without having to be in debt. We need to avoid debts because they sink people further into poverty. While saving money is a very useful skill one can acquire, it is something that is not normally taught to children in schools or at home. This is truer in poor households where saving money could be quite a challenge. Teaching savings is not a priority because there is little or no money to save in the first place. The irony is that while it is important to teach children from poorer households how to save money, there is little opportunity to do so given the lack of money to save. However, this should not be used as an excuse not to teach children to save. This is simply a defeatist attitude because it is still possible to save even when there is little money to work with. What is important is that the children learn the principles and the value of saving. Some children do have access to money especially if they engage in some forms of work or the other. However, the situation may be different for institution based children who may not be getting an allowance but may be getting provisions such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, that could still be used to illustrate the concept of saving. The Activities put special focus on the principles of saving monetary and non-monetary resources. Module Objective To teach children the different forms of saving.
Activity 1: The Itchy Scalp Game

Children sometimes forget their responsibility to clean up and take care of themselves. This is because they are either too busy playing or some children just do not care about how they look or smell. This activity is an energizer, but at the same time it teaches children the need to take care of themselves and practice personal hygiene. The Activity serves as a preparatory Activity to the succeeding Activities. Activity Objectives 1. To keep the participants active and interested through this energizer 2. To prepare the children for the next activity. Material Small lightweight ball Time 15 minutes Procedures 1. Divide the participants into four groups. 2. Each group will be assigned to chant a particular phrase:
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3. 4. 5.
Group Group teeth Group nose Group
1: Itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy scalp 2: Rotten, rotten, rotten, rotten, rotten 3: Runny, runny, runny, runny, runny 4: Scaly, scaly, scaly, scaly, scaly skin
Let them practice the chant assigned to them before starting the Activity. Once they get the hang of it, start the game. Tell the participants that you will pass the ball to a group. When you do this, one of the group members should catch the ball. The group will then chant the phrase assigned to them twice. Example, Itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy, it-chy scalp! Itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy, it-chy scalp! When they are done with chanting, they must pass the ball to another group. But before they pass it, have them call out the group. For example, Itchy itchy, itchy, itchy, it-chy scalp! Itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy, it-chy scalpro-tten teeth! (then the person holding the ball throws it to a member of the next group) The chanting should pick up speed every time the ball is passed. The game ends when participants start fumbling over their words.
Processing 1. Ask them the following questions: What did we do? (possible answers, We played a game. We chanted.) What did we chant about? (possible answers, We chanted about ailments common to children such as having rotten teeth, itchy scalps, runny noses, and scaly skins.) Why do children experience these things? (possible answers, Because they do not take care of themselves. They have no money to see the doctor, etc). 2. Ask them, what do we need to do to avoid experiencing this? Ask them to remember their answer to this question when we do the next activity.
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Activity 2: What Do I Need to Do? (For younger children)

Responsibility over our physical well-being and the things we own is a form of saving so is the proper care for our belongings. In both instances, averting sickness and taking care of our belongings would spare us from unnecessary expense and help us save in the process. Activity 2 will revolve around this idea. It is meant to teach children to be responsible over themselves and the things they own. Activity Objectives 1. To teach children responsibility over their physical well-being. 2. To help children realize the importance of taking care of the things they own. 3. To teach children that these are both forms of saving.
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Materials
Time 45 minutes
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Procedures 1. Show the children the pictures one at a time. Ask the children what is wrong with the pictures. Ask them why they think these happen. You can also relate this to the previous activity. Ask them why children start to have rotten teeth, itchy scalp, runny nose, or scaly skin. Possible answers would be: children do not practice proper hygiene, they do not take care of themselves, they get exposed to sick people, etc. 2. How should they correct what is wrong with the picture? Get them to act their answers out. 3. Ask them why it is important to correct what is wrong with the picture. Synthesis and Processing 1. Ask them the following questions: Why is taking care of themselves and the things they and their family own important? How would they benefit from this? How can they better take care of themselves? How can they better take care of their things? 2. Stress to them the following points: o Emphasize the need to be responsible for their well-being especially as regards hygiene and health. Teach them the need to bathe regularly, to eat nutritious food, to brush their teeth, to minimize contact with sick people, to see the doctor when they are sick, etc. o Underscore the need to take care of the things they and their family own. It they live in a shelter, they should be responsible for the equipment in the shelter or center. They can also try to save the supplies being provided by the center such as shampoo, soap or toothpaste. They should try to extend the use of these provisions as long as possible. o Being responsible over themselves and over the things they own is a form of saving. The proper care of the self would mean they can avoid/prevent sickness, sparing their family of expensive medical procedures. o Taking care of their things would mean prolonging the use of the things they own. The longer they can use their clothes, shoes, appliances, the more they will be able to save. Note to the Facilitator Remind the children that they can go to free clinics or hospitals when they cant see a private physician. This will also help save on costs.
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Activity 3: The Happiness Bank

In this Activity, children learn to save good and happy memories. Pleasant memories help increase childrens resilience and give them a more positive outlook in life. In this Activity, the children will collect and preserve happy memories through a scrap book. They will gather things and mementos that remind them of happy events in their lives and people who have positively touched their lives. Activity Objectives 1. To teach children the importance of remembering and reliving good and happy feelings 2. To make children realize that remembering is a form of saving. Time 2 hours or 2 sessions Materials Old or used cloth, hard paper or cardboard, thick string or yarn, plain paper or used recycled paper such as newspapers or used bond paper, glue, and things that could be used for the scrap book (e.g. photographs, candy wrappers, magazine clippings, souvenirs, output from the past activities, and other things the participants own or were given to them, etc) that evoke feelings of happiness. Procedures (Part I) Review the output of the Activity in Section 2 where they listed down things that make them happy and sad. If the activity output is still available, it would help for the children to look at them again to refresh their memories. Ask them the following questions: What do you feel when you remember happy moments in your lives? What do you feel when you remember your sad experiences? Which do you think is more helpful for you, remembering your sad experiences or your happy experiences? How will remembering happy memories help you?
Processing Deliver the following Key Messages to the children: 1. Tell the children that remembering happy experiences is more helpful than remembering sad experiences. Happy memories make our lives more hopeful and bearable. 2. Dwelling on ones negative experiences prevent us from moving on. It also undermines our resilience or our capacity to rise above our negative experience and to look forward to a brighter future. 3. We must also stress to the children that negative experiences are not necessarily bad. Sometimes negative experiences bring out positive values/attitudes in us. It also strengthens us to persevere and find ways to overcome our sad experiences. 4. It is difficult, sometimes impossible, to forget our negative experiences. One way to remember positive experiences is to keep mementos or souvenirs of happy events in our life. Material objects usually aid us in remembering. We can always bring out mementos or souvenirs to help us remember. 5. down. We can organize these souvenirs in a scrapbook, which we can access when we are
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Procedures (Part II) 1. Ask the children to create a scrapbook. The scrapbook will serve as a repository for things that bring back good memories or feelings. These can be pictures, letters, coins, souvenirs, awards, drawings, mementoes, or other things that would bring them joyful memories. This will be called a Happiness Bank because they will keep things that make them happy in the scrapbook. They can also withdraw from their happiness bank every time they feel unhappy by looking at the mementos and souvenirs. 2. Have the children compile paper to serve as the pages of the scrapbook. 3. Fold the cardboard to cover both sides of the scrap book. It should be big enough to cover the pages. Punch holes in the middle and sew the pages and the cover together using yarn or string. 4. Make the cover attractive by pasting scraps of old cloth or colored paper. Processing 1. Have the children show their scrapbook to the group. Talk about how the contents of the scrapbook make them happy. Talk about why these things are important for them and why these make them feel happy. 2. Share with them the importance of saving memories of good things that happened to them in the past. Note to the Facilitator Assign the things to bring a day before the Activity to give the participants time to prepare. If this is not possible, ask the children to work with materials in the venue. They can also draw on their scrap book. Show them a sample scrap book! This will give them good ideas on how to make their own scrapbook. Make it as colorful as possible. You may divide the session into two days if you think the two hour session is too long. The first day could be devoted to creating the scrap book while the second day could be devoted to filling the scrap book and discussing its contents. You can also have them fill the scrapbook at home.
Activity 4: Word Relay Game

This word relay game will help you find out how participants conceptualize savings. More likely than not, they associate savings with saving financial resources. However, we will stress in this activity that saving could also involve non-material or non-financial resources. The three previous Activities in this Module were all about saving nonmaterial things. We assigned the three as preliminary Activities to help the participants grasp the concept of non-monetary savings by the time they get to this Activity. The aim is to draw the information from them, rather than feed them the information about non-monetary savings. Note to the Facilitator When we tackle the question What is Saving?, have them recall the discussions in the first three Activities. This will help you draw out the concept of non-material savings from them. Activity 1. 2. Objectives To introduce to children the concept of saving To enable the children to identify different things that they can save
Materials White board, marker
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Activity Time 30-45 minutes Procedures 1. Have the participants line up in front of a white board or flip chart. 2. Tell them to write the first word or phrase that comes to their mind when they hear the word save and saving. They will write on the board in turns, one after another. 3. Proceed to give other concepts or phrases related to saving when they have run out of ideas. For instance, you can ask them: Why do we need to save? What are the things we can save? How do we save? Note to the Facilitator If you are working with a non-literate group or a group of younger children, just have them say their answer out loud. Write the answers for them. Processing 1. Categorize the responses into definitions of saving, examples of formal and informal ways of saving, reasons for saving, and other related categories. 2. Saving involves keeping things for future use, especially in a time of need. 3. Ask the children the following questions: Whats the importance of saving? How can saving money help you? How can non-monetary savings help you? What will you gain from keeping something to use for another time? What are the important things have you have saved in the past? Is it possible to save at this point given your present situation? 4. There are different things children can save: money, happy memories, relationships, provisions such as toothpaste, soap or shampoo, food, etc. They can also save stuff which people might consider useless or trash, but which when transformed could have a decorative or useful purpose. This will especially be helpful for the environment. Under the Aflatoun Program, saving and using natural resources responsibly is deemed as important as saving money.
Activity 5: Helping Save the Environment

