Microfinance and street children: is microfinance an appropriate tool to address the street children issue ?

4.4.2. For their families' income generating activities

Without any surprise, children who were said to have very close relations with their families (category 2 and 4), and were supporting them on a permanent basis, did generally express the importance of having access to a credit in order to allocate the money to their parents for creating a business or to help (sustain - expand) their families' businesses. This was also perceived as a logical way to support their family and children were generally employed in their families' businesses.

The children living with their relatives in Dhaka city expressed also this need, and many were found to need credit in order to give it to their relatives in order to start an income generating activity. However, no children expressed the need to access credit in order to send it to their parents in their villages.

Regarding younger street children (from 8 to 12 years old), they have expressed the interest of such loan for their guardians, as Padakhep was normally not giving those young children a direct access to credit but giving it through their parents.

4.4.3. For their future

Many children were expressing how access to credit was a way forward for them, as it gives them hope and the capacity to build a better future. In order to assess exactly these statements, we have asked to all the children interviewed what they wanted to do in the future.

Two types of answers came out: some children wanted to become engineers, or doctors, or social workers. The others wanted to be business men and to become «professionals» in their actual business activities or in another type of business activity. However, when going a bit deeply in our discussions, we discovered that the high majority of children who highlighted the first type of answers made a difference between «what they wanted to be» and «what they had to be». Because of their economical and social condition, those children underscored that they wanted to start a business as they had to do so in order to live in dignity.

Many girls interviewed wanted to become dancers or musicians, but the life's reality pushed them to start a business. An interesting point is that very few children wanted to become employee. Most preferred to start their own activities, as this was a way of liberation from the pressure of their employers. Indeed, «our salary depends of the mood of our employer»^49(*)

Finally, we must mention how credit is perceived as a mean for autonomy. Having credit, street children were able to start a business and to be self-dependent. This was of particular importance for children having no close ties with their families.

4.4.4. «We do not need credit»

Some children claimed that they do not need credit at that time, but may be interesting in the future.

The main reason expressed was the fact that they did not desire to start a business activity at that time and that they preferred to work, day by day, as an «employee». This appeared to be more the case for girls than for boys. This is also an indication that children do not take a credit and think afterwards of what they will do with that money, but have generally a precise idea before taking it.

Finally, we must note that children did not express the need for credit to meet basic consumption needs (buy food, to pay for transportation, etc.). This was generally done through their income or, whenever impossible, through their savings.

* ⁴⁹ Quoted in Iglebaeck and Hassan (2005)