Shakti is a one year program that mobilizes adolescent girls to understand their rights and aspirations, bring about change in the community and affect change for themselves as individuals. After graduating from a 14-session curriculum, girls undertake self-initiated community projects to tackle problems in their community. Shakti currently works in Orissa, Bihar, MP, UP- and provides assistance where many girls are not even allowed outside the home, victims of child marriage, or trafficked.
Suman from Dharavi, Mumbai, doesn't feel safe going to the public toilet in her area or going out of her house in the evening just like Sunita in Patna, Bihar, who doesn't feel safe walking to school and Tasneem in Bhiwandi who dropped out because of the severe eve teasing on her school route. Riya, a fourteen year old who lives in Kolkata, currently in school believes that even if she is educated she has no choice but to follow in her mothers footsteps and become a sexworker.
Aangan Shakti program looks at engaging stakeholders at the community, state and national levels. Our approach is connecting and leveraging resources to strengthen communities- parents, community members, local services- to address a complex issue and ensure girls have know and can access their rights in the long-term.
All Shakti girls go through pre and post surveys detailing their opinions on educational, vocational, safety, child marriage, as well as their ability to affect change for themselves. Aangan believes change results from girls being able to know, access, and be empowered to use their rights well after they complete the program. Shakti has benefitted over 4600 girls and our community projects range in impact from preventing the child marriage of one girl to providing water to over 25,000 people.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