Recycling is a form of saving. First, it contributes to helping save the environment. Second, rubbish or trash finds new use thus saving the object from ending in the garbage bin. These recycled or reused materials can also be sold for profit at recycling stations. Third, recycling helps people save money because when they reuse something they do not need to spend on new materials. This Activity will teach children the value of recycling. They children will also learn from the Activity some principles of environmentalism with emphasis on conserving natural resources. This is especially most evident in the first Activity, which is meant for younger children but can also be given to older children. The second activity is for older children who will work on an art project involving recyclable materials.
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Activity 5.1 Aflatouns Journey Waste-eria (for younger children)
to
Planet
Activity Objectives To instill environmental consciousness and concern among children. To help children realize that conservation of resources is a means of saving the environment. Activity Time 1 hour Procedures 1. The activity involves active story telling. As you read or tell the story, the children will act certain scenes or create sound effects. This will keep the children interested and engaged. An alternative is to group the children into two. One group will be assigned to act certain scenes and another will provide sound effects. 2. Feel free to improvise, embellish, or improve the story. You can just use the story as an outline and add other details as you go along. Just remember that when you tell the story, be as animated and theatrical as possible to keep the childrens attention to you. 3. Proceed to read or tell the story. Aflatouns Journey to Planet Waste-eria
Aflatoun is a fire ball from the sky. (Show the Aflatoun Mascot or show his picture to the participants). From his home in the sky, Aflatoun kept looking around. He wanted to find out about everything happening all over the Universe (Instruction to the participants: Act how Aflatoun looked around the Universe. What did he say? Say it out loud!) From where he was, Aflatoun saw a nearby planet, a very small planet that looked like chocolate from afar. Aflatoun became curious. The planet looked very appetizing. He was so curious that he wanted to see what the Planet looked like up close. Aflatoun moved about like a spinning top because of excitement. (Instruction to the participants: Show how Aflatoun was moving about like a top.)
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Aflatoun flew fast and headed to the direction of the Planet, whose name he did not know. (Instruction to the participant: Make whooshing and flying sounds and fly as fast as you can to the Planet that has yet to be named. Can you guess what the name of the Planet is?) When Aflatoun got to the Planet, he was shocked out of his wits. The Planet was indeed made of chocolate! But it was not only made of chocolate it was also made of all sorts of candies, icing, ice cream, pastries, cakes, and other nice sugary treats! (Instruction: What do you think Aflatoun said when he saw the Planet made of chocolate and sugary treats? Say it out loud.) Tree trunks were made of chocolate bars while its leaves where made of the most vibrant green icing and had strawberry, mango, orange, and raspberry candy fruits. A chocolate milk river snaked around the planet. Rocks were made of various colored candies that looked like precious stones: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and opals. The clouds were made of cotton candy in different hues of light pink and blue (Instruction: How did Aflatoun react when he saw all these? Act it out!).
Aflatoun was pleasantly shocked to see that the inhabitants of the planet were small creatures about three feet tall whose faces looked like ants. They were busy moving about, cutting trees, carrying away rocks, flying in the sky to get the cotton candy clouds. Everyone was so busy that no one noticed Aflatoun (Instruction: Show how busy the inhabitants are and how they were moving about collecting trees, rocks, and cotton candy clouds). Aflatoun cleared his throat (Instruction to the participants: Make the sound of Aflatoun clearing his throat. And show how Aflatoun moved while he was addressing the inhabitants of the chocolate planet). Hello I am Aflatoun. I went here to make friends with you. The creatures were so busy that they did not notice Aflatoun was there. Aflatoun waved his hands and shouted HELLO!!!. (Instruction: Say hello out loud and show how Aflatoun moved while greeting them hello). It was only then when a kind looking creature took notice of him who said, Hello, I am Magog Welcome to the Planet Waste-eria. We are called Waste-erians and we are the most hardworking creatures from the Universe. (Instruction: Introduce yourselves to the person standing beside you).
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Aflatoun was so excited to meet his new friend. He extended his hand to Magog to shake it. (Instruction: Shake hands with the person next to you). Magog welcomed Aflatoun like a friend (Instruction: Show how Magog welcomed Aflatoun like a friend). While Aflatoun was there, he found out that the Waste-erians are really the most hardworking creatures in the universe. Day in and day out they worked felling their chocolate trees, putting up pipelines to channel their chocolate milk river into their homes, harvesting the jelly bean trees, and collecting cotton candy clouds. While they were hardworking, the Waste-erians also had a vice. Aflatoun noticed they never replaced what they harvested. He asked, Dont you ever plant jelly bean trees again after you cut them down to harvest them? To which, Magog replied, Why should we? We have enough here, dont you see? He also noticed that the Waste-erians were also very wasteful because they threw away a lot of the things they got from their environment and did not really consume everything. In the dumpsite where they threw their garbage swarms of flies and hordes of rats feasted on the unconsumed chocolate, pastries, cakes, and sugary treats. (Instruction: make the sound of a thousand buzzing flies and a horde of huge rats). They also threw things into their chocolate milk river such as plastic wrappers. (Instruction: Ask the children: What kinds of trash are floating in the Waster-erian River? What kind of trash do you see littering the streets and rivers in your own community? How do you feel when you see trash littering your community?) Aflatoun asked Magog: Will you never run out of stuff from your environment if you keep on getting things without replacing them and if you keep on throwing unconsumed stuff? What will happen to your river? (Instruction: Ask the children what they think was Magogs answer was.)
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Magog replied, Dont be silly. We have enough on the Planet! Our resources can never run dry. Besides, are trash is washed way into the ocean, never to be seen again. And he gave a hearty laugh (Instruction to the participants: Laugh like Magog). When Aflatoun returned to his own planet, he kept watch of the Planet Waste-eria from afar. From where he was what was once a chocolate colored Planet was starting to become black because of the swarming flies. He could also see bald patches as the Waste-erians consumed their Planet. When Aflatoun came back to the Planet Waste-eria a few years after, there were few trees, rocks, cotton candy clouds. Candy and pastry plants no longer grew. The river was polluted. What once smelled of sweet milk chocolate now stank sour like decaying food. The river was also visibly smaller now. (Instruction to the participants: How do you think Aflatoun reacted when he saw this? Act this out). Waste-erians have become thin and sickly. Some were begging in the streets for a few morsels of food. The Waste-erians were also saying that crime rate has risen in the past few years. (Instructions: Ask them, Why do you think this happened?) When Aflatoun saw Magog,he was happy to see his old friend but was also sad because Magog looked thin and tired . Magog said, You were right Aflatoun, our resources are not limitless. We are all now suffering from our greed. We have to do something to save our Planet before we totally consume it. (Ask the children, what do you think should Magog and the Waste-erians do to save their Planet?) Processing 1. Ask the children why Planet Waste-eria ran out of resources? What were the Waste-erians doing that contributed to the destruction of their Planet? What can the Waster-erians do to save their Planet? 2. Relate the experiences of the Waste-erians to our own experiences here on earth. Do you think people are also doing what the Weste-erians doing to their Planet? How are our actions contributing to the destruction of our Planet Earth? How is this affecting us? How can we stop this? 3. What will happen to the world if we do not save things such as water, plants, and other things in the environment? Why must we work to save our resources on earth? What do you think did the Waste-erians do to save their Planet? What can we do to save our own? 4. Tell them that working to save the environment contributes to saving the Planet earth. Note to the Facilitator This activity can also be conducted with older children. But instead of engaging them in active story telling, which the might find juvenile or corny, you can have them draw comic strips of the story after reading it to them out loud. You may also ask them, as an alternative, to stage a short play on this.
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Activity 5.2: Wind Recyclable Materials
Mobile
from
This exercise will demonstrate what the children can do to help save the environment. Junk can be turned into something useful, even possibly profitable. Activity Objectives To teach children environmental responsibility recycling. To bring out the childrens artistic creativity through
Materials Found materials (such as leaves, soda cans, plastic cups, candy wrappers, etc), glue, board paper, scissors, sticks or twigs, coloring implements, lacquer, and yarns/strings Time One hour Procedures 1. Tell the children that garbage or rubbish can be transformed into something useful. This is called recycling, which means reusing trash or altering or transforming it for new use. In this activity, they will be transforming junk materials into wind mobiles. Explain what wind mobiles are. 2. Ask the children to collect interesting things they can find that can be used as art materials for the wind mobile. For instance, they can collect dried leaves with interesting patterns or colors, tin or soda cans, papers, twigs, plastic wrappers, among others. . 3. Cut the board paper into different shapes (stars, fish, flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, or other interesting objects or shapes they can think of). They can either just have one big mobile, or a mobile composed of different shapes (See pictures below). 4. Cut out the recyclable materials into strips. If they are using the soda can, supervise the children when they cut this so they dont get injured. 5. Glue the strips of recyclable materials on the cutout shapes. Encourage them to be as creative as possible and to create interesting patterns that are pleasing to the eyes. 6. Punch a hole on the cut-out shapes. Tie each one of them with a string. Attach the string to sticks, twigs, or wire, which will serve as the supporting mechanism of the wind mobile. 7. This activity can be modified by asking the children to do other art projects such as picture frames, a p i c t u r e collage, jewelry boxes, etc. You can be as imaginative as you want to be in assigning this art project.
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Note to the Facilitator The activity was originally intended for older children. However, this can also be done by younger children. To make things easier for them, pre-cut the board paper into different interesting shapes for them. They will still gather the materials and paste the materials on the pre-cut board paper. Encourage them to find materials that are easy to cut and handle. Discourage them from collecting soda or tin cans as this may be difficult and dangerous for them to cut. Create a sample wind mobile, which you can show the children. This will give them an idea how to do their own wind mobile. Its a better alternative than just showing them a picture or drawing of a wind mobile. Processing 1. Ask them why it is important to reuse discarded materials. 2. Stress that reusing trash helps us save the environment. They could use the discarded materials to earn money by creating stuff that they could sell. 3. This Activity illustrates saving because they spent a minimal amount on the materials. 4. The children could also create other stuff from found materials. They just need to be inventive and imaginative in thinking of things they can make out of recyclable materials. Bright Idea! If the children produce beautiful and creative wind mobiles, help the children produce more items and help them sell their products in your local community. If possible, provide them some modest capital for such a project especially if there is market for their products. Encourage them to use this for their financial enterprise project, which we will cover in the next Section. To further hone their artistic abilities, invite local artists who can suggest ways of improving their craft.
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Activity 6: I Can Save, I Have Saved!

