MAGIC BUS COVID-19 RELIEF RESPONSE PROGRAMME

About Magic Bus

Magic Bus began its journey in 1999 in Mumbai, India, working with children from underserved
communities. Over the years, it has expanded to several parts of India, touching the lives of children and
youth. In the year 2018-19 alone, Magic Bus reached out to over 375,000 children from 2000
communities in 22 states across the India, and 6000 children across 40 communities in Nepal,
Bangladesh, and Myanmar, with the help of over 1500 staff, providing them with the necessary life skills
and employability opportunities. Partnerships with State Governments and District Administrations is
integral to Magic Bus’ programme as it enables Magic Bus to deliver a wider impact through the public
education system.
Magic Bus, with the help of its unique and award-winning sports and activity based curriculum, works
towards 3 targeted outcomes; 1. Ensuring children complete their education, 2. Delay their age of
marriage, and 3. Get the skills necessary to enter organized work.
Some of the noteworthy awards received by Magic Bus include,
Excellent NGO of the Year Award by CMAI Association of India; ET Now Leadership Award for work on
Education & Learning; Sports Illustrated Special Award for Services to Sports: Millennium Alliance
Award, Round IV, for innovative practices in Livelihoods space; Charity of the year 2016, Asian Voice
Charity Awards, UK; UEFA Foundation for Children Award 2016; Laureus Sport for Good Award;
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar (Govt. of India) for promotion and development of sports; Partner for
the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

COVID-19 Pandemic Affects EVERY Magic Bus Community

Given that Magic Bus works in the most vulnerable communities of migrants and daily wage workers,
our regular operations and programmes have been severely affected. We have had to repurpose our
staff to meet the pressing needs of our communities and have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic in a
2 step approach.

1. Covid-19 Emergency Relief (Short term): This includes procurement and distributing dry ration,
cooked meals, face masks, sanitation materials. This also includes supporting local government
authorities to conduct awareness campaigns and sensitize communities on social distancing and
safe hygiene practices during the pandemic. Given our deep rooted presence with over 10,000
volunteers from within the vulnerable communities, Magic Bus was best positioned for
emergency support and was one of the first respondents to be able to reach the communities in
need.

Update as of 8th May 2020

- Magic Bus has distributed food kits and cooked meals among 22,071 households, reaching out
to 110,357 people in India.

MAY 2020 | MAGIC BUS COVID-19 RELIEF RESPONSE PROGRAMME 1

 - NITI Aayog has extended its support to Magic Bus’ COVID-19 relief efforts, which enables us to
reach the most affected communities.

Appeal - 1: Provide 5 families with 2 meals a day for 2 weeks by

contributing Rs. 6500, and help Magic Bus reach out to 38,000
families in need.

2. Covid-19 Recovery (Long term): COVID-19 has created havoc among the vulnerable in India.
Because of widespread loss of livelihood from the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, children
are more at risk of dropping out of school to support their families. As such, they are more likely
to get into child labour, forced into early marriage, or subjected to abuse and violence.

Keeping the dynamic situation in mind and the possibility of the second or third waves of the
spread of the coronavirus, we have modified our programmes to address any or all problems
arising from the pandemic that threaten their childhoods.

In this phase, our key focus is to address challenges like forced labour, child marriage,
trafficking, school drop-out, child abuse, and psycho-social distress to which children are more
vulnerable now. We are partnering with community leaders, schools, and government officials
to ensure that not only we help children recover from the pandemic, but also make them and
their families ready for a second wave later.

We will use a combination of tele-calling (where mobility is restricted), door-to-door visits,

parent counselling, student sessions to communicate messages on health and hygiene practices,
social distancing norms, government schemes for distress alleviation, psycho-social wellness,
and gender equity. We will reinforce life skills to develop resilience and perceived self-efficacy
so that children can bounce back from the current challenges.

Update as of 8th May 2020

- 16 new batches of 372 young people have been enrolled on the Magic Bus Livelihood programme.
- Since the lockdown, 3075 virtual job training sessions conducted, 1263 interviews arranged out of
which 684 young people were offered jobs and 227 have already begun working.

Appeal 2: With Rs. 1600 per child per year, help children from
over 250 severely affected communities survive and recover
from the long term hardships of Covid-19.

MAY 2020 | MAGIC BUS COVID-19 RELIEF RESPONSE PROGRAMME 2