Give GIRLS in India a CHANCE at life

Dear Donor,

The project activities during this quarter were conducted at different levels which apart classroom sessions, included Hyperlocal campaigns and Ratri Choupal. We also had an amazing Story of Change.

Hyperlocal Campaign-District Rohtak, Haryana State

Community interventions are very important in our work because they help in building conducive and safe spaces for girls. Our work in communities focuses on making them learn to value girls and to support their aspirations. While we interact with different stakeholders separately, it is important to get them together at one platform to discuss the problems the girls in the community are facing.

By working with youth groups in colleges, Breakthrough was able to drive these discussions through hyperlocal campaign.

The campaign addressed the issues of Sexual Harassment and Gender Based Discrimination and how these factors prevent girls from pursuing their aspirations.

Our 5 day-long hyperlocal campaign in Rohtak addressed the issue of sexual harassment that women and girls face while commuting to school, college or workplace. During the campaign, the youth groups from the colleges that we work in, performed plays around the subject. This was done at 14 spots in the community and popular areas of commute reaching out to 5724 people. This performance was followed up by a discussion with the audience on the importance of bystander intervention in reducing sexual harassment.

Ratri Choupal (Evening Village Meeting)-Badi Si Asha:

Keeping the norms and gender discriminatory behaviour in mind, we need to enhance community roles to build and support aspirations of young girls. Since JPAL’s evaluation of our work in Haryana highlighted the low levels of aspirations in girls from Haryana, we decided to address this through our Ratri Choupal.

The theme of the Ratri Choupal was called Badi Si Asha. The event was launched by Ms. Sonal Goel, Deputy Commissioner of district Jhajjar, and she also shared her story of struggle in pursuing her aspirations to become an IAS officer. She also shared the event on her social media handles and helped us spread the word.

We used theatre and films like –Ladki Haath se Nikal Jayegi, Main Auto Chalaungi and Legions of Stars, to begin our discussion on the topic. Many adolescents then came forward and shared their aspirations.

We reached 23115 people in communities in 15 days, covering 4 spots in a day in 30 Gram Panchayats.

Story of Change:

Through our program in schools and communities we work actively with girls and boys. We conduct sessions that equip them to challenge discriminatory norms and behaviours. We have been seeing young girls from our TkT batches negotiating for their rights and aspirations with their parents and community members.

Now it is heartening to see that even boys are standing up for women and girls around them and helping them negotiate with the community members.

One such story is that of Mohit (name changed) from Rohtak, Haryana who has been of part of the TkT program. Over the course of 2 years Mohit has become aware of the whole concept of Gender Discrimination and its different forms. He also has a much clearer understanding on the adverse effects of such discriminatory norms.

When he realised that his parents forbade his sisters from wearing shirt and pants, he decided to talk to them. He began negotiating with a simple agenda- to help his sisters wear their choice of clothes. At first his parents ignored his attempts but his persistence paid off! He was finally able to discuss and share his opinion on the issue with his parents

No doubt it was very difficult for him to explain that such norms or practices are a violation of his sister’s rights, but with the confidence that he had gathered from the training session of TKT he started the process of making his parents understand the concept of equality in all matters be it choice of clothes, education or profession. The parents finally understood and agreed with Mohit’s point of view and the girls have been allowed to wear the clothes of their choice.

Mohit’s determination and transformation has not only helped him look at his world with a more equitable lens, but is now also helping people around him.  

I hope that these updates help you understand our work better and we look forward to your support to make our dream a reality.

Thanks and Regards,

Aman Chhabra.