Saving involves careful decision making. In this activity, we guide the children to make the conscious decision of saving money by giving them actual situations they will work on in order to save money. The object is for the children to prioritize their most pressing need, something which they have learned in the previous Module. The children should also be able to decide on alternative action instead of purchasing their need.
Activity 6.1 Problem Solving (for older children)

The Activity is for older children who have simple arithmetic skills. They will solve simple budgeting problems while at the same time learning to prioritize needs over wants. Activity Objectives Evoke from children how they can save money or spend their money wisely based on certain situations. Teach children how to prioritize their spending. Time One hour Materials Cards where different situations are printed. (This will be laid out as part of this activity. The cards can be photocopied and cut out by the facilitators)
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Case 1
Case 2
Your family received 10 dollars from a relative. That is the only money you have for the week. Out of the 10 dollars, 3 dollars will immediately go to your familys food expenses. Your younger sister needs a new school uniform because her blouse is torn in the collar . A new blouse costs 5 dollars. Your younger brother needs a haircut because his hair is already too long. This costs 2 dollars. You need 2 dollars for a school project, which you will need to do because you would fail your class if you do not do the project. Your father , on the other hand, has to pay 3 dollars for the repair of his bike, which he uses to go to work.
You earned three dollars from selling newspapers. You are very hungry and thirsty. You go to a store. In the store you find that a vegetable meal with rice and potatoes costs 1.75 dollars. However , you can buy chips with the same quantity as the vegetable meal for only a dollar . You can also buy your favorite candy for 25 cents as a treat for yourself. Water costs 50 cents, while your favorite soda costs 75 cents. There is a toy you have been wanting for a long time which costs 1 dollar . Your brother needs milk, which you can buy for 1.25 dollars. But you also need to save money to replace your worn out shoes. The new shoes will cost you 15 dollars.
Case 3
Case 4
Your family has 12 dollars. You need to pay your electricity bill for 6 dollars. If you do not pay your electricity bill, it will be cut off by the power company. However , your mother who is the sole breadwinner of your family is sick. Going to the doctor costs free at the health center or the public hospital but the medicines are not free. You will need at least 8 dollars for her medicines from the government supported drug store. Your brother needs milk for 1.25 dollars. Food for your family will cost you at least 3 dollars. You need 3 dollars for your school field trip.
You were given by your mother 8 dollars. You need to pay for your enrollment at the local public school for 3 dollars. New school uniform costs 6 dollars. You need books which costs 5 dollars. School supplies, on the other hand, costs around 4 dollars. From the 8 dollars you are also expected to buy food for your family. Meat costs 2.50 dollars, vegetables cost 2.25 dollars, fish costs 2.25 also, while a bag of potatoes or rice would cost 1.75.
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Procedures 1. Divide your participants into four groups. Have them choose one representative. Photocopy and cut the four cases. Put them in a box. Have the representatives pick out one from the box. 2. The group will read and discuss the cases. The objective is to save as much money as they can or at least to spend the money as wisely as they can if saving is not possible. 3. Have them share their group discussions with everyone. Processing Deliver the following Key Messages: 1. In deciding for your expenditures, carefully weigh your needs and wants. 2. Sometimes, you will need to allocate money for needs that seem to be equally important. When faced with this situation, learn to prioritize. Which need is more urgent? What is more relevant to my and my familys survival? How will it affect my development, protection, and participation rights if that particular need is not met? The more negative the effect on ones survival, development, protection, and participation when the need is not met, the more important to meet the need. For example, food for the family should be prioritized more than clothes. The treatment of a sick breadwinner should be given priority as well because this has a lot of implications on the finances of family. 3. If there is an option to get free items, choose the free item over buying new stuff. For example, if they can get hand me downs from older siblings or from relatives, opt for these instead of buying new clothes. Borrow used books for school, by all means. 4. Saving money involves making the right decisions. The important thing is to know your priorities to help you with your decisions. 5. Saving money does not mean you have to save big sums right away. You can start by saving a small percentage of your allowance, earnings, or cash gifts. Save coins in your piggy bank or Aflatoun box (which they will make later on). 6. Do not to touch your savings unless you need it badly. 7. Do not get discouraged if you think you are not saving enough or if you cannot save because there is nothing to save to begin with. The important thing is to learn the principles of saving now and later use these principles when you have something to save. 8. Saving money will allow you to spend for your wants in the future. 9. Everyone can save! 10. Ask for the reaction of the participants to this statement: Did you know that if you save one peso a day, you will have 365 pesos in a year and in five years you can have 1825 pesos and 3650 in 10 years? Surely you can save more than that.
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Activity 6.2: What will I do? (for younger children)

This is a similar activity to Activity 6.1; however, we have simplified the situations to make it more apt for younger children. Activity Objectives Evoke from children how they can save money or spend their money wisely based on certain situations they will be given. Teach children how to prioritize their spending. Time 45 minutes Materials Cards where different situations are printed. (This will be laid out as part of this activity. The cards can be photocopied and cut out by the facilitators) Procedures 1. Write the cases on the board. Explain each case carefully to the children. 2. Divide your participants into three groups. Assign a case for each group. 3. Have them decide what will be the appropriate thing to do given the case. They should decide which among the expenses to prioritize. They should be able to explain why they prioritized the expenses too. Give them 10 minutes to discuss this. 4. Have them report the discussion in a plenary session. Processing Choose the appropriate messages in the Processing Section of Activity 6.1 that you will deliver to the younger children. The appropriateness of the message will depend on the capacity of your participants to understand the key messages. You may have to simplify some of the messages.
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Case 1 You have two dollars. Lunch is for one dollar and 50 centavos. You have excess 50 cents every day, which you can either spend on anything you want. You can buy your favorite candy for fifty cents. But then again, you have to save to buy a new shirt worth 20 dollars because your shirts are getting smaller . Should you buy candy? Or should you save up for your new shirt? How long will it take you to buy your new shirt?
Case 2 You earn two dollars selling newspapers every day. You need to buy lunch that costs 1.50 dollars. Junk food is cheaper at 1.00 and you can even buy a lollipop for .25 centavos. A water bottle costs 50 centavos. If you buy the junk food and lollipop, you can save .25 cents daily and buy anything you need or want once you have saved money. Would you rather buy the junk food, lollipop, and water bottle or the more expensive lunch?
Case 3 You have five dollars. You are supposed to buy pen to use in school, which costs 1.50 dollars. However, your mother lost her job. She does not have money to feed your three brothers and sisters. She wants to borrow 4 dollars so she can buy food for your family. What will you do?
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Activity 6.3: Yes, I can Save! (for younger children)

This activity teaches children the basic principles of saving. It will help children understand that saving is a conscious choice to allocate a certain amount of their money to save. It also drives home the point that saving will help them in times of need. To make the Activity more fun and interesting, we teach the principles through a simple song in the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. The song emphasizes that children can save money on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. The Activity emphasizes that saving is a good habit to learn. Activity Objectives To teach children the basic principles of saving. Time 45 minutes Procedures 1. Lead the children to sing the following song (sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Replace the currency based on the currency in your country): I can save a dollar a day From the money my mother gives Or Ill save the money I earn Or the gift money I get Daily, daily I will try, Save as much money I can I will save a dollar a day Keep it in my piggy bank Or Ill bring it to the bank Or have my mother keep it Weekly, weekly I will try, Save as much money I can Whatever money I will save, I can use it later on Buy the things that I will need Or the things that I may want Monthly, monthly, I will try, Save as much money I can The money that I will save In my lovely Aflatoun Box I will keep it safely there And watch all my savings grow I will save as much as I can Thats the best that I can do I will save till I grow up, Thats a habit I will keep Even though I am a child, I can save, I can save Thats a habit I will keep I will try my best to save. 2. When they have mastered the song after the initial run, get the children to perform some appropriate choreography for each line on the next round of singing. Sing the song faster after every run. Stop the singing when they start to stumble on their words. This will be
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fun activity because it keeps the children very active. Processing 1. Ask the children the following questions: Is it possible to save money given your present situation? Have you been able to save money before? How were you able to do it? If you were not able to save, why were you not able to do it? Where have you kept your money? 2. Although the song says they need to save daily, sometimes this is not possible in real life. The important thing is to try to save. They can also save on a weekly or monthly basis. 3. They have to have a place where they can keep their savings.
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Activity 7: Why I Should Save

Now that we have taught children to save money, they must understand why they have to save both monetary and non-monetary resources. What will they use their savings for? How will saving benefit them? These are just some of the questions this activity will attempt to answer. The activity makes use of a fun game to evoke from children the importance of saving. Activity Objective Help the children understand what they are saving for and why they should save. Time One hour Procedures 1. Bring the children to an anthill. Make them observe the ants. If there is no anthill in the surrounding areas, you may bring pictures or illustrations of anthills. 2. Ask them what the ants are doing and why they are doing what they are doing. Some possible answers are: they are bringing food, they are storing the food for rainy days, they are hardworking and industrious, etc. 3. There are lots of things to learn from ants, foremost of which is to save for rainy days. Explain that the rainy day could be a metaphor for difficult times where they would either need monetary or non-monetary resources to survive. 4. Have them play The Rain is Coming Game, the concept of which is similar to the game The Boat is Sinking. 5. The objective of the game is to avoid getting wet in the rain. Those who will get wet in the rain and will be eliminated will be made to answer the following questions: What are examples of difficult times or times of need where ones savings could come in handy? What can you use monetary savings for? What can you use non-monetary savings for? Have each individual participant think of 3-5 answers per question. Tell them that they will be using the answers during the game. 6. In a loud voice, tell the group: The rain is coming group yourselves under the umbrella into groups of _____ (call out a number like 5 or 7, etc). 7. The group that is unable to gather enough participants will be eliminated and each group member will be made to answer the questions you gave earlier. Processing 1. Write down their answers on a white board or on a Manila paper. Group their answers according to the three themes of the questions: examples of difficult times or times of where you could use monetary savings; examples of difficult times or times of need where one could use ones non-monetary savings. 2. You can further classify their answers. For instance, under monetary savings, they could come up with answers related to health needs, school needs, emergencies, etc. Under the nonmonetary savings, you could further classify the answers to psychological needs, emotional needs, etc. 3. Stress in the end that savings will help them get through difficult times. Savings, sometimes, could also spell their or their familys survival. Savings also allows them to stand on their own without having to depend on others. But it will also be good to stress that saving relationships with others will also help them lean on someone especially when they have no one to turn to anymore.
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Module 3: Where Should I Keep It?

