Gender Equality India Project #41539

Empower Young Women to be Leaders, India

by Women's Education Project

Summary

WEP enrolls young marginalized women (ages 15 to 24) in our Leadership Academies, at grassroots NGO partners across India. Academy students learn to make informed choices for themselves and positive change in their families and communities. Within a spirited community of peers, they gain knowledge, skills, and an understanding of their opportunities. Alumnae receive scholarships to training and higher education before entering formal sector careers or alternative livelihoods.

$100,000
total goal

$72,503
remaining

120
donors

2
monthly donors

4
fundraisers

3
years

Challenge

WEP serves young Indian women ages 15-24, daughters of families struggling to find daily wage employment. Part of the more than 87 million women and girls living in poverty who deal daily with water shortages, poor sanitation, debt, family health, domestic abuse and other debilitating issues. Young women who are valued primarily for their unpaid domestic work, and/or low wage earnings, are routinely pressured to quit school and enter early marriage.

Solution

The Leadership Academy is an easily adapted, flexible, community-sourced, holistic curriculum that takes place in a safe, reliable, supportive and, above all, fun environment. Here, young women, for the most part undervalued and voiceless at home, come together to discover their inner spark, expand their understanding of life's opportunities, and gain the necessary skills to achieve them. Participants attended life skills, alternative livelihood and career preparatory Certificate courses.

Long-Term Impact

Pre-COVID alumnae surveys indicated 64% work in their first job in the formal sector. 2,200+ alumnae include teachers, accountants, receptionists, professors, computer operators, small business owners, and technicians - an agriculturalist, a lawyer and aspiring judge, and (our first student), a Bank Director. 100% married after 18; 75% credited WEP as the principal factor in securing employment and higher income. All have affected change in their own lives, their families and communities.