Empower 5000 drop out Adolescent Girls in Lucknow

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.