At FTI, we speak of models, systems, methods, metrics, matrices, figures, trends, results, costs, monitoring and evaluation, etc. All very important. Most of the time we keep in mind our main objective – CHILDREN ! They are the human face of FTI, they are what inspires us to innovate, raise more funds, find better ways of learning, pinpoint knowledge-you-can-use, and so on.

But PARENTS are all too often a secondary or tertiary thought, even at FTI, and that’s not good enough.

Late last week, I listened intently to a highly pragmatic, results-focused pioneer of getting more out-of-school children in to school – the passionate and brilliant Rukmini Banerji who works for Pratham, the respected Indian literacy NGO. Pratham’s mission statement is “Every Child in School and Learning Well” – not unlike FTI’s mission. In 17 years, this on-a-shoestring grass roots organization, has worked to involve PARENTS particularly in the efforts to bring more girls, especially, and boys, into primary education. Pratham tests its work again and again, learns from the children, and the parents, in a demand-driven way, regularly recalibrating what works and what does not work. In 1996, in Mumbai, Pratham started with the very poorest of the poor, setting up 150 community-based pre-school centres.Just two years later the number of centres had grown to 3,000 across the city’s slums, where half the population lives.

Pratham, Rukmini said, in a talk at FTI’s Washington offices, works with two kinds of children – those “left out” and those “left behind”. The “left outs” were visible and the problem was recognized. The “left behinds” were not visible and the problem was not recognized. How to help the latter? – involve parents particularly, and community members and match scarce resources with capacity.

Pratham, she said, is a “cut-rate outfit,” which has mobilized individuals in tiny hamlets, not just villages, to volunteer to work with children using Pratham’s model, which partners with governments to catalyze state resources. Pratham is a people’s movement, where people lead and the government joins in, not vice-versa. The village volunteers support teachers’ work with village children. And Pratham has learned that people – many of them illiterate – can participate on a very large scale, if the education model is simple to execute and easy to understand, even for those who can’t read or write. The “volunteer” may be a neighbourhood person, often a woman, a mother, i.e., parents.

In the tightly packed confines of Mumbai slums, with makeshift “homes” cheek-by-jowl with one another, Pratham persuaded parents and interested residents to create “spaces” for children to learn several hours a day. With no money for even modest rent, Pratham used religious centres, political party offices, even rooms in a police station – certainly a “safe” place for children! – for several hours a day, where small children could learn at least all morning.

” We focus on where the kids are at in terms of their learning. We ask them to read aloud from simple colourful texts, and see how well they can do that. With parents, we know that many are disinterested in the idea of education when they see schools which are not performing. But parents become very engaged when they notice schools which are performing and where their children are clearly learning. Parents can distinguish between schools that are nearly empty – schools which are failing – and schools which are packed and functioning well.

“Parents are key. Nothing works better than seeing your children doing well. Yes, governments can help but business, communities and individuals must be partners with government. Partnerships with parents are critical,” says Rukmini, one of the first Indian women Rhodes Scholars at Oxford University 30 years ago.

Her message is not unlike FTI’s. Yes, FTI’s money comes from governments, but FTI is a partnership, of donors, developing countries, international development institutions, and civil society organizations, and yes, of parents.

The name Pratham is of Sanskrit origin. The meaning of the name Pratham is: First.