Engage&Empower girls & boys for Girl Effect-India

Dear Donors & Supporters ,

Greetings from IDEA  Team.

We are happy to present another report on the programmes and activities under the project. Before that we would like to update you about the programmes and projects of our organization.

Our holistic approach towards minimizing school drop-out amongst the marginalized children is appreciated by many sponsors and supporters like you including  international & national foundations like Global Fund for Children ( GFC) , Sir Peter  Ustinov Foundation ( SPUF), Volkart Foundation  . Corporate associated with us include Symantec , Persistent , Vodafone , Systems Plus etc .

Due to this support , IDEA could expand its programmes and activities to many villages and Govt schools in Haveli & Bhor blocks in Pune districts, Maharashtra state in addition to our work in Pune city. However our focus remains the same-  minimizing school drop-out amongst the marginalized children by adopting a holistic approach & creating  a ‘ second chance ‘ to the drop out youth.  

IDEA’s current programmes & activities are : 

•  Field studies in urban slums to identify ‘ out of school’ children.
• ‘ Play and Learn centers ‘ & Study centers in slums to make the early stages of education interesting and to inculcate a regular study habit  in marginalised children.
•  Sponsorship program to support needy and poor children.
• Skill Development programs for girls and women for a supplementary income.
• A facility for imparting Vocational Training especially for drop-out youth to give them ‘a second chance’.
• “Inclusive Education for Socially Disadvantaged People- India Country Project”- to reduce the number of school drop-outs & to promote enrolment of out of school children in mainstream education through school and community based measures of inclusive education.
• Adolescent health education for girls.
• Health monitoring of women above 40 years ( as a support service to parents of our children ). 

Report from the field  

1.       Empowering Adolescent Girls through Vocational training.

Objective

• ·         To achieve skills in the vocation they are interested.
• ·         To built their confidence
• ·         To provide livelihood.
• ·         To develop their personality.  

IDEA runs a facility to impart vocational training for girls & young women who had to discontinue schooling due to various reasons . Currently the courses include Basic Nursing , Tailoring & Beautician courses .  

   Training in Basic Nursing- 8 girls are pursuing the basic Nursing course conducted by IDEA. They                                              have learnt the basic skills in nursing like sponging, bed making, giving injection, intravenous cath, taking Blood pressure and temperature. The students have completed their Internship and exam. 4 of them are already placed for jobs in clinics and hospitals, we are trying for placement for the others. The next  batch will start within a couple of months.  

 Tailoring course- 15 adolescents are taking training in tailoring. They are learning cutting and stitching of the garments especially Punjabi suits and Blouse, which is usually worn by girls and ladies. They are happy to stitch and wear the garments made by them. Once they learn to stitch well , they plan to take stitching orders from people from their neighborhood.

 Beautician course- 14 girls completed the basic beautician course and 10 of them have joined advance course. They want to open their own parlors in future. 

2.       Exposure visit of  girls under the skill development programme

Craft & art classes are being held in 6 locations to teach girls & young women various handicraft products and thereby giving them an opportunity to earn a supplementary income.  A few girls attending the classes and were keen on starting their own small business were taken for a visit to an exhibition organised  by a women’s group. The objectives of organizing this visit were to :

• ·         To learn  marketing skills
• ·         To learn the latest trend in market.
• ·         To learn the finishing & packing techniques . 

 The girls saw different varieties in the products like eatables, garments, decorative items etc and also observed the public demand for the items. This motivated them and gave confidence to start small business of paper bags, lamps, greeting cards, artificial flowers etc.     

3.       Study tour for school going children  

On the occasion of the National Science Day , IDEA Foundation organised two exposure visits for  two group of girls . There were 72 students in all. One group of 9^th Std students visited to Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCCA)of Pune University. Students got knowledge about various planets like Mars, Moon etc.  There was also an exhibition on information about Astronomy and Astrophysics. This visit was very fruitful for the students.

Another group of 8^th and 9^th Std students visited Agharkar Research Institute in Pune. In this visit they   saw an exhibition on Geology, Zoology, Anthropology, Chemistry, Organism, the skeleton, vertebra, dinosaur egg,  bacteria, fungi etc. This visit was very informative for the students. It also gave them an exposure on the various career opportunities in Science.

An appeal  :

While expressing our sincere thanks to you , we request you for your continued support for the smooth implementation of activities under the project.

Global Giving Bonus Day is just around the corner!  It begins on  March 13, 2013 at 9 am ET and ends at 11:59 pm ET (GMT-5) or until matching funds run out.  On this day Global Giving will match donations  at 30%, up to $1,000 per donor per project.

So please don’t forget to make a donation to our project on this day .