Providing Life Skills to 300 Girls living in Slums

Hello friends,

As you know, this project of a permanent centre for girls’ training and empowerment has emerged from support and encouragement of individuals who had supported a programme of life skills training for 300 girls. The support assured that we could reach out to hundreds more.

Low status of girls in India is compounded by their low caste status. If poor, they usually belong to families that have migrated to cities from impoverished villages in search of work. Their old customs and traditions control girls’ mobility and access to learning resources. These girls usually attend State supported schools and receive education that is poor in content. Girls need training in electronic and traditional media and skills of communication, negotiation and more so that they become participants in the process of their own empowerment. This project has regular classes in simple English speaking and computer use as well as workshops in photography, theatre, creative writing, health and hygiene and more.  

We work for assuring girls finish high school at least. But we also work towards a goal that girls become aware of their human rights and work for attaining them peacefully. Girls in our project celebrated the International Girls’ Day recently through street theatre and making and disseminating posters. Some of them have also worked on sanitation issues such as a Right to Pee campaign that demands safe, clean and adequate number of public toilets for girls and women.

We request you to encourage your friends and families to visit this site and support us. We make this request because a network of well wishers and supporters will go a long way for survival of this project to impart relevant life skills to girls in Mumbai and in western India.

Links:

• Vacha Trust website