Question

Micro-Enterprise Credit for Street Youth

Introduction

Although small-scale business training and credit programs have become more common throughout the world, relatively little attention has been paid to the need to direct such chances to the street youth. Over the past nine years, Street Kids International (S.K.I.) has been working with partner organizations in Africa, Latin America and India to support the economic lives of street children. The purpose of this paper is to share some of the lessons S.K.I. has learned.

Background

Typically, children end up on the streets not due to a single cause, but to a combination of factors: a lack of adequately funded(资助) schools, the demand for income at home, family breakdown and violence. The street may be attractive to children as a place to find adventurous play and money. However, it is also a place where some children are exposed, with little or no protection, to unfair employment, urban crime, and abuse. 

Street Business Partnerships

S.K.I. has worked with partner organizations in Latin America, Africa and India to develop opportunities for street children to earn income.

l         The S.K.I. Bicycle Courier Service first started in the Sudan. Participants in this enterprise were supplied with bicycles, which they used to deliver parcels and messages, but they were required to pay for it gradually from their wages.

l         The Youth Skills Enterprise plan in Zambia is a joint program with the Red Cross Society. Street youths are supported to start their own small business through life skills training and access to credit.

Lessons learned

The following lessons have been learned from the programs. 

It is important for all loans(贷款) to be linked to training programs that include the development of basic business and life skills.

Small loans are provided at first for purchasing equipments such as bicycles, shoe shining kits.

All S.K.I. programs have charged interest on the loans, primarily to get the business runners used to the concept of paying interest on borrowed money. Generally the rates have been modest. 

60. The organization, S.K.I., aims to ______.

A. give business training and loans to street children

B. provide schools and social support for street children

C. share the lessons S.K.I learned to help street children

D. draw the attention of the government to street children

61. According to the passage, what’s the most probable reason for children to end up living on the street?

A. Unemployment.                                    B. Adventurous play.

C. Urban crimes.                                      D. Being poor.

62. It can be inferred from the passage that with the help of S.K.I, street children may ______.

A. reject paid employment                      B. leave their families

C. set up their own business                     D. support other children

Answer 1

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