Having a place to keep ones savings safely helps us become more efficient savers. Stashed in a well-secured container such as a piggy bank or Aflatoun Box, it discourages us from dipping our hands into our savings at every opportunity we have. The difficulty of getting money will give us time to think twice before we get from our savings. The following Activities show children where they can save their money such as piggy banks, Aflatoun Boxes or wallets, or banks. It also teaches children the need to keep track of their savings through a savings book and encourages children to advocate savings to their peers. Module Objectives To teach the children the value of saving. To help the children know the different places they could save their money.
Activity 1: The Aflatoun Box

For those who have been handling Aflatoun Programs for sometime now, this Activity is similar to the activity found in the Aflatoun Workbooks. We will guide the children in creating their own Aflatoun Box, a form of piggybank where children can keep their savings. This is just one of the ways the children can save. This is a fun activity as children exercise their creativity and learn the value of saving. Activity Objective To help the children in making an Aflatoun Box. To encourage children to save money using the Aflatoun Box. Time One hour or more Materials Old cardboard boxes, newspapers, tins, recyclable materials, glue, colored markers, papers from old magazines or drawings, found materials, pictures of different types of Piggy banks all over the world (piggy bank from the west, the bamboo coin holder from the Philippines, the coconut coin container from Southeast Asia, a piggy bank shaped like a toy soldier, and others) (for illustration)
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Procedures 1. To make the Aflatoun Box, children need to use a cardboard or cardboard box. 2. Have the older children cut the cardboard in such a way they can fold in into a box. Help the younger participants to cut the cardboard in such a way that they can fold it to form a box. 3. Fold the cardboard to make a box. Glue the ends together. Make sure to leave an opening on top where they can insert their money. 4. Decorate the box by gluing found materials and strips of magazines or colored paper around the box. Encourage them to make the box as colorful and as attractive as possible. 5. Make sure that the box is sturdy and cannot be easily opened by anyone.
Note to the Facilitator Alternatively, the children can use an old tin can. There should be a hole on top of the tin can that is big enough to insert coins or bills. Decorate the tin can. Older children can use other materials such as wood, pottery, paper mache, or other materials.
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Processing 1. The Aflatoun Box is the same as a piggy bank, a bamboo coin container, a coconut shell coin container, or an alcancia. Show them the different forms of money holders. 2. The importance of saving cannot be learned by children in one sitting. Be patient in 9 Children will easily learn if teaching them and relating the value of money in all of their activities. you are patient and consistent in guiding them and encouraging them in this endeavor. 3. Setting goals for saving money will help the children be more motivated to save money. 4. Remind the children to keep their Aflatoun boxes in safe places. Bright Ideas! Have the children create two Aflatoun Boxes. One savings box can be devoted for an immediate expense (e.g. buying clothes, school supplies, etc). The children should save enough money for their planned expense. This will drive home the point that saving money enables them to buy things they need or want. The second Aflatoun Box can be devoted to saving for some later use..
Activity 2: The Aflatoun Wallet

Instead of Aflatoun boxes, street children or institution based children will be encouraged to keep their savings in Aflatoun wallets. Aflatoun boxes might be harder to keep, given safekeeping issues in the streets or institutions. The Aflatoun wallet can be strung around the neck or can be brought with them anywhere they go. With this, they can keep an eye on their savings at all times. The Aflatoun wallet is not really a wallet in the conventional sense. It is like a savings box the size of a wallet. The wallet cannot be easily opened. This is to discourage the children from dipping their hands into their savings any time they want to. Time One hour or more Materials Cardboard, glue, scissors, strips of colored paper or old magazines Procedures 1. Cut the cardboard in the shape of a square. The size will depend on how big the wallet they want to be. It should be big enough to keep several months worth of savings. It should also be big enough to accommodate bills and coins. 2. Fold the cardboard into two. Glue the ends together. Make sure to leave a slot on top where the children can drop their money in. The slot should be small enough to discourage the children from taking the money at will. 3. Decorate the outside with strips of colored paper or old magazines to make it artsy. 4. Attach a string on the two top ends of the wallet. This will allow the children to keep the wallet around their necks at all times.
9 http://cashmanagement.savingadvice.com/2008/07/31/5-ways-to-teach-your-kids-the-importance_41672/
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Activity 3: The Savings Book

Tracking ones savings helps us monitor how much we have, how much we put in our savings, and how much we have taken out. A system to keep track of the money that goes in and out would help us control our expenses. It helps us to say NO to spending needlessly. The Savings Book they will make will be similar to a Savings Passbook traditionally used before the advent of ATMs. Activity Objectives To produce a savings book the children can use to monitor their savings. To use the savings book to monitor their savings and expenses. Time 1 hour Materials Paper, cardboard, pen and colored pens, ruler, colored paper or found materials, scissors, glue, stapler Procedures 1. Have the children cut the sheets of paper in the shape they like. It could be shaped like a circle, rectangle, square, or triangle or any practical shape they can think of. 2. Draw on the sheets of paper 4 columns and 12 rows like the one below. Label the columns properly. Have the children reproduce 5 to 10 copies of the table.
Date
What and where I got what I put in $2.00 $3.00
What I took out
What is left in the box $2.00 $5.00
16/07/09 22/07/09 24/07/09 16/08/09 18/08/09 31/08/09
$2.50 $4.00 $1.25 $3.00
$2.50 $6.50 $5.25 $8.25
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3. Glue the outside edge of the paper together. 4. Ask them to create a cover for the Savings Book. They can decorate the cover with colored paper, old magazines, or found materials. Have them write Aflatoun Savings Book and their name on the cover. Attach the cover either with a glue or stapler. 5. Explain how the savings book is used, particularly the table. They can monitor how much is in their savings book every time they put money in or take money out. Processing The Savings Book will help them control their expenses because they know how much they have left in the Aflatoun Box. It will also help them decide whether the item is worth spending on given the state of their finances.
Bright Idea! Arrange a tour to the bank for your participants. Ask a bank representative to explain in a simple way how saving in a bank works. Ask them to show your participants a sample savings account passbook and explain how this works. Tell the children that keeping their money in a bank is an ideal way to save money because their money can earn some interest. Explore ways by which the children can have group savings in a bank. This will be apt especially when banks in your country require a minimum amount of deposit that might be too large for children to meet. Aside from earning interest (which could be minimal but still earn interest), it will be less tempting for the children to spend their savings because of the trouble of having to go to the bank to withdraw. When you opt for group savings, provide an informal savings book much like the one they made in this activity. This is to help them monitor how much they still have. To address safekeeping issues, an official representative of your organization should sign the savings book every time a child deposits or withdraws money.
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Activity 4: The Book of Good Deeds

In the earlier part of this Section, we taught children to save non-monetary resources such as good memories, the environment, and what not. We also taught them about responsibilities and good citizenship when we went through the Module on Rights and Responsibilities. In this Activity, we will use the things they learned from those two previous Modules. Here, we will teach them how to save good deeds on a daily basis. This will reinforce the lessons on good citizenship they learned previously. Doing good deeds allows them to practice responsibility towards others. It also allows them to feel better about themselves knowing they have done beneficial things for others. But good deeds need not necessarily be limited to good deeds for others, these can be good things they do for themselves such as caring for their well-being. Tracking down the good deeds they have done will help them feel more confident and good about themselves. Activity Objectives To teach the children the importance of good citizenship. To teach the children responsibility for the self. To teach children the importance of doing good deeds for others. To recognize childrens attempts to do good deeds for others. Time One hour Materials Notebook or if this cannot be provided, paper, cardboard, glue, yarn, scissors, and colored paper
Procedures 1. If notebooks cannot be provided, they can make their own notebooks using paper, cardboard (for the cover). They can bind the notebook using either glue or yarn. 2. Decorate the cover of the notebook. On the front cover, have them write (either using pen or pieces of colored paper cut out in the shape of letters) The Book of Good Deeds. 3. The Book of Good Deeds is similar to their Savings Book; the only difference is they are not saving monetary resources but good deeds. Explain to them that the Book of Good Deeds will help them track down the good things they have done for the day. Explain why this is important and how this will help them. 4. On the first page of the notebook, have them write their name, their address (if applicable), their birthday. Below this, have them write the sentence: I will try to do good deeds today. 5. On another page, write the following as a heading: The Good Things I did for Myself. Have them draw a smiling face right beside the heading. Mark this page with a tab.
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6. To make things easier, you can come up with a checklist of good things they can do for themselves on a daily basis. Write the checklist on the left hand side. To the right of the checklist, have them come up with 7 columns representing the seven days of the week. This will make things simpler for them because they can just check the appropriate row if they have done the good deed for the day. Alternatively, you can have the table below reproduced and pasted on their Book of Good Deeds. Have them check the item that they have done for the day. Reserve 5 or more pages for this. 7. On another page, have them draw a smiling sun on top of the page. Again mark this with a tab. Reserve 5 or more pages for this. Tell them that when they have done a good deed for others, they have to write them down on this section. Tell them not to forget to write the date they did the good deed and the person who benefited from their deed. 8. On another page, have them draw a sun partially covered with clouds. The sun has a sad face. Mark this with a tab once more. Reserve 5 or more pages for this. Tell them that they are supposed to write down the things they did that they feel have saddened others. They are also to write the date, what they have done to sadden the person, who that person is, and what they resolve to do to make that person happy next time. 9. At the end of each week, you can check the good deeds and offer modest rewards to those who have tracked down their good deeds. You can give extra rewards to those who have been extra good to others and have shown exemplary good deeds.
The Good Things I did for Myself From_______________to_____________(Day of the Month) Month of _________________________________________ I remembered to Finish all my food on my plate Brush my teeth Take a bath Make up my bed Wash plates Do my other responsibilities (e.g. homework, work, etc) Put money in my Aflatoun box or wallet and entered it in my savings book Say my prayers Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
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Activity 5: Poster Making

This Activity will give the children a foretaste of advocacy work. This time, they will persuade other children like themselves to save money Activity Objectives To create posters that encourage children to save money. To help children become advocates of savings. Time 1 hour Materials Paper, color implements, pencil, pens Procedures 1. Make the participants think of a catchy phrase that encourages children to save. The phrase should also tell the children where they can save their money. You will use the phrase as the main message of your poster. An example of this is, Save in your Aflatoun Box for your Future. 2. After coming up with the catchy caption, have the children create their poster. Tell them to make their poster as attractive and colorful as possible to encourage children to save. 3. Post the posters on the walls of your venue and have everyone view each others works. Processing Deliver the following key messages: 1. Saving money is the first step to ending the cycle of poverty. 2. Saving money helps you prepare for times of emergency or times of need. 3. It helps you have enough to buy your wants at some point in time.
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Module 4: All About Spending and Budgeting

In this Module, we will teach the children the rudiments of budgeting. Like saving, this is an important skill they can learn and benefit from. The ability to control spending has implications on ones ability to save. Having a specific budget also helps promote frugality. Thus, budgeting and saving are two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately, adults do not ordinarily teach children budgeting. First, they may not have the skills to pass on to children or second, they do not realize the need to teach children this. Budgeting and the management of financial resources are important skills that should be imparted to these children regardless of whether they have access to money or not as this will be a huge step towards the childrens financial independence. While some may have no access to money presently, their situation will not necessarily remain the same. The Module will help prepare the children for the time when their economic situation would have already improved. Module Objectives To introduce children to the concept, principles and practice of budgeting To help children make wise decisions in terms of spending
Activity 1: Introducing Budgeting to Children

