Building a Sustainable Future For Girls in Nepal

We conducted 4 days GOAL Training of Trainers (TOT) program in collaboration with Right 4 Children from 25th of July 2018 till 28th of July 2018. Right 4 Children is a NGO based in Pokhara, Nepal. It was established in 2013 AD with the aim of empowering the most vulnerable children, young people and women to access their rights and to improve their lives. The training was provided to teachers and students of four different schools of Kaski together with three staffs of Right 4 Children organization. The training was conducted with a motive to provide the teachers with idea of new teaching methods to the children. The GOAL program encourages the students to be taught not only theoretically but with fun. Each of the topics in the GOAL program has game, presentation, demonstration or drama together with lessons. This helps in easy understanding of the lessons to the children. Also, the lessons are mostly based on the development of social and personal development of the children.

The four different modules "Be Healthy", "Be Empowered", "Be Money Savvy" and "Be Yourself" includes different topics as Menstruation, Contraceptives, HIV /AIDS, Violence, Rights, My community, Saving Plan, Budgeting, Challenges to Saving, Leadership, Communication and such. These topics are new to children and as well very important to learn about. Thus with the motive to extend our objective of making children especially girls empowered we conducted the GOAL TOT Training so that many students get the knowledge through their teachers and friends.

On the first day of the training topics as communication, conflict ladder and leadership from "Be Yourself" module was taught. The trainees as well were asked to do group work related to above mentioned topics and had discussion.

On the second day lessons on Menstruation, Contraception and Hygiene was delivered from "Be Healthy" module.

On the third day lessons on Violence, Rights and My Community was taught from "Be Empowered" module.

On the fourth day topics as Managing Money, Saving Plan and Challenges to Saving was conducted from "Be Money Savvy" module.

All of the topics mentioned above had game and also the participants were engaged with energizer and discussion to make the classes more effective. The participants were happy with the training and the training was a success. We would like to thank all the participants for their support and enthusiastic participation during the training. We as well want to express thanks to all the trainers of EWN for conducting the training and making it successful.

Introduction

Background

Empowering Women of Nepal- EWN has been conducting Girls Leadership Training actively since 2014 targeting teenage girls of government schools of Nepal. The training which is shortly known as GOAL not only focused on providing Leadership training but also developing interests for girls in sports. In this training we provide life skills, knowledge along with sports skills.

Since beginning to till now it has conducted this training in 17 schools in and out of the valley with a total of more than 1000 beneficiaries. Basically the training includes of four main sessions Be yourself, Be healthy, Be empowered and Be money savvy. And under these sessions there are many topics related to knowledge and life skills.

Objectives and the contents of the training

1. To develop the self-confidence in girls
2. To provide knowledge on health and hygiene
3. To aware them about Early marriage, violence
4. To motivate them towards sports

Contents of the training

Be Yourself

1. Communication
2. Peer Pressure
3. Conflict Ladder
4. Leadership

Be Healthy

1. Girls & Boys, Gender & work
2. Health & Hygiene
3. Menstruation
4. HIV/AIDS and Contraception Methods

Be Empowered

1. Know Your Rights
2. Violence
3. Early Marriage
4. Trafficking

Be Money Savvy

1. Managing Money
2. Saving Plan
3. Budgeting
4. Bank or not to bank

Target Group

The camp was intended for teenage girls studying in classes 7 to 10 in the rural areas of western region.

Training Materials

Training materials covering the contents of the program were prepared and packaged as per modules for the participants. Following materials were used:

• Whiteboard and marker
• Flashcards
• Charts
• Projector
• Volleyball balls
• Domes and cones

Training Process

The training involved individual and group exercises as well and inputs from the facilitators. Following approaches were used for the training:

• Lectures
• Discussions
• Role Play
• Video
• Games related to topics like ( Chinese Whispers, Hygiene Tag, Protecting the bee, etc)

Introduction and the Training Overview

EWN conducted 4 days GOAL camp as a Girls Leadership Training in Jumla from May 02 – May 05. There were total of 74 participants on the first day and few girls were added on the second day. This was the first time EWN conducted its training in northwestern part of Nepal which is the hilly region of Nepal. The time period for the training was from 10 am in the morning till 3 pm in the afternoon. We provided tracksuit for participants and also provided afternoon meal for all the trainees including teacher staffs during the training period. We conducted the program in coordination with RCDS Pvt. Ltd. and PACE Nepal. The training was provided by facilitators of EWN and other teacher who had previously taken 4 days GOAL Training of Trainers program. We as well had 2 volunteers from PACE Nepal to help us throughout the training.

 First Day

On the first day, we started our Be Yourself Session. In this session, we covered four topics like Communication, Peer Pressure, Conflict ladder, and Leadership. The students were very attentive and actively participated in the activities. The students as well filled pre-evaluation form. 

Second Day

On the second day, we covered Be Healthy session. In this session we covered topics like Girls and Boys, Gender and work, Menstruation, HIV/AIDS, Contraception, and Personal Hygiene. Students were also shown video about menstruation. Then students played a game about Hygiene tag which they enjoyed a lot.

Third Day

On the third day, we covered our important session which is Be Empowered. In this session, we covered topics like Early Marriage, Know your Rights, Violence, and Trafficking.

Fourth Day

On the last day of our training we covered Be Money Savvy session. In this session students were taught about Managing Money, Saving Plan, Budgeting and Bank or not to bank. The students filled post-evaluation form upon the completion of the training. Later the girls were provided with certificate of participation and the game material including 10 volleyball, 10 footballs, 10 pairs of badminton, 4 sets of cock, 2 hand pumps and a first aid kit box.

Conclusion

The program was a great success for despite some obstacles like transportation and going to another school, the girls were regular. they showed great enthusiasm during the lessons and as well participated actively in the games, roleplay and discussion. we were much satisfied with the improvement that the girls showed after the end of the training. also, we would like to express our deepest thanks to our facilitators and training for active participation in the training.