During work with women communities in slums in Ahmedabad & with the rural youth girls at the Migration Support Centre, it is observed that this is the first generation of girls that are stepping out & moving towards education & career building. The growing generation gap between them and their parents, restrains the former from paying any heed to the latter. Given their vulnerabilities these girls fall prey to exploitation. Thus a pressing need to provide comprehensive awareness is identified.
Migration causes intense trauma & poses challenges for these adolescent girls in day-to-day living & at the workplace. Their vulnerable age & lack of adequate awareness about their bodies, along with loneliness, infatuation, materialistic attractions, job insecurity often lead them to fall prey to sexual abuse by their male counterparts/employers. To avert social stigmas related to such acts, these young girls suffer in silence and this takes its toll on their physical & mental well-being.
The project will be implemented at two levels: (i) At community level covering Adolescent Girls in Ahmedabad slums &(ii) With adolescent migratory rural working girls. A total of 400 participants will be covered through a total of 20 awareness-building workshops in each year.These workshops will cover Health & legal knowledge, life skills and business skills. From a total of 400 participants attending these workshops 40 participants will be identified as leaders to undergo leadership training.
The impact will be multi-fold with rise in health awareness, skill enhancement, legal know-how & income generation/employment opportunities.Knowledge about their body will clarify myths & prevent its abuse.Adolescent girls will learn to fight violence especially at the workplace.Entrepreneur skills could assist girls in setting up an enterprise. Counselling support will help them to vent their feelings. Legal knowledge will help them raise a voice & take action against the violence faced.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