There are two exercises in this Activity: one for young children and the other one for older children. The activity for older children requires more complex mathematical skills that young children may not yet have. For the younger children, we start by introducing the concept of money, exchange and expenditure and teaching them simple budgeting skills.
Activity 1.1: Buying the Things We Want and Need (for young children)
This Activity teaches children to prioritize when they make purchases. It teaches them to budget their money for essential things through role play. Activity Objectives To introduce the children to the concept of money and to the concepts of exchange and expenditure. To exercise the simple budgeting skills. Materials Paper money of different denominations (small denominations to make it easier for the children to do simple addition and subtraction), pictures of different goods representing needs and wants. Time 45 minutes Procedures 1. Share with the children that there are different currencies used all over the world. Ask them what kind of currency is being used in their own country. Show samples of the different
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denominations in your country, including bills and coins. Allow them to count the bills and coins. Make them do simple addition and subtraction computations involving both bills and coins. 2. After getting themselves familiar with the different denominations, divide the participants into two groups. One group will pretend to sell goods, while another group will sell goods. 3. Distribute paper money of different denominations. Make sure everyone has enough including the sellers who would need to give them change. 4. Distribute to the sellers pictures of goods. Make sure to put a price tag on each item. 5. The buyers will buy anything they want without regard for their needs or wants. The pictures of goods could include goods such as nutritious food, junk food, clothes, shoes, mobile phones, MP3, (or any thing that is currently in fashion in your country). Put a price tag to each. Processing 1. Ask the children, what happened to your money when you bought everything you wanted? How much money do you have left? Will buying everything you want do you any good? How many of the goods you bought do you really need? 2. Emphasize that buying goods without a budget could lead to needless expenditures. You need to identify what you need before buying. You should also stick to the amount of money you intended to spend.
Activity 1.2: Planning a Party

The children plan a party. They are given a budget to work with. Can they wisely budget the small amount they have and at the same time make the birthday celebrator happy? Activity Objective To practice a simple budgeting exercise. Materials Budget sheet, paper money of different denominations, found materials that could serve as goods the groups are pretending to sell. Time 1 hour Procedures 1. Divide the participants into groups of four to five members. They will plan a party for a member who is celebrating his/her birthday. 2. They will be preparing two dishes, decorating the room, and buying a group gift for the birthday boy/girl. 3. Prepare pictures that represent the goods that they need to buy (i.e.ingredients for the dishes [make the dish simple with a few ingredients so you dont go through too much trouble], gifts [e.g. pants, toys, mobile phone, shirt, etc], room decoration [balloons, paper hangings, flowers, etc]. Have a variety of goods to make this simulation game more interesting and to give the participants various choices. Put a price tag to each of the goods. 4. Give the groups a specific budget to work with (e.g. 500 dollars). The object is to save as much as possible. The celebrator should be happy too so the groups should not scrimp too much on the ingredients, decorations, and gifts. 5. Have the groups list down on the Budget Sheet the amount they received and the amount they spent. All the expenditure should be listed and computed. Photocopy the budget sheet and distribute to the groups.
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Sample Filled Out Budget Sheet
Where I received the money from Aflatoun
How Much?
All items I spent my money on Shirt Cake Chicken Onions Balloons
How Much?
(money received minus money spent)
Remaining money
$500
$75 $55 $17.50 $2.75 $38.35
$425 $370 $352.50 $349.75 $311.40
Total Amount of Money Left Budget Sheet (For distribution) Where I received the money from How Much? All items I spent my money on
$311.40
How Much?
(money received minus money spent)
Remaining money
Total Amount of Money Left
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Processing 1. Ask the groups, What was easy about working within a budget? What was difficult about it? Why do you think budgeting is useful? Do you think you can do this on your own? 2. Emphasize the benefits of budgeting. 3. It is possible to practice the lessons in actual life. 4. A Budget Sheet and a budget plan will help us become more mindful of our expenses. 5. When you shop, compare prices and the quality of the goods. Sometimes, it is not enough just to buy the cheap goods. Value for money is more important than the actual cost. While some goods may be a bit more expensive, the quality may actually be better. Better quality goods also usually last longer so in the end you save more money. 6. Tell them that sometimes, advertisements creates false needs as if the items can make us happy, contented, fulfilled etc. Remind them of the previous Activity on false needs created by advertisements. Distinguishing our genuine needs from our wants is essential especially in budgeting. Bright Idea! Help the children organize a real party. Assist them in planning the details of the party. Have them list out all the items they need. Bring them to the supermarket to find out how much the goods cost. Have them list down the prices of the goods. Compare the prices, the value, and quality of the goods. List down the prices of the cheaper but good quality items. At the end of your little field trip, have the children compute how much they need for the party. Once they have finalized their list, help them raise funds. Possible fund drive activities include collecting recyclable materials such as newspapers, bottles, and other items that could be sold to recycling stations; cake or baked goodies sale; soliciting money from supportive individuals in the neighborhood, and other similar fund raising activities. Have them fill out the Budget Sheet so they can properly plan their expenditures.
Activity 2: Monthly Budget

Follow-up activities gauge how much the children have learned to budget their money. This Activity makes that possible as you keep track of their budgeting practices for a month. However, this will not always be possible because of time constraints or if participants are always on the move such as street children. This Activity is, thus, essential but optional. Time 30 minutes to explain the procedures; Activity will be spread over a month, if possible. Procedures 1. Distribute to the older children the budget sheet below. 2. Ask them to fill out the needed information for the whole month. On the needs column, list down all the things they feel they need. However, they are not required to buy all their needs. They will have to prioritize their needs and buy only those things that are within their budget. 3. Submit the filled out sheet by the end of the month, if possible. Discuss with the children what their weaknesses have been in terms of budgeting the money have received.
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Sample Filled out Budget Sheet Month: May 2009 Date Person I received money from Mother How much? Item money was spent on Shampoo Is this a need? How much? Remaining money
15/05/09 21/05/09 27/05/09
$15 Yes $2.50 $1.75 $12.50 $10.75 P l a y e d No internet game
29/05/09
E a r n i n g $1.50 from selling newspaper Notebook Yes for school $1.45
$12.25
5/06/09 Total Amount of Money Left
$13.70 $13.70
The Monthly Budget Sheet Month:________________ Date Person I received money from How much? Item money was spent on Is this a need? How much? Remaining money
Total Amount of Money Left
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Processing
Emphasize the importance of not spending all their money and the need to save a portion of it, even though how small the amount is. Plan all expenditures properly. Come up with a list of your needs and stick to the list no matter what. Unplanned spending leads to waste because they may be purchasing goods that are of poorer value or goods that they dont actually need. It is not bad to spend on wants. However, we should only spend on this when we have extra cash.
Note to the Facilitator Observe the childrens budgeting practices for a week if you cannot monitor the children for a month. Monitoring is a must because this will help you understand their actual practices and offer useful suggestions. The Sounding Board In this Section, the children went through various Activities that introduced new concepts and skills to them. We want to find out what they think about these Activities and if they think they will find use in these skills and knowledge they learned from this. Gather the children in a circle. One by one ask them to name a favorite activity, what were the memorable terms or words they have encountered here, and were the most memorable exercises that they did. Why? Make sure to ask follow-up questions. Note from Aflatoun Other children in Aflatoun clubs have practiced different savings schemes in the Philippines, children save money in a bamboo bank. in Peru, children save money in class banks and they are kept secure in a school safe. in Uganda, children have opened accounts in the local Postbank. What savings scheme would you like to do? Please share your stories with us by writing us at info@ aflatoun.org
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SECTION 5:
Child Financial and Social Enterprises
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Children in need of special protection often find it difficult to set goals, plan for the future, and enact their plans. They are usually focused on themselves and their past experiences especially those who experienced abuse. This prevents children from moving on, reaching out to others, and reaching their full potential as human beings. We tried to address these problems in Section 2, when we helped the children process their experiences and guided them to look ahead with a more positive and hopeful outlook. We also helped them dream a better future for themselves and children in general. In this Section, we take this a step further by helping them come-up with specific individual goalssomething they will work to achieve in the next few years. We also let them come up with concrete steps to make their dreams and goals a reality through social & financial enterprise. We also usher the children to look beyond themselves by developing empathy for others and greater concern for issues and problems that concern their community and other children like themselves. This is the social enterprise component of this Section. Discussions on the responsible citizenship, rights, and responsibilities resonate in this section as we encourage them to engage in social action. On their own, children may find it difficult to engage in this. Thus, this Section gives the children the opportunity to work with a group, to come up with group goals, and to engage in an actual project that will be beneficial for the community or children like them. In this Section, we help the children realize they can use financial enterprise as a potent tool for their social enterprise. Financial enterprise is not only used for ones welfare, it should also be used to uplift the lives of others in the community. This means they should mobilize their resources to create impact; however small it may be, in the lives of others in their community. Our goal to teach enterprise to these children is modest. We only aim to introduce them to the basic concepts and to give them a brief hands-on experience in engaging in social and financial enterprise. The hands-on experience, hopefully, will inspire them to pursue these on their own or with a group later on. Equipping them with these basic skills will also hopefully get them interested to deepen their knowledge and understanding of these later on. Section 1. 2. 3. 4. Objectives: To help the children appreciate the value of social and financial enterprise. To discuss with the children the basic principles of social and financial enterprise. To teach the children the value of cooperation in tackling issues and problems. To carry out a simple social and financial group enterprise project.
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Module 1 My Personal Goal

The Module helps the participants to set short term personal goals. The goals may be to go back to school, set up a small financial enterprise, learn to generate income from projects (especially for older children), save money for something they need or want, and other similar workable goals. We help them come up with doable and achievable goals. The next aim of this Module is to guide the children in devising a concrete plan to achieve their goals. Careful planning of ones action plans is as an important step as identifying the goals. We first need to have the children go through a trust building exercise before guiding them through goal setting and planning. The children and you have probably been building trust all throughout this time. However, we let them let them go through this trust building exercise to emphasize the point they can count on people to help them reach their goals. This gives them the assurance that they can succeed in the endeavor. Module Objectives: To help children strengthen their trust in the facilitator and fellow participants To help them come up with clear, doable, and practical individual goals
Activity 1: The Trust Maze

