GlobalGiving.org: Safe Spaces & Loans for 2,000 Girls in Bangladesh

The girls wrote a book!

Michelle Chaplin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:36:15 GMT

BRAC is proud to share with you a wonderful new children’s book that features the creativity of 20 girls from one of our clubs in Dhamrai, Bangladesh.

Shuba and the Cyclone is an adventurous tale of a Ganges River dolphin who must find her way home after a cyclone. Published byDot-to-Dot Children’s Books, the book is based on stories written by participants in BRAC’s SoFEA program in Dhamrai, Bangladesh. Click here to read about the writing workshop the girls participated in last year.

Dot-to-Dot’s creative writing team selected favorite elements written during the workshop and combined them into a single story, making Shuba and the Cyclone an expression of the collective creativity of the young women who helped write it.

However, Shuba is not the only hero whose story is told through this book. The girls who helped author the book are prominently featured in the book as role models for generations of youth around the world.

Meet these amazing girls and pre-order a copy of the book now by clicking here! Books will ship by November 1st - just in time for the holidays! Enter the code BRAC at checkout and BRAC will get 40% of the proceeds.

Links:

The Girl Effect is going strong in Bangladesh

Michelle Chaplin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:14:42 GMT

The 50 clubs being supported by this project are still going strong, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share Sanchita's story with you. Sanchita was one of the first members of our clubs in Bangladesh and, as you can see from the video above, her hard work and investment are paying off for her and her family.

Click here to watch the video.

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Learn more about BRAC's SoFEA program in Bangaldesh

Insana's Story: A Student and a Teacher

Michelle Chaplin — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:25:58 GMT

Insana

For this project report, I wanted to share with you the story of a girl who had to make a heartbreaking decision to give up on her dream of an education and a chance at a better life in order to help her family. Thanks to your generous support, she is now living her dream and supporting her family: Insana is 18 years old. She lives in a village in Kalampur, Dhamrai in Bangladeth. When she was in Grade 10, Insana was forced to drop out of school as her family was unable to bear the associated costs and needed one more hand to add to the meager family income. This was a big blow for Insana, as she enjoyed school and wanted to continue her education further. Nevertheless, in response to her family’s needs, Insana stopped going to school and started rearing some chicks and ducks to help support her family. Insana was a member of a local SoFEA club, and her club mentor and the staff became aware of this and offered her the chance to enroll in a training program to learn tailoring came. Although there was pressure from her family to find a higher earning job, Insana decided to take up the training. With great determination, she completed the training and won a sewing-machine for her outstanding performance. After the training, Insana started making dresses for her neighbors. Her designs became so popular that she was asked if she would be willing to train others. Hence, along with making dresses, Insana started earning additional income by training girls from her neighborhood. Insana now earns a good living and supports her family by making dresses for neighbours and providing training on tailoring to others. She has enrolled back into Grade 10, covering her own expenses, and is preparing for her Secondary School Certificate exam! Today, thanks to your support, Insana stands confidently, with great faith in her own potential and serves as an inspiration to her fellow club members and her community.

Financial Literacy and Loans for Girls!

Michelle Chaplin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:29:23 GMT

Our 50 girls clubs are in full swing. We've been providing our life skills training courses and regular training to our mentors. After a small test phase and some tweaking, we finalize our financial literacy course and rolled it out to all 50 clubs. We're providing the training to all of the girls, even if they're not old enough to take out loans (you have to be 16 in Bangladesh), because even the young girls can learn the importance of saving, budgeting, and making smart choices when buying things.

As they complete the training, the girls who are old enough can form their own microfinance village organizations and take out loans. Typically, their first loan is around $40-$50, which they pay back over a 1 year period.

We're also doing surveys to determine which livelihood trainings we should offer to each club. The surveys aim to match what the girls would like to do with the local market demand.

Thank you so much for your continued support of these 2,000 girls!

Links:

About our program for adolescent girls

Another Update From the Field!

Sherie Gertler — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:02:26 GMT

The adolescent girls program in Bangladesh has been going well!

We have received reports from the field that have indicated that all 50 clubs are in operation, being led by their trained teenage leaders and mentors. The microfinance groups are also running, and many of the club girls have become microfinance group members. All of the microfinance group members are saving with the program on a weekly basis and approximately 40% of members between the ages of 15 and 21 have already borrowed from the program to invest in an income-generating activity.

The Financial Literacy training module has been developed and piloted with a small portion of the girls to ensure that any obstacles are addressed before the module is mainstreamed in the second year of the program.

There have been lessons learned throughout this process, and one includes the importance of community involvement. The Girls’ Clubs are officially opened by holding ceremonies involving the girls and community members. This is done to inform the communities about the clubs and to address any negative opinions or concerns immediately. The girls have expressed that they find it easier to come to the clubs after knowing that their parents and guardians understand the concept better and are more supportive of the program. From our side, including the community in ceremonies such as the club opening allows for community members to become more invested in the program, thereby providing additional support networks for our adolescent girls. In this vein, the clubs plan to provide guardian’s forums and community forums on a regular basis beginning this month, as material development for the forums wraps up.

Thanks to all those who have continued to support BRAC and the adolescent girls in their quests to contribute meaningfully and independently to their societies! Stay tuned for further updates, and continue to check our blog (http://blog.bracusa.org) for updates as well.

An update on BRAC's girls in Bangladesh

Michelle Chaplin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:43:44 GMT

In Bangladesh, all 50 adolescent girls clubs are up and running and we have trained 50 teenage leaders to mentor the girls! The clubs have a membership of about 2,000 girls who have been active in the program’s classes.

Microfinance groups are in operation, and the members have been saving. They have invested in a number of different sectors, including tailoring, domestic animal rearing, basket weaving and poultry. This component of the program aims to educate girls in financial literacy and give them the opportunity to invest in small enterprises.

In addition, we have been holding monthly mothers’ forums and bimonthly parents’ meetings so that the parents can learn about and support the activities their daughters are involved in. Livelihood training has begun, and several members have received training on tailoring, domestic animal rearing, beef fattening and salon activities. We hope to have trained all members by April, enabling them with the lifeskills they will need to earn incomes and become productive members of society. Lifeskills training is scheduled to begin in May 2010, with a Financial Education module.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our work! We hope you will continue to stand by us, as we empower and educate the Bangladeshi adolescents who will grow up to be able to support themselves and their families in a more stable livelihood.