Gender Equality India Project #18750

Empower 5000 drop out Adolescent Girls in Lucknow

by Sarathi Development Foundation

Empower 5000 drop out Adolescent Girls in Lucknow

Project Report | Oct 11, 2016
Coming together for Empowerment

By Akanksha Tewari | Communication Officer

With help of Global Giving UK & US and our generous donors, our major focus has been on building supportive environment at community level for empowerment of adolescent girls. We facilitate them with help of our participatory tools like change map, micro planning on girls needs & issues and building community level systems such as Adolescent girls group, community volunteers, behavioural change communication engaging not only adolescent girls but also their families, community members and service providers.

Community behaviours towards girls was reflected in large number of girls dropping out of schools at the primary education stage only. Adolescent girls and their parents were oriented and counselled with active involvement of adolescent girls groups and community volunteers. Their interface meetings with school teachers were also facilitated. More than 450 adolescent girls and women were equipped with procedures and ways to take support from government Help Line 1090 started by government of Uttar Pradesh for their security and violence related issues. They were trained on their rights, registering complaints against any kind of violence faced by them like eve-teasing, domestic violence, stalking, physical violence. Government assures that they are 24x7 available and strict actions to be taken against such kind of crimes.

After this training a confidence was boosted among girls and their families. Hence, this resulted in good number of enrolment of adolescent girls in schools and their participation in vocational & skill development trainings taking place in their area.Adolescent girls groups, formed at initial stage of our model, has come out to be one of the most effective tools giving a platform to girls to interact, communicate and discuss their issues openly among their peer.During this this quarter 330 Group meetings here held leading to interactions among 3150 adolescent girls. Kishori Utsav (Community level events organised by adolescent girls) at community level facilitating participation of 6600 girls to discuss and plan actions on their issues such as as drop outs of the schools,early marriage government service provisions.

Our collaborations with vocational training providers supported 140 drop out adolescent girls to receive vocational and skill development trainings during this quarter So far 900 adolescent girls have received such trainings during the project period. Project also organised exposure visits to provide opportunity and platform for learning and participating in different competitions like essay debates, drawing, essay writing. 40 adolescent girls actively participated in such exposure during this quarter. It enhanced confidence level of adolescent girls and to explore new opportunities.

”Shaheen, member of one of the Adolescent Girls Groups running in her community was withdrawn from school by her parents due family’s weak financial condition. In 2013, when our model started in her community, Shaheen became part of it. She joined Adolescent Girls Group as well as Community Resource Centre set up under our model for adolescent girls. In this process Shaheen got opportunity to interact many other girls of her age. Because of the wider interaction and discussions in the group and CRCs on various issues related to girls including education, Shaheen realised the importance of education. With this she developed a desire of further continuing her education. Now she had the courage to put her point in front of the family. She discussed it with her parents and tried to convince and motivate them. It wasn’t that easy but as rightly said try and try until you succeed. Initially her parents refused but later because of Shaheen’s constant approach they agreed. She rejoined the school. But this wasn’t enough for Shaheen. She wanted that all girls who have been withdrawn from school should rejoin the school and complete their education. She discussed this in Adolescent girls group. They collectively took initiative. They tried to motivate the community, the drop out girls and their families. They didn’t receive results quickly so they kept their role on. Their consistent approaches lead to enrolment of 8 girls in July 2016 including three girls from their own group only. The girls have rejoined the school and now happily completing their education. The girls are thankful to adolescent girls groups supported under the project for encouraging them and motivating their family. All of them thanked Shaheen for bringing this opportunity to them.

We are grateful to our donors for strengthening our work bringing change in lives of adolescent girls. We would also like to request for continued support.