A trusting relationship with others makes the journey towards ones goals bearable. It helps to know you are not alone, they can actually entrust their lives to some people, people who are willing to stay by their side through thick and thin. A trusting relationship with others will give children more confidence to dream and work for a better future. It mitigates fear of failure because they know they can lean on someone incase they need to. The Activity not only helps develop trust, it also helps develop mutual respect, openness, and teamwork. It can also break down barriers and foster reliance among 1Just make sure you do this Activity members of a group. in a place with wide open spaces. Activity Objective To help the participants build trust, openness and reliance. To help the participants realize people can help them achieve their goals. To help them realize they have talents and abilities they could use to achieve their goals. Materials Several water bottles with water inside (make sure the bottles are sealed shut), blind foldsl
http://wilderdom.com/games/TrustBuildingActivitiesAbout.html
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Time 45 minutes Procedures 1. Make a maze out of water bottles. You can make the maze as complicated as you want. The more complex it is, the more fun the Activity will be. 2. Ask the participants to form dyads, one of whom will be blindfolded. The blindfolded partner will negotiate the maze while the seeing partner will give verbal instructions to help the partner reach the end of the maze. The object is for the blindfolded partner to avoid tripping over the bottles, knocking them over, or bumping with other members of the group as s/he tries to reach the finish line. 3. Before asking them to start with the exercise, give the seeing partners the opportunity to plan how s/he will give the instructions. When everyone is ready, give the cue to start. 4. Encourage the participants to use a caring tone when giving instructions. They should ensure their partners feel safe with them otherwise the activity will not work. 5. At some point, several persons will be working their way through the maze. This will increase the difficulty because the blindfolded partner will have to carefully listen to and concentrate on the instructions being given by his or her seeing partner. 6. Give them the opportunity to switch roles after the first partner reaches the end of the maze. Processing 1. Ask the partners to rate how much they trusted their partner at the start (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest)? Did their trust increase at the end of the activity? How was it to be guided by another person while going through the maze? Did you feel safe and secure throughout the exercise? Did you have any doubts with your partner? If yes, what did you do to allay their doubts? What did your partner do to help you feel safe and secure? What could your partner have done to help make you feel more safe and secure? How do you feel about your partner after the exercise? 2. Explain that the exercise could be seen as a metaphor for their journey towards their goal. There would be times when they feel lost or confused, not really knowing where they are heading. However, a good intentioned person whom they trust can provide useful guidance. They can also serve as important life lines and support systems especially in times of need. 3. Sharing trusting relationships with people should not create over dependency. While it is okay to seek peoples help from time to time, one should be able to focus well on ones own strengths and resources. People have inner resources they can always tap to help them survive the odds.
Activity 2: Burning Our Past Hurts, Rekindling Our Spirit!

In Section Two, we helped children learn more about themselves. The Activities there would have given them a portrait of who they are and what they can and cannot do. They should have also allowed them to assess and know their strengths and weaknesses. While it is good to know ones weaknesses, it is not very healthy to dwell on them very much. In this Activity, the participants will go through a symbolic ritual to downplay their weaknesses. A healthy self-concept where one knows how to tap their strengths rather than be affected by their weaknesses, will be helpful for the children to reach their goals. It will help them gain a measure of confidence that would help buoy their low self concept. We need to help these children realize that they have skills, talents, and characteristics that they can use to achieve their goals. The resilience of individuals usually stem form their knowledge that they have abilities and skills they can be proud of. Activity Objectives To highlight the innate strength of the children as they realize they are unique and special
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individuals To help the children strengthen/firm-up their self-esteem Time One hour Materials Paper, Pencil or Pen, Coloring Material, candles for each participant, 2 bowls (or wide-mouthed jar) Procedures 1. Have the children sit in a circle. Place two bowls at the center, placed a meter apart from each other. 2. Children will be given two pieces of small paper, on one piece, they will write their major weakness, on another their strong point. 3. The children will drop the piece (with their weaknesses written on it) into the bowl of weaknesses, and the other piece of paper (with their strength written on it) into the bowl of strengths. 4. When everybody is finished, the papers in the bowl of weaknesses will be burned as music is played. While the paper is burning say something about the need to minimize or deemphasize our weaknesses as our weaknesses bear us down. They are like chains that could stop us from reaching our goals. But this does not mean we need to deny our weaknesses. This will be as bad as dwelling on our weaknesses. We should work to transform our weaknesses into our strengths. Give an example how you can do this. 5. Place the bowl of strengths in the very middle of the circle this time. Distribute candles to each participant. Light your candle first. While lighting it, say: Let this candlelight symbolize our strengths. (Light the candle of the participant sitting beside you). Pass this light to the person sitting next to you. As you light your candles, verbally or silently say a wish for your future. Let our strengths serve as our guide to our goals, let them serve as our inspirations as we work to achieve a better future for ourselves.
Activity 3 High Flying Goals
In this Activity, we lead the children through an individual goal setting activity. We help them come up with individual workable and practical long or short term practical goals. We also guide them to think of concrete ways to reach their goals and making an inventory of personal and inner resources they have to help them achieve these. The Activity is a fun and meaningful activity as we get the children to make a kite, write down their goals and their inner resources that can specifically help them achieve these goals (as opposed to the previous activities where they just made a list of their general strengths), and fly the kite to symbolize how they can rise above their current situation now. Activity Objectives To help the children identify short term goals To guide the children in making an inventory of inner resources that would help them achieve their goals To help children see the goals as ways of improving themselves and their status as individuals To assist children in identifying long term goals that they may want to work for in the next few years.
To help children make sense of these goals and how they could attain them.
2 Adapted from Villegas, Agnes and Ma. Malaya F. Oebanda. 2008. Skills for Daily Living: A Life Skills Training Manual. Quezon City: Visayan Forum.
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Time One hour
Materials Colored Japanese paper, two pieces of long barbeque sticks or any stick that could serve the purpose of making a kite frame, glue, scotch tape, yarn, or string Procedures 1. Have the children think of short term goals they want to achieve. Short term goals are goals they can accomplish in a year or less. The goals should be achievable within the timeframe. An example of a short term goal is to finish the grade level they are in within the year. Go to school in the next school year. It could also be to save enough money for a particular need. 2. Also, have the children think about a long term goal. Long term goals are goals that can be accomplished between two and four years. Examples of long term goals are finishing school (especially if they still have a few years left). Setting up a productive financial enterprise (be specific with the business like setting up a food stall) in two years. 3. Have the children think of how they can reach the goal, what will stop them from reaching these goals, and specific skills, abilities, and traits they have or need to have to reach these goals. Also have them think of specific traits they have that might stop them from achieving these goals and what they need to do to address this. 4. Ask the children to create a kite. Form a cross out of the two barbeque sticks. Tie the stick in the middle securely. Cut a diamond that would fit the frame of the kite out of the Japanese paper. Have them create a tail for the kite by cutting three one to two feet long and 3 inch thick Japanese paper. Fasten the diamond shape on the kite frame using the scotch tape, glue, or both. Fasten the kite tail. Tie a string on the four corners of the frame. Attach a long string in the middle.
5. Have the children write their short term and long term goals on the body of the kite. On the tail, make them write how they can reach the goal (remind them that this has to be concrete steps), what will stop them from reaching the goals, and the characteristics, skills, and abilities they need to reach these goals. Encourage other participants to write a dedication supporting the childs goals. Write your own encouraging message on the participants kites as well. 6. Have them discuss their answer. Be very encouraging as they share their answers. 7. Fly the kites after everyone has finished with their tasks. Before flying the kite, tell them, You can always rise above any negative experiences you have. You will just have to tap your inner resources as well as people who are willing to help you to support you in your endeavor. The first step in doing this is to identify a goal and the concrete steps you can take to reach your goal.
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Note to the Facilitator Make the activity as meaningful as possible. Remind the children that it is possible to reach their goals. The goals can be personal goals that involve changing certain aspects about themselves, committing to finish school, engaging in a financial enterprise, among others. They could also be goals directed towards benefitting the community or their family. Goals cannot be achieved through this one activity. At best, this activity is only a preliminary step to help the children achieve their goals. It will be good to constantly follow up on the children well after the training. Processing 1. Tell the participants it is possible to reach their dreams especially with the backing of supportive individuals like their peers and staff from your organization. 2. Encourage them by saying that their goals are all achievable especially when they take concrete steps to reach their goals. The important thing is to stay focused on the goal and not to get discouraged in case they fail the first time they try to reach it. 3. Remind them that to reach a goal, one has to be committed to it and willing to get out of their way to reach it. 4. Goal setting is a never ending exercise. Once one has been achieved, it is alright to set another goal. Goals help our lives to become more meaningful and worth living.
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Module 2 Setting-up a Financial Enterprise

Some children will probably identify earning for their family as part of their short or long term goals. This Module is devoted to teach children some basics in running a financial enterpriseparticularly running a business. The goal of the Module is not really to make businessmen out of the children. It is just to introduce them to some basic principles in business such as pricing, profit-making, and business planning. These are skills that could someday come in handy in case they want to engage in business. This Module will be most useful for children who have voiced out their interest in engaging or are already engaged in a business enterprise. It is beneficial to expose these children to the basics of business because this might actually jump start their interest to engage in it. The Activities here will be group activities that will help children come up with a simple business plan, learn about pricing and profit making, and possibly engage in a business enterprise. However, we will not limit the Module to teaching business. We will also encourage them to engage in service oriented financial enterprises such as doing laundry, doing some paid housework on a part time basis, etc. Module Objectives To teach children the basics of engaging in business. To give them a hands-on experience in doing business.
Activity 1: Deciding on an Apt Financial Enterprise (for older children)

Start this activity by giving the children a short lecture on the benefits of engaging in financial enterprises. Say for instance this will help them earn income and achieve economic independence. Many economically successful persons started out engaging in enterprise at a very young age. Early on, these people learned important skills that allowed them to succeed in their financial endeavors. Being involved in financial enterprise also has non-monetary benefits. It increases the childrens confidence, improves their people skills, and enriches their life experiences as they constantly deal with people and discover abilities they never thought they had. However, stress to that engaging in a financial enterprise involves careful planning and weighing different options. For instance, they have to decide what financial enterprise will fit them, their interests, skills, and lifestyles. In this Module, we will try to look at their interests and see whether they are more inclined to engage in a business enterprise or service delivery.
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Activity Objective To help children decide on the appropriate financial enterprise to engage in. Time One hour Procedures 1. Divide the participants into groups. Have them discuss their answers to the following questions: What business are you interested in? What products can I sell? Where can I possibly get capital to start my business? (Explain to them what capital is and how they can effectively manage this). What skills do I have that I can use to earn money (e.g. washing clothes, gardening, doing housework, etc)? How much time can I devote working for the enterprise? 2. When they have discussed the answers to the questions, give them the following assignment: If they are interested in business, have them do the following: Go to the community where they intend to do their enterprise. Let them find out if their ideas are practical and they fill a need in the community. In other words, is there a market in the community, will there be enough buyers of the goods? Will the goods sell in the community? Are such and such services required in the community? To find out, they should ask around among community members if they would be interested to buy the goods? Where do they plan to source out the capital, in case they need capital? Find out if there are competitors who are selling the same goods or offering the same services in the community. If they are selling the same goods, do you think your goods will be better than those being sold by the competitors? What will be the added value of your product to ensure that it will sell in the market? What will be the added value of the service you intend to offer. If they are more interested to deliver services have them scout for available work in their community. Make sure the work is just menial work and will not endanger the children nor expose them to abuse. Acceptable forms of work include watering the plants for neighbors or doing some gardening, washing cars, selling newspaper, and other non-hazardous work. They should ask other children who are doing the same work how much they are paid, how long the work hours are, how many days a week do they have to do it, and what are the general policies of the employer? Ask community members if the potential employer can be trusted and if they are known to be nice employers. Find out if they have a history of abusing employees. 3. Have them present their findings the next day. Encourage them to be as creative as possible in presenting their findings.
Processing 1. Help the participants decide if their business venture is viable and feasible. The basis for this are: The business is practical and doable The children are interested in the business and they have the requisite skills to make the business work There are places where they could source out their products, which offer the goods cheap and will have
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room for profit There is a market in the community and there are few competitors that provide the same products Their product has added value compared to the products of the competitors 2. Stress to them the importance of business planning. Since businesses nvolve money, it will be good to carefully plan everything so that the money will not go to waste. Careful planning involves analyzing their market like you have asked them to do. If you are offering services, this could also use some planning. For instance, how will ensure you are offering good services and that your clients are satisfied? How will you improve your services? Tell them that there are better chances of people hiring their services if customers have been satisfied by their service. 3. Tell them that the plan is an evolving document. This could still change depending on the contexts they will face once they set up their business. Perhaps, a lot of their initial plans will have to be revised. 4. Tell them that capital is a valuable resource because the capital is the money that will be used to purchase their goods and to ensure their business will be sustained. Warn them that it might not be easy to get capital. Connect this to the idea of saving, that saving could be a source of their capital. If their enterprise needs capital and they dont have it, explore the possibility of offering services that will help them earn and save capital for their business. 5. Another possible source of capital is credit. Explain to them that there are credit cooperatives that could help provide start up capital for businesses. There is a need to pay for the loans from the cooperatives to establish a good credit line. Note to the Facilitator If it is a service oriented work, you will have to explain to them the difference between child work and child labor. Emphasize that child labor often involves hazardous working conditions (long hours of work, minimal or no pay, dangerous to their health, no days off, abusive employers who physically or verbally abuse them). Stress to them the need to protect themselves. Teach them how to speak up in case they encounter abusive employers. Tell them where to run to for help and how to seek for help in case they need it.
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Activity 2: All About Pricing (for older children)

