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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{BLP sources|date=July 2015}}

{{Infobox person
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'''Rita Panicker Pinto''' is the founder and director of '''[[Butterflies India]]''', a [[non-governmental organization]] in [[New Delhi]], [[India]] working to protect & empower street & working children since 1989. Butterflies was the first organization in [[India]] with the purpose of protecting and empowering children living and working on the streets with a participatory, [[Rights-based approach to development|rights-based]], and non institutional approach.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cheerath |first1=Bhawani |title=Giving wings to childhood |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/giving-wings-to-childhood/article5351048.ece |work=The Hindu |date=14 November 2013 |language=en-IN}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Ms. Rita Panicker received her undergraduate degree in English literature from Fathima Matha College, [[Kollam]]. In 1976 she earned her Masters in Social Welfare Administration from the [[Tata Institute of Social Sciences]], [[Mumbai]]. Later she finished her studies with a Masters in Development Studies from the [[Institute of Social Studies]], [[The Hague]], [[Netherlands]] in 1982.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://india.ashoka.org/fellow/rita-panicker | title=Rita Panicker | publisher=Ashoka Global | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref>

She has been a faculty member in the Women’s Studies Unit, at The [[Tata Institute of Social Sciences]], [[Mumbai]]. While in [[Mumbai]], Panicker was also the Founder of MASHAL – Maharashtra Association for Social Housing.

From 1988-1992, Panicker served as the Director of the Board of [[ChildHope UK|ChildHope]], an international organization working on issues relating to working and street children.

In 1990 she was appointed Consultant to [[UNICEF]] [[New York City|New York]] and [[Nigeria]] to assist the [[UNICEF]] Nigeria office in formulating a national policy and programme for Children Especially in Difficult Circumstances (CEDC). Today this whole area is known as Child Protection.

Ms. Panicker was also the vice chair of the Board of Family for Every Child, a global alliance of local civil society organisations working together to improve the lives of vulnerable children around the world.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.familyforeverychild.org/who-we-are/our-board/ | title=Our Board | publisher=Family for Every Child | accessdate=21 July 2016}}</ref>

==Engagement with street and working children==
Rita Panicker’s work with children living on the streets began when she lived in [[Mumbai]] and taught at the [[Tata Institute of Social Sciences]]. She lived in the suburbs and took the train to the institute everyday. While traveling she saw a number of children at the station and on the trains. She wanted to know who they were, so she met these children and spent time getting to know them. Their stories were like [[Bollywood]] scripts. Although Panicker knew that all of their stories were not true, their positive spirit, generosity, resilience, their whole take on life are lessons which inspired her.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XU6i7xSJnY | title=Rita Panicker: Little Treasures at TEDxChristUniversity | publisher=YouTube | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref>

When she moved to [[Delhi]] with her husband Late Gerry Pinto after his job transfer to [[UNICEF]] [[Delhi]], she decided to work with children on the streets. Panicker, along with Assistant Professor P. Nangia produced a report - "Situational Analysis of Study of Street and Working Children in Delhi" for [[UNICEF]] in 1988. It was the first study on the subject in the country and provided insight into the children's lives, and why they were on the streets. Her interest deepened and she decided to work with this group of children.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/giving-wings-to-childhood/article5351048.ece | title=Giving Wings to Childhood | newspaper=The Hindu | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref>

Rita visited eleven organisations in [[India]] to understand the programmes that existed for street children. She met the founders of these organizations who shared what they had learned with her. The lessons she learned from this exposure was that the approach and strategies to work with these children had to be different from the conventional intervention of institutionalising them.

She founded Butterflies, an organization dedicated to protect and empower children and guided with the core value and belief that it must be a democratic organisation and children’s voices have to be listened to seriously.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsb2d57BWTc | title=How Do Butterflies use Child-led Research? | publisher=YouTube | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref> Even today children’s participation in decision making processes is central to the work ethos at Butterflies’ which also believes that institutionalising children should be the last resort. Panicker, and everyone at Butterflies, advocates the importance of strengthening families and communities to protect and to take care of children. Families are the first line of defence for children and emphasis must be laid on supporting children to continue their schooling, and impart life skills education so that they can exit from generational poverty.

