Gender Equality India Project #3942

Empower girls like Priti in slums in Pune, India

by Karuna Trust

Empower girls like Priti in slums in Pune, India

Project Report | Aug 4, 2022
Will Wakeeta be a child bride?

By Sophie Stephens | Digital Fundraiser

Did you know that in India, 12 million children are married before their 18^th birthday?

Niharika is a mother to a young girl, Wakeeta. In their community, child marriage is extremely common. This is particularly true in low-income families like theirs, as the cost of providing for their children is simply too high. Sadly, this is likely to be Wakeeta’s fate too.

However, Wakeeta began attending nearby classes run by our partner’s project, encouraging young girls to come together and engage in group activities. Niharika could see how much Wakeeta was enjoying it, so she signed up for the mother’s support workshops too. There, they discussed child marriage and the possible harmful effects it can have on girls and their education.

There was a big shift in Niharika. She became informed for the first time about the importance of education and how it could have such a huge impact on her daughter’s life.

Niharika decided not to marry Wakeeta at a young age, placing her in education instead, with the supported by the group.

In spite of criticism and judgement from family and peers, Niharika remains firm in her decision to postpone Wakeeta’s marriage and pursue higher education for her daughter.

This shows the influence these classes can have, shifting the trajectory of young girl’s lives forever.

Thanks to you, we can work towards freedom and choice for more girls.

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Jun 27, 2022
A story of how girls can change the world... but first their village.

By Sophie Stephens | Digital Fundraiser

Friends

Girls often receive abuse whilst either walking to or whilst studying at school, this frequently leads to them dropping out of school or low attendance at the very least.

Sai feared going to school, as on the journey there, she was harassed and teased by boys in a neighbouring community. As you can imagine, this caused a lot of stress and meant she had to face the unfair dilemma of whether to get an education or not.

Luckily, Sai had good friends, who wanted to support her, so they decided to alert the teacher what was taking place every morning. Unfortunately, their teacher wouldn’t listen and refused to take action, leaving them without help.

The girls were so determined, they took this issue and voiced it in one of our partner’s community groups. They've created a safe support network for young girls to voice their feelings and express any difficulties. With the kind listening ear of one of the group leaders, they decided to collectively support their friend Sai and together they would approach the group of boys and ask for them to stop. This is no easy task! But together they had the courage to do so.

The next day on their way to school, they approached the boys, as they have learnt about their rights from the community groups, they said if it carried on, they would go to the police. The boys hearing this, promised to never again call Sai names and since then they have left her alone for good!

Inspired by this powerful example of what friendship and community support can do, Sai and her friends had regained their confidence. They wanted to make sure no other girl went through this. So, with the help of our partners, local leaders met with the girls and heard their story. Impressed by the example and saddened to hear this regularly happens to so many girls, local leaders offered their services and attitudes transformed in that meeting.

Thanks to increased awareness of their rights, girls can collectively come together and make change, this is where your generous support is going to. Thank you!

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May 5, 2022
What if you had to choose?

By Sophie Stephens | Digital Fundraiser

Helping girls to access education

Can you imagine having to make the decision between school or caring for your younger siblings?

Many young girls face this every day in India, including Nitara.

Nitara, 12 years old, lives in extremely poor conditions, in a metal sheet house in Pune. Both her parents are daily wage workers, labouring hard, long, hours to earn an insubstantial income for their family. This puts Nitara in a position of responsibility to look after her two younger siblings and the running of the house. Nitara felt overburdened by these many responsibilities, especially for her age.

Nitara couldn’t attend school, and was missing crucial education, but it seemed that nothing could be done.

Our partners’ social worker noticed that Nitara wasn’t attending local meetings and chased up her school, to see that she failed to make it there too. They decided to visit her at home to access the situation. Soon after, they met with Nitara, who was isolated and overstretched. Nitara expressed her wish to return to school and continue her studies, so our partners in Pune's team sprung into action, to help achieve her goal.

After meeting with Nitara's parents and discussing the importance of her education and wellbeing, they assisted with her younger siblings’ admission into a nursery, to help with childcare.

Nitara would now be free to continue her studies and pursue being a police officer! We got reports from her teachers saying that she is excelling, has successfully completed all assignments and is improving her grades by the day.

There are still countless young girls who are facing difficulties accessing education. With your support, our partners can continue their valuable work in helping girls achieve their dreams.

Thank you.

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