This Activity is meant more for those who will be engaging in small business. For those who have opted for service oriented work, this will still be useful in case they decide to engage in microenterprise sometime in the future. In this Activity we will guide the children through the intricacies of pricing their goods. This is an important skill to learn because earning profit depends on successful pricing of the goods. This means all the expenses to produce or purchase a good have been taken into account and a margin of profit has already been figured in the computation of the prices of the goods to be sold. In this Activity, we teach the participants pricing by guiding them in computing the price of tuna sandwich. In this activity, have the children imagine that they will be going into a sandwich making business, with tuna sandwich as their principal product (you can opt for other products that are more familiar to your participants. They can be local desserts or delicacies for instance). They will have to compute the price of the hamburger based on the cost of producing the meat patties. Activity Objective To walk the children through a simple pricing exercise Time One hour Materials Pricing Sheet, pencil or pen Procedures 1. Participants will go through a simple pricing exercise. They will compute the possible expenses and costs in producing tuna sandwich to help them determine the price of the good and the profit they will make. 2. Explain to the children that aside from the materials in making tuna sandwich, there are other costs that must be factored in when they compute its price. These are listed in the Pricing Sheet that will be distributed to them. 3. You must give the following assignment a day before the session on Pricing. This is to give the children adequate time to find out the actual price of the goods. If the actual prices are not available or if it is impossible for the children to go out and find out the actual prices then guess estimates will also work. The point of this exercise is just to teach the children the principles of determining the price of the goods they will sell. 4. Divide the children into groups. Have the children fill out the pricing sheet. Explain that the list contains the usual expenses for running a business. They can leave some of the items blank if they think that these do not apply in their case.
Adapted from Junior Achievement and Fundacion Paraguayana. Programa Comite de Mujeres Emprendedoras.
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Pricing Sheet Expenses
Amount
Main ingredients (e.g. ingredients of tuna sandwich) 1. Bread 2. Canned tuna 3. Mayonnaise 4. Onion 5. Leeks 6. Salt 7. Pepper 8. Sugar Margin for wastage: 20 percent of the cost of the main ingredients Advertisement Maintenance of Equipment Salary of Employees Water Electricity Rent Payment for insurance and license Other Expenses Total Expenses Price per item (Total Expenses/ Number of items produced)
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Processing 1. Point out that businesses usually incur different costs. In order to make a decent profit, all of these costs must be factored in. 2. Fixed costs are costs that must be paid whether or not any units are produced. These costs are fixed over a specified period of time or range of production. 3. Variable costs are costs that vary directly with the number of products produced. For instance, the cost of the materials needed and the labor used to produce units isnt always the same. 4. If your fixed costs for producing 2,000 tuna sandwich were 2,000 dollars a year. Your variable cost for producing one tuna sandwich is 3.00 dollars. Say you decide to sell your sandwich for 5.00 dollars). To compute how many you need to sell before you make a profit follow this formula [2,000 dollars (5.00 dollars [price of the finished product or sandwich] minus 3.00 dollars [cost for producing the tuna sandwich)]. This means that they will have to sell 1,000 tuna sandwiches before the business starts to make profit. Bright Idea! If there is enough time, give the children a hands-on experience in running a business. Divide the participants into several groups. Have them plan the enterprise they want to engage in (Activity 1) and plan the prices of the items they will sell (Activity 2). Discuss where they could source out the capital. After everything has been carefully planned, allow them to run their enterprise for several days or weeks depending on the time you have. After a specific period of time, discuss with them the following: how much profit did you make? What problems did you encounter? How were you able to solve the problems? For the problems you were not able to solve, how do you think should it be solved? What important things did you learn from the exercise?
Activity 3: Selling in the Community (for younger children)

The Activity is principally meant for younger children who may not be prepared to engage in Activities 1 and 2. The point of this exercise is to introduce the children to doing financial enterprise , give them the opportunity to experience it directly, and learning some basic business principles. This can also be done by older children. Activity Objectives To give the children the opportunity to engage in a small-scale selling business. To learn the basic principles of business Time 30 minutes to explain the activity but the activity can be spread over several days Procedures 1. Divide the participants into several groups. The group will sell stuff in their community (e.g. candies, pastries, local snacks, bottled water, or anything that will be saleable in the community). 2. Tell them the total price of the materials they will sell. Show them how to compute the price of the goods per unit without marking up the price just yet. Explain that they will have to mark up their prices to earn some profit. 3. Give them tips on how they can better sell their products. For instance, they can go door to door to sell their goods, they can advertise through flyers, they can invite neighbors over, and other similar business strategies. Processing
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1. Ask the children how the general experience of selling was? What was fun about it? What was difficult about it? How much profit did they earn? What strategies did they use to sell their products? 2. Explain to the children the rewards of engaging in a financial enterprise. Note to the Facilitator You can either buy for them the things they will sell or they can produce this. . For example, they can sell local snacks that they can make on their own (i.e. if they are old enough to cook). In the Philippines, for instance, children as young as 8 or 9 can already help in making a local dessert called turon (fried banana wrapped in rice paper and rolled in sugar). If the children are in institutions and cannot go out to the community to sell things, they need not go through the actual exercise of direct selling. You could just arrange the activity within the institution and have them play act. This activity could also be used as a fund raising activity for the children. Bright Idea! Provide the children small credit for capital. If this is possible, explain to them that they must pay their credit when they earn and at an agreed upon date. Devise easy ways they can pay for the credit over a period of time. This exercise will be a good opportunity to teach them credit responsibility.
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Module 3: Enterprise
All
About
Social
This Module encourages children to look beyond their own personal needs, focus on the needs of their community, and engage in social action that benefit the larger community. In this Module, they go through an exercise in responsible citizenship that will help initiate them into becoming active participants and shapers of their community rather than just passive community spectators. This is in keeping with the last Aflatoun Program Core Element. We encourage them to engage in this to help them understand that their personal problems are connected with bigger social problems. Addressing their personal problems goes hand in hand with addressing larger social issues. As Aflatouns, encourage them to become changemakers and not just passive onlookers. But because there are limits to what individuals can do, we encourage the participants to work together as a team in carrying out their social enterprise. This will help them realize the value of working with groups especially in proposing solutions to social problems. We also take this a step further by showing them how financial enterprise, in experimenting with working business models, can be employed to exert positive impact on their community. Module Objectives To give the participants a practical experience in working on a social enterprise project. To give the children the opportunity to practice their financial and social enterprise.
Activity 1: The Longest Line
The Longest Line illustrates the importance of group work in achieving a goal, which is what social enterprise is primarily about. This is a preactivity that aims to teach coordination, collaboration, and teamwork as key to a successful enterprise. Children must learn to work together towards achieving a common goal. Activity Objective To teach the participants the value of coordination, collaboration, and teamwork in achieving group goals. Time One hour
Materials Found materials Procedures 1. Divide the participants into several groups. 2. The object of the game is for the groups to make the longest line they can make. The line can be made using their bodies, items they are wearing or things that could be found inside or outside the venue of the training workshop. The group that comes up with the longest line wins the game. 3. Give the groups five minutes to discuss their game plan and another eight minutes to accomplish the task of forming the longest line.
4 Adapted from Helping Healing Module for Caregivers on Basic Biopsychosocial Help for Children in Need of Special Protection.
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By the end of the eight minutes, instruct the participants to stop.
Processing 1. Ask the participants to share what they discussed during their game planning session? Who took the lead or did everyone pitch in their share? Were there disagreements while the group was planning their tactics? 2. Ask the participants what happened when they were already forming the line. Did everyone do things as planned? Did everyone participate and do their task? 3. What was fun about the activity? What was not? What problems did they encounter in accomplishing the task? 4. Find out from the winners how they managed to win the game. 5. Mutual trust, confidence, and respect can help collaborative work possible and so are open and relaxed communication. 6. In doing group work, clarify the roles of each group member. Remind everyone to responsibly perform their roles.
Activity 2: The Goal Ladder