Since its founding in 1989, her organization Butterflies has changed the lives of almost 45,000 children and reaches out to almost 5,000 children every day through several intervention programmes.

==Personal life==
A native of [[Kollam]], [[Kerala]] in Southern [[India]], Panicker was born to Achutan Kunjukrishna Panicker and G.Rugmini Panicker. An early influence was an aunt who ran a [[Sanskrit]] school for [[Adivasi]] children in Paripally, [[Kollam]]. Her husband Late Gerry Pinto was a program officer at [[UNICEF]]. The couple decided not to have children of their own and dedicated their lives to serve the society.<ref name="Kerala">{{cite web | url=http://www.keralawomen.gov.in/index.php/headlines/298-vanitha-women-of-the-year-2012-rita-panicker22 | title=Vanitha Women of the year 2012: Rita Panicker | publisher=Kerala Women | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref>

==Awards and recognition==
* Recipient of the International Cooperative Innovation Award 2020 by the U.S. Overseas Cooperative Development Council
* Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 by the National Association of Professional Social Workers in India for her distinct contribution in the domain of child rights, especially street & working children at the 4th Indian Social Work Congress.
* Rita Panicker was honoured by Shri Amitabh Bachchan on the new [[Star Plus]] show [[Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi]] in 2015
* [http://www.keralawomen.gov.in/index.php/headlines/298-vanitha-women-of-the-year-2012-rita-panicker22 Vanitha Woman of the Year 2012] by the [[Malayala Manorama]] group. The award was instituted to acknowledge the work done by Malayali women to serve Indian society<ref name="Kerala"/>
* [https://igsss.org/ IGSSS] Shrestha Puraskar, 2011, by the [[Indo Global Social Service Society]] in New Delhi for Panicker's pioneering work with street and working children.<ref name="BF">{{cite web | url=http://www.butterflieschildrights.org/about-us.php | title=Butterflies: About Us | publisher=Butterflies NGO | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref>
* Nominated and a finalist for the 2009 [https://www.rightlivelihoodaward.org/ Right Livelihood Award].
* Awarded the Zee Pehal Pioneering Personalities L. N. Goel Award in 2006.<ref name="BF"/>
* Awarded the Women of Social Work Excellence by the Manava Seva Dharma Samvardhani Charitable Trust for Social Service Consciousness, Chennai, on 27 February 2002.<ref name="BF"/>
* Children’s Development Khazana started by her organization Butterflies in 2001 received the Second Prize in the 2006 Global Development Network Award for the Most Innovative Development Project.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/in-india-teaching-and-empowering-street-kids-to-save-money/2013/10/04/baa48ff0-2ac5-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html | title=In India, Teaching and Empowering Street Kids to Save Money | work=The Washington Post | accessdate=22 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=This Cooperative By And For The Street Children Is Helping Them Save Their Earnings |url=https://thelogicalindian.com/exclusive/childrens-development-khazana/ |website=The Logical Indian |date=7 December 2018}}</ref>
* The Ramachandran - Ikeda Award 1999 was conferred on Panicker's organization Butterflies<ref name="BF"/>

==Books==
* Co-authored a Study on Children in Conflict with Law-[https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030165888 Children and Crime in India- Causes, Narratives and Interventions]- published by [[Palgrave Macmillan]]
* Co-authored two [https://www.butterflieschildrights.org/pub_cat/publications/ Studies]: "Situational Analysis of Street and Working Children in Delhi" and "Status of Children in Andaman and Nicobar Islands"
* Published several [https://www.butterflieschildrights.org/pub_cat/research/ papers] on child rights issues

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panicker, Rita}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Children's charities based in India]]
[[Category:New Delhi]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Rita Panicker - Revision history

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