Support A Young Girls Leadership Academy in India

It is September 2018 and we are ready to conduct CREA’s Fourth SELF Academy in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand! Starting on 24 September 2018, the revised version of the SELF Academy will bring together 48 young women from Jharkhand, over a period of fifteen days to learn, play, lead and decide!

From 24 September – 8 October 2018, the SELF academy (Self-confidence, Expression, Leadership and Freedom), using sports, arts and media and technology, will work with girls to build their understanding on issues of gender, leadership, consent and gender-based violence; strengthen their self-confidence and leadership capacities; and equip them with skills and tools to reflect, express and articulate their issues, opinions and aspirations. The academy aims to build capacities of girls for having greater control over their bodies and lives, challenge discriminatory norms and practices and negotiate for equal rights.

The lead up to this academy, in the last three months has included – alumni meetings with girls from the SELF Academy 2015, 2016 and 2017 and internal review meetings at CREA to assess the value and impact of its current design, course content and methodology.

Based on this process, the model of the upcoming academy has been revised in the following ways:

• Age-group: In order to ensure that all girls attending the SELF Academy are able to pursue higher education, training and employment opportunities as per their interest and background – girls 18 years and above have been only invited to attend the fourth academy. Building capacities of girls in this age-group, enables them to take on leadership roles in their families and communities, strengthens their ability to negotiate, assert and make decisions over their bodies and lives. CREA along with its partner organisations* has conducted meetings with the girls and their families before the academy.

• 15 Days at the academy: the first academy was designed as a 15 day long intervention which later on based on feedback from the girls and their families was reduced to ten days. However, during the alumni meetings, many girls and faculty of the academy shared that ten days were not enough to ensure that the content is effectively and comprehensively shared.

• Comprehensive learning: equal time and weightage has been given to perspective building and skills building at the academy. Girls participating in this academy, are part of CREA’s ongoing program –It’s My Body : Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Girls through Sports (IMB program).The program over a period of 10-12 months works with the girls at the village level using football as a strategy, medium and pathway to increase their awareness and build their understanding on issues of gender, sexuality, bodily autonomy, health and rights. Keeping this in mind, the SELF Academy has been designed as the next step for a select cohort of girls from the IMB program, where they are exposed to knowledge and skills of sports, arts, media and technology to enhance their potential for education, training, leadership and employability. However, during the alumni and review meetings, it was assessed that the SELF Academy by itself must revisit and refocus issues of consent, autonomy, leadership, gender, sexuality, violence