The Activity is similar to the Activity on setting individual goals; however, this time, it will not just be the individual determining the goal, but the whole group. Thus, there should be mutual agreement as to what goals they want to achieve in the future. The first part of this Activity will have the children identify a particular problem within their community. The aim is not only to open the eyes of the participants to issues in their community, it is also to inspire them do something about this through a group social enterprise. The Group Goal Setting part of the activity helps children come up with clear, specific, and understandable goals; goals that will be beneficial to the community; and goals that will be realistic, attainable, and feasible.5 These goals are something the group can work on in the next weeks, months, or even years. Activity Objectives Identify a particular issue. Come up with clear, specific, realistic, and attainable goals. Identify actions they can take to achieve these goals. Time Two One hour sessions Materials Paper, pencil or pen, coloring implements, metacards, paper shaped like circles Procedures (Part I) 1. Retain the grouping of the previous activity. You can give this Activity as an assignment the day before the session. 2. Instruct the children to go to different parts of their community and to talk to people and fellow children. Find out from them three problems which they think affect children most, what they think caused the problem, and what the effect of the problem is on the children and the community. They should talk to 15 to 20 people for this. List down their findings.
5
3.
On the day of the session, have the children tally the number of times the problem
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:h17W6LOtDp0J:www.uky.edu/GetInvolved/Leadership/pdf/Organizational %2520Goal%2520Setting.pdf+group+goal+setting+activities&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=opera
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appeared. Get the three most common problems, then allow them to choose the problem they are most interested in to work on. 4. Have the children present a sketch or dramatization of the problem. They will be presenting three short sketches. The first one is the problem they have chosen. The second one is the cause of the problem. The last and final is the effect of the problem on the children and the community. 5. They will present this in front of the other group members. After every presentation, have the participants guess what the group presented. Processing 1. After the presentation, explain that social problems have solutions. They are difficult to solve especially when people try to address these as individuals. But as a group, there are more chances of arriving at a solution. 2. They need not solve the whole problem especially if the problem is a systemic problem. They can just choose a facet of the problem to avoid disappointment and failure. They can just focus on a problem that they can manage to solve in their level. 3. Have them recall their experience in the previous Activity. How were they able to complete the task assigned to them? How can cooperation and clear planning help in addressing the problem? Procedures (Part II) 1. After Part I, have the groups talk about how they envision the future to be. Do they see the problem being solved? How do they see the problem being solved? Are there parts of the problem they can try to solve? If yes, how do they propose to solve this? This will be their goal. 2. Remind them that their goals should be workable. Although it will be good to dream grand dreams (e.g. stop child labor, end hunger of children, keep children from becoming street children), at their level it will not be possible to offer solutions to these problems. 3. Their goal should be something they can work on in the next few weeks or months. It is also all right to be modest with their goals at the start so they dont end up frustrated (e.g. instead of ending child hunger, maybe they can choose to provide food for street children once a week. Instead of stopping child labor, they can address peoples lack of knowledge on the issue by staging campaigns against this in their community). 4. Have them present their ideas to everyone. Offer constructivecriticisms and ways by which they can improve on their end goal. 5. Have them draw on a paper the situation/issue/problem in the community they have chosen to focus on. On another piece of paper have them draw their goal or their vision for their community. Procedures (Part III) 1. Ask them to think of concrete steps or actions that can help them achieve these goals. Have them write the steps on the metacards (For the community advocacy program to raise awareness on child labor, the participants can stage a community walk, produce banners, talk to employers and children involved in hazardous conditions, etc) 2. Post the previous two drawings of the groups on the wall, with one situated on top and the other on the bottom. Leave ample space in between the two pictures. 3. Have them form the metacards like they were steps of stairs leading to the drawing of the end goal. The ones on the bottom should be actions that can be accomplished in a short time. The one on top will be actions that take longer to accomplish.
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4. On the circle shaped paper, have them write possible impediments in reaching their goal. Have them think of possible ways that address the problem (this could be more appropriate for older children than the younger ones). Processing 1. Tell them that solving a community problem or issue cannot be accomplished in one sitting. Usually, it takes numerous concrete steps taken by a number of individuals for the issue or problem to be solved. 2. Different actions aimed to help achieve the goal can be likened to the steps of stairs. The steps could get harder as they climb up, but reaching the goal will be very fulfilling because everyone will benefit in the end. 3. Impediments will always come along the way when they try to reach their goals. The important thing is to address these impediments squarely and not to be afraid of these. 4. Stress the continuing relevance of cooperation, teamwork, and collaboration in achieving their goals.
6 Bright Idea! Teach children the different forms of advocacy. Tell them they can engage in quiet where they use personal persuasion techniques in a one-on-one setting or with a small group to raise peoples awareness on a particular issue. They can also use plays or dramas staged in the community, distribute flyers, or network with other children or organizations championing their cause.
They can also engage in loud advocacy that involve media and press campaigns, rallies or marches, and lobbying and pressure. Give them some experience in doing this.
Camacho, Agnes Zenaida, Faye Balanon, and Arnie Trinidad. 2005. Raising One Voice: A Training Manual for Advocates on Rights of Child Domestic Workers. Thailand: Child Workers in Asia. 7 Ibid.
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Activity 3: Our Goals within Our Reach

This Activity will have the children practice what they have learned in the Financial and Social Enterprise Modules. It will show the participants that while financial enterprise is usually an individual activity, it can be used to for social enterprise endeavors. For instance, social enterprises usually need funds to run successfully. People engaged in this need to raise some funds to ensure their activities go on. The Activity is not really a full-blown community program. The activity is a short activity that will give the children a taste of how to conduct a socially relevant project in the community. Activity Objectives To show the link between financial enterprise and social enterprise. To assist the children in planning and enacting their project for the community. Time One hour to explain the mechanics of the Activity and to discuss; will spread over several days Procedures 1. Go back to the output of the groups in the Activity on Group Goal setting. Have them choose one actiona short term action that will contribute to reaching their group goal (e.g. running a soup kitchen for a day, staging a rally in the community against child labor, helping clean the community, etc). 2. Identify possible expenses they would need for their activity (e.g purchase of materials, food expenses, among others. Some projects will not require funds. This is also good if this is the case. However, it will be good for them to experience raising funds for their projects too. 3. After they have accounted for all possible expenses, ask them to think how they can raise their funds for the project they want to do in the community. Go back to the output in Module 2 of this Section. They can use this as their fund raising activity. 4. Give them a week or two weeks to enact their project. After this, have them come back to report their accomplishments. Processing 1. Ask the following questions: What happened to the project? What did you accomplish? What was fun about it? What was difficult about it? What did you do to face the difficulties? Did you succeed in facing the difficulties? How did it make you feel? Would you want to do it again? 2. Tell them that it is always good to think beyond themselves, to think about the community in general, and to be aware of the issues that are affecting them and their community. They will be empowered as individuals if they are able to do something about the issues and problems that plague their community. 3. Sometimes community projects require funds. In such cases, they could use what they have learned about saving and setting up financial enterprises. It would also help if they learn how to raise funds in different ways. Note to the Facilitator Encourage the children to raise funds in different ways. For example: They can donate some of the money they have saved in their Aflatoun boxes. They can solicit money from generous individuals in their community. They can also engage in a small business, the profit of which can be used for their project.
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Activity 4: The Web of Life
The Activity is a closing activity to help the children realize that there is strength in numbers and that there is a greater likelihood of achieving goals if they work with others. Activity Objective To help the children realize that everything is interconnected and working with others is a good alternative to working on ones own. Time One hour Materials A ball of yarn Procedures 1. Have the participants form one big circle. 2. State that in this world everything is interconnected like a web. When one part of the web gets detached from where it hangs, the other parts are affected. It is the same thing with life. When there is a problem in the community, the rest of us are affected. 3. However, each of us has a role to play to help solve community problems and to ensure that the rights of children are upheld. Tell the participants that you will be asking everyone to share what they think they can do to help the community, especially children like themselves. 4. Throw the ball of yarn to one participant (preferably to the person across you) while holding to one end of the yarn. The participant should catch the yarn and then share his or her idea on how s/he can help solve issues in their communities or help children fulfill their rights. The person should keep the yarn stretched tight. 5. Continue with the exercise till everyone holds a segment of the yarn and has finished sharing their ideas. 6. Instruct one participant to let go of his end of the yarn. Processing 1. Ask the participants what the web was like when everyone was holding to their end tightly? What happened to the web when one of them let go of their end? 2. Why is it important for everyone to hold on tyo their end tightly? We play different roles in solving problems or helping the rights of children to be fulfilled in the community. We must all do our share to ensure the success of this endeavor. When one of us becomes irresponsible and shirk away from our responsibility, then the problem cannot be solved. 3. The failure of one member in the group can affect how the entire system runs or works. The Sounding Board The last Section merged social and financial enterprises. While we tried to make the Activities tried as fun as possible, the tasks ahead of the children are by all means serious and daunting. In this last Sounding Board Activity, we want to hear not only what they think and feel about the Section, we want to hear what they resolve to do after the Training, the impact of the training to them (in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes they gained), and the difficulties they foresee in the future. Gather them in a circle and discuss their answers to foregoing issues.
Adapted from Helping Healing Module for Caregivers on Basic Biopsychosocial Help for Children in Need of Special Protection.
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Note from Aflatoun Aflatoun clubs all over the world have done various enterprises. If you want to learn more, visit the Aflatoun website: www.aflatoun.org. Please share your enterprise stories with us by writing us at info@aflatoun.org
Social and Financial Education for Non-Formal Education Programmes

Menu of Activities We understand that different organizations will have different operating models for how they implement a non-formal Aflatoun programme. Some can do it weekly for an hour, some can do it in only 10 sessions. The Menu of Activities is a guide for the partners to pick and choose from the collection of activities. There are 4 developed programme guides: - Full Programme for those who have the ability to provide the whole programme - Basic Programme - for those who have lesser time in implementing the programme - Financial Institution Programme for organizations like credit unions, cooperatives and micro-finance institutions who provide the programme alongside the other programmes for the adult clients - One Day Programme for those who only have time for one day affairs Please note the following: - This is only a guide. The teachers and facilitators should feel free to go through the material to pick and choose as they wish. - As you adapt the activities, please ensure that there are activities from the different sections to ensure the balance of the 5 core elements. - The time allotments here are approximate, and capture only the actual sessions. More time may be needed for activities done outside of the Aflatoun classes (e.g. monthly recording of expenses, group activities, among others). - Learning facilitators should feel free to innovate and develop new activities. If this happens, we would like to request that you send the new activities to us at info@ aflatoun.org
Aflatoun P.O. Box 15991 1001NL Amsterdam The Netherlands Phone +31 (0) 20 6262025 Fax +31 (0) 20 6262118 info@aflatoun.org www.aflatoun.org Kvk no. 34229026

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The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Non - Formal Education Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

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The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Core Activities We are

I value diversity and equity

I can interact with everybody respectfully

I like to be a change maker

I want rights to be realized for every child in the world

I know some of my resources are scarce and need to be valued

I value an appropriate use of natural and financial resources

I am able to prioritize and distinguish between my wants and needs

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

I want to plan (before I spend/do things)

I understand the basic principles of enterprises

I am eager to take the initiative to achieve something

I know the importance of cooperation

I value working with my friends

I can achieve my goals

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Contents of the Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

How to Use the Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Time 15 minutes Procedures

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Activity 2: Great Expectations

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Child Social & Financial Education

Child Social & Financial Education

The Aflatoun Non-Formal Education Manual

Alternate activity: I am here!