Give GIRLS in India a CHANCE at life

Dear Donor,

Hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy!!

Mentioning below some of the key highlights of our work between Nov 22 and Feb 23.

Dissemination Event cum Networking Meeting at Karnal

A dissemination event and networking meeting were held on November 10,2022 in Karnal, Haryana, with the goal of giving all of our stakeholders—including government representatives, educators, and principals—a forum to express their opinions and experiences about gender-based discrimination.

The aim was also to introduce Breakthrough's work to everyone, and decide on a plan of action for creating safe places as part of the Good School Program. We sought to accomplish the following through this:

1) Introduce the Good School Indicator Program to all our stakeholders especially the District Education Department. 

2) Share baseline findings to present the real picture of where these schools stand on the parameters of Good School; and 

3) Develop a mechanism for child safeguarding in schools.

Team Change Leaders joined us to share their own stories and journey with Breakthrough:

Pankaj (name changed)- He is a very young and bold team change leader, who learnt to speak his mind and shared how Breakthrough inspired the principal of his village. The Principal later determined to make her school safe from intruders who used to spoil the school’s learning environment, without any fear.

Seema (name changed)-  She is a young bride with a small baby. She joined Breakthrough as a Team Change Leader last year and challenged the regressive veil system. She is now seen as a trendsetter and an example of change in her village.

The programme team came up with a visual display to highlight the program's journey, its work in many areas, and its impact through stall decoration as the event's innovative opening act. Team change leaders who are striving to change gender-based norms in their community and elsewhere shared their change stories. With the aid of a puppet show, the research and evaluation unit presented the findings of our evaluation of the programme, and assisted school principals and teachers in visualising what makes a school a good school.

Government representatives from the departments of education, women and child development, and the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) have embraced the idea favourably and ensured that a system for creating student representative committees and violence-free schools will be put in place.  We appreciate the Teachers and Principals from 20 schools for their time who despite being on Election duties spared their time for the event. It is indeed commendable that the education department not only accepted the findings but also expressed its gratitude for the evaluative study by Breakthrough and took the initiative in building better schools. They along with everyone else also pledged continued support to the Programme and promised to play an active role in this initiative. 

Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ms. Jasbir Kaur thanked the Breakthrough team for their work on theGood School program and suggested that “there should be a complaint box in all the schools. So that children can freely write their views which should be opened frequently. So that the principal can get to know about the complaints that students might have, and then they should work on mitigating these complaints.”

The District Education Officer, Mr. Rajpal, speaking on the evaluation of the Education Department, understood the need to work on the Good School Program. He said that “he wishes to improve his schools further under the Good School Program initiative. Under this innovative effort, work can be done for the betterment of schools.”

Youth Event -  Bystander Campaign –

“You can now stop any kind of harassment on a person- be it a home, college moving bus or market place by choosing to intervene using the 5Ds- Direct, Delegate, Delay, Document and Distract.”

The above statement was given by fellows of their 21 months’ longs journey of “Bystander Intervention Program Stand-Up” on 7^th November organized by Breakthrough which intended to provide visibility and recognition to Fellows, participants, stakeholders involved in the overall journey of Bystander Campaign. The event was success and attended by 220 youths from different colleges, College professors, ICDS workers (Integrated child development service) and DCW member (Delhi Commission for Women).

The event started by sharing the long lasting journey of 20 fellows of both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, who with the help of this campaign, have trained about 1.30 lakh youth of Delhi and Lucknow in the ‘5Ds’ (District, Delegate, Document, Delay, Direct) techniques to prevent violence at public places. A dance performance on “Nazrein Nazrein (The Male Gaze)” song were also performed by the youth. Along with sharing the bitter-sweet journey, fellows have also shared their fears and challenges in their efforts, which were overcome with a lot of effort on their part. The audience found a personal connect with the event as it was concerning a cause that effects them on a day to day basis.

Participants from colleges, government departments, institutes, corporates and NGO’s attended and were felicitated. The event was also attended by our special guest Sonal Mehta from L’Oréal India, South Delhi Women & Child Development District Officer M K Chandra ji, South East District Officer Ashwin, Coordinator of Delhi Commission for Women Sunita Chauhan, Kalindi College Professors and other CBOs (Community based organizations) and NGOs (Non-government organizations), along with 200 youth including an innovative street play performance by Sukhmanch Theatre team and Magician Ishamuddin ji on 5D techniques.

Community Mobilisation Campaign - BADI SI ASHA-2022 (Big Hopes)

“To address barriers in the communities which limits aspirations of girls”

Interventions from the community are essential for creating welcoming and secure places for girls. Through its work in local communities, Breakthrough teaches people to value and support girls' goals. This year, we once again launched a month-long campaign called "Badi si Asha"—(Big Hopes) in 125 schools and 250 communities across 6 Districts (Panipat, Sonipat, Gurugram, Rohtak, Jhajjar, and Karnal) in Haryana. We did this with the intention of addressing the barriers in the communities that limit the aspirations of girls. Through "play successfully," we have engaged 91000 individuals, 125 Gram Panchayats (a village-level governance mechanism) (250 spots), and 120 schools in our intervention districts. This has resulted in the recruitment of 12603 women, 11674 men, 50250 adolescents, 13674 youth, 1373 government stakeholders, 1215 teachers, and members of the community and brought them into the discussion on girls’ education and aspirations.

Through this campaign, we engaged with various community stakeholders in the districts of Karnal, Panipat, and Sonipat. It was crucial to bring them all together to talk about the challenges girls experience. In order to raise consciousness about adolescent girls' educational needs and aspirations and encourage them to return to school, we reached out to a variety of government schools, common areas in the community, government stakeholders, and duty bearers.

This campaign was launched by the DLSA (District Legal Service Authority) in the Jhajjar district on November 25. Chief Judicial Magistrate Mr. Arvind Bansal Ji officiated at the campaign's launch, which was also attended by District Program Officers (DPO), Child Development Project Officers (CDPO), Supervisors, and Anganwadi Workers from the Women and Child Development Department.

During the campaign, a lot of community and government stakeholders spoke out, and we were also able to capture a few local voices, including that of Mr. Arvind Bansal, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Jhajjar District, who supported Breakthrough's efforts and offered his opinions.

Because of the success of the Badi Si Asha campaign, we were able to hold in-depth talks in schools and communities about how gender-based violence and discrimination prevent most girls from achieving their goals. During the campaign, pamphlets were also given, and loudspeakers played folk songs that linked the campaign to the songs. A message was delivered to thousands of people, and during the campaign, loudspeakers played it in every village, from morning to evening.

This all work is happening because of support of DONORS like YOU. We would request you to continue your support and if possible recommend our project to like-minded people.

 
With Hope and Gratitude,

Aman Chhabra.