Over the past month or so we’ve really struggled with stationery being stolen. Whenever I’m monitoring the stationery we manage to get most of our stationery back but when I slip up even a little we start losing things. It’s natural for children to lose things but the amount we were losing was getting out of control. It was also becoming very difficult to use one of our facilitators on this since we don’t have more than four on any given day. To counter this today we had the learners take leadership of stationery distribution and collection. We have tried some variants of this in the past and invariably it hasn’t worked out as the learners lose interest in the process over time.  To solve this issue, we put a twist on the stationery distribution process. We gave all the children at the center some Monopoly money with which they can buy stationery. Two learners would be in charge of the stationery shop and they would give children resources based on the money they gave. When the resources were returned, the money was returned to the children. The children would take the money home and bring it the next day. To prevent stealing and to have some accountability we wrote down names on the notes given to the children.  The set up worked out very well today and the shopkeepers as well as the buyers really enjoyed this system. They learn to carefully keep their money and also learn how to return material back to its place rather than having someone clean after them. I was pleasantly surprised that the shopkeepers decided to take charge of the skipping ropes as well as the Jenga blocks as well and everyone was able to agree to this set up.  The shopkeepers also seem to be learning a thing or two about running a shop. Though not a single thing went missing from the center today they were insistent that they should do an inventory the next day so that they can be on top of things. They also are able to collect the demands of the children and asked us to bring some more rulers and pens so they can cater to that need as well.  I was a little apprehensive that children may be a little less willing to share now that they are having to give some ‘fake’ money and take responsibility. However, the children were comfortable sharing so far. I’m excited to see if this really solves our stealing issue in the long run once the novelty dies down. Regardless of what happens it’ll be interesting to see how the shopkeepers respond in the face of challenges.