This project will provide young women with respectable work in research firms with the possibility for ongoing company-sponsored training and a real chance at upward mobility in a non-traditional field. Young women's entrance into the field and the positive outcomes amplified through Girl Determined's media programs will re-shape commonly-held beliefs about the potential of young women, broadening the scope for girls' and young women's economic empowerment.
Girls between the age of 10 and 19 compose almost 10% of the Myanmar population (roughly 5 million girls). We have found girls from our project communities have limited ability and encouragement to plan for their futures. Almost half of girls in early adolescence have already dropped out of school, so many end up as shop girls, factory workers, mining workers, or domestics. Often times girls would rather stay in their home communities and have a stable job, but cannot obtain such opportunities.
By training a cadre of young women with a valuable skill-set and offering a pathway for professional development they will have greater employability and authority over their own lives. Moreover, the scheme will greatly improve our organization's current data collection and entry process by having trained enumerators dedicated specifically to this laborious task. The data collected will provide greater understanding of the needs and challenges faced by adolescent girls in Myanmar.
Girls become leaders in their homes, schools, communities, and nations. Girl Determined is sparking a movement of girls with leadership skills to advocate for their own rights and a future that does not re-create the risks they now face.
