Magic Bus Sports for Development - Dharavi Programe

Magic Bus works with children and youth living in poverty to ensure they complete secondary education, and develop the skills required to transition successfully into the world of work. We believe that facilitating this journey from Childhood to Livelihood enables young people to break out of the poverty cycle

• India accounts for the largest number of people living below the poverty line, with 30% of its population under the $1.90 measure.

• In India, 40.8% of total children enrolled in schools drop out by Class 8.

• In India, 30.21% girls are married off before they complete 18 years.

• India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 years.

• Only 4.69% of the country’s total workforce has undergone formal skill training

As one of the early adopters of the UN’s Sport for Development agenda, the Magic Bus curriculum is a pioneering pedagogy, grounded in action research, academic research and classical learning theories. The curriculum works over the long term to impact individual behavior around education, gender equity and life skills and builds up towards future that is productive and respectable.

• The Magic Bus mentor is the key person delivering the programme to all children

• The mentor comes from the same community as the children, enabling a relationship that is both close and constant

• Each mentor is trained in the activity-based curriculum

• Magic Bus children complete school all the way up to Grade 12, unlike general Indian school-goers (50.3% of children in India drop out by Class 10, age 16)

• A girl on our programme is nearly 100% sure of avoiding child marriage. This is significant since as many as 30.21% girls in India are married off as children.

• Youth on the Magic Bus programme get stable, dignified jobs

• Women and girls on the programme are more likely than their non-Magic Bus counterparts to remain economically self-reliant throughout their lives.