4.3.3.
Emergencies
«Today we have a job, tomorrow we don't have
it» - A child during PRA session.
«Meeting emergencies» was another important reason
underscored by children of all ages and categories whenever referring to
savings demand. Indeed, crisis situations (such as income shocks due to the
loss of their job) are very usual in their lives, and an access to savings
facilities was expressed as a mean to secure their livelihoods in dangerous
periods and to enable them to answer adequately to all crises that may appear
in their lives.
However, «emergencies» had different meanings
depending on the child's age and category. Children who had no contact with
their families (i.e. mostly category 1) were mainly facing personal emergency
costs and were defining «emergency» as an urgent need that hit them
personally.
«I was working in a vegetable market and I lost my
job. Now, I do not get any income and use the money I saved to
survive»
( Kanchan -15 years old )
Category 1
Other children, whose family's links were sharper, defined it
as a sudden event that hit them OR/AND their family. Moreover, young street
children (aged 8 to 12 years old) generally referred to an emergency as an
event hitting exclusively their families, as they are more dependent to the
family nexus.
«When any member of my family is sick, I can buy
medicine with the money I have saved». (Aktar)
«One time, my mother was sick. I therefore withdrew
some money from my savings account to treat her». (Shugon)
«When my parents face some problems with their
business, I use my savings to help them. (Chahida)
«Category 4» Street
children
Regarding the intensity of this need, it appeared that it was
positively correlated to the child's vulnerability. Indeed, the more the child
was vulnerable to a crisis situation, the more he squeezed out the need to save
money. For example, «category 1» street children, generally engaged
on high (informal) competitive market were exposed to some job uncertainty.
They expressed intensively how savings facilities were needed and useful in
case they loose their job. This was a way to afford their
basic needs and to avoid begging in order to survive.
Many street children also expressed the need to save money in
order to buy some medicines in case of illness. Others (especially category 4)
were saving in order to bear the emergency costs of their families. Regarding
the latter, two types of emergency costs appeared: the ones that are directly
attached to the family members (i.e. sickness, etc) and the
ones that are linked to the family's business. Therefore,
those children were usually saving to help their family when they felt sick,
and to help them when their business was facing a problem
4.3.4.
Opportunities
Many children pointed out how saving money is needed in order
to create their businesses or to help their families to do so, in order to
improve their income. Here, two profiles can be drawn. First are the children
who plan to take a credit in the future, and who know that they need to save
money in order to access credit.
The second profile is children who save money with the hope to
start an income generating activity in the future.
| 
