Empower girls like Priti in slums in Pune, India

The project team are busy implement the goals and targets thay have set for the coming year. After years of working intensively at a grassroots community level they are now extending their advocacy activities to a broader range of higher level stakeholders including police, teachers and local schools. This is enabling them to have a broader impact on the issues affecting the lives of their beneficiaries.

There have been challenges though. The project needs permission to run study support classes at the local school from local government. As a result of bureaucratic procedures this has proven difficult. Project staff members are often from poor backgrounds and are not used to interacting with government officials. Project staff have had to learn confidence in dealing with people in positions of authority. 

The project has found resistance in enrolling women and girls from some religious minority communities. Traditional attitudes hold that women’s place is in the home. Families also have safety concerns around letting girls travel on public transport or walking long distances. Project staff have developed communication skills in sensitively assuring parents that letting their daughters travel to study and work is best for them and their families in the long run.

In the last six months the project have delivered services to women and girls in the surrounding slums of Pune. The numbers reached are reported bellow.

Life Skills  

• 135 women and girls attended study support and life skills classes
• 308 women and girls attended day visits to the bank and police stations. Girls learn how to open a bank account and file a complaint to the police.
• 88 women and girls attended workshops on reproductive health education. Girls learn about their bodies and they changes they undergo. They also learn about the dangers of early pregnancy.

Vocational Training

• 30 women and girls attended spoken English classes
• 57 women and girls attended basic and advanced tailoring.
• 52 women and girls attended basic and advanced computer training.

Anaemia Awareness

• 143 women and girls attended nutritional recipe demonstration to combat anaemia and vitamin-a deficiency.
• 995 women and girls attended street plays to create public awareness on anaemia.
• 208 women and girls attended haemoglobin check-up camps 

Reducing Gender Inequality 

• 120 women and girls attended awareness workshops on female infanticide to local women. The benefits of women to society are explained. 
• 46 women and girls attended premarital counselling workshops to guard girls against domestic abuse. 
• 48 women and girls attended awareness sessions on the Domestic Violence Act and women’s rights within the home. 

Educational Support Classes

• 657 women and girls attended support classes to support their continuing education.