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Jul 19, 2016
Adolescent Girls:-Learning skills and Crafting Future

By Akanksha Tewari | Communication Officer

This quarter was marked with up streaming participation, expression and learning of adolescent girls leading to change among them. During the quarter from April to June 230 school dropout girls participated in state level platforms & institutions regional science centre, vocational training institutes, drawing completions and expression opportunities identified and collaborated by us for their exposure, interface, new generation vocational skills, peer learning as a part of their road map to achieve aspirations. These processes are with linked with results related to adolescent girls indicators. Community volunteers developed under the project facilitated readmission of 52 out of school girls in school. 60 adolescent girls completed their vocational courses including computer based teaching skills, communication, operating business call centres, marketing etc. 18 girls of them received employment opportunities. It is encouraging to note that adolescent girls are demonstrating their skills and abilities learnt under the project to influence attitudes and behaviours of their parents, family members and wider community leading to sustainable impact. Child and early marriages are heading toward exit gate now.

Following is the sample story of one of the school drop adolescent girls, Soni living in Choti Jugauli slum. Soni’s father, Becha Lal, died when she was 6 years old. The condition of the family deteriorated since then.Soni had to quit her studies after class 10^th. The family was thinking of getting her married. In the mean time Sarathi started its community based model to prioritize and address the issues affecting life of adolescent girls in slums of Lucknow district. Soni joined the Adolescent Girls Group (AGG) when she was 16 years old. She started to take interest on various issues like, education, health, nutrition etc. She used to discuss with her peers on these issues.She was reenrolled in 11^th calls with the support of community volunteers developed by Sarathi in each of the slums.She also became the president of her group. Her mother Kamla Devi dropped the idea of her daughter’s marriage.Soni is currently graduated to role of community volunteer and wants to see that all girls get the opportunities to build and achieve their aspirations. Soni completed her 12 class and is now pursuing her Graduation 2^nd year.Now she understands the importance of an educated girl and the independence it brings about. As a result of this she has convinced her mother to postpone her marriage till she completes her studies and start working. Seeing Soni’s interest her mother supports in studies and respects her decision.

We are grateful to all our donors and supporters for changing lives of thousands of girls like Soni in slums of Lucknow. Your continued support is a huge step towards making adolescent girls crafting their future.

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Apr 14, 2016
Behaviours, Skills and Impact

By Akhilesh | Project Leader

The success of our adolescent girls empowerment model in partnership with GlobalGiving is well demonstrated in changing behaviour of the adolescent girls, their parents and wider community in slums of Lucknow. During the quarter starting from October 2015 to March 2016, we impacted on 1400 families and 862 adolescent girls including 351 school dropout girls in 14 slums of Lucknow. Adolescent girls especially in age group of 10 to 19 years were equipped with knowledge and life skills related to gender critical issues such as early marriage, education, sexuality, behaviours and attitudes, reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, participatory planning and communication skills, adolescent girls rights & entitlements, financial literacy. Community support system including community volunteers, adolescent girls groups, women groups has been developed and engaged in behaviour change communication on indicators such as child marriage risks, parents sending their girls to schools and continuing their education, safe water, sanitation and hygienic behaviours and public service seeking behaviour related to health & nutrition among women, children and adolescent girls.

Numerically speaking, over a period of six months, 862 adolescent girls and their families are equipped with life skills, all 1400 families gained the knowledge on behaviours and their entitlement for various government service provisions related to health, nutrition, education, livelihood, vocational skill development. Adolescent girls came forward for health services such as immunisation, IFA tablets for anaemia prevention. 161 adolescent girls and 15 women were linked with vocational training programmes.59 school dropout girls were re-enrolled in schools by their parents. 54 adolescent girls and 5 women are planning to start their own livelihood activities now.

We express our sincere thanks to GlobalGiving for believing in our model and supporting us to impact on adolescent girls - most vulnerable group of our society. This support is building a foundation holistic empowerment of adolescent girls, their families and community.

We sincerly bring our thanks here to Dasra, Dasra Giving Circle members including Kiwah Trust, Dalyan Foundation, GirlsNotBrides for supporting us to evolve community based model to prioritise and address the issues of adolescent girls on a wider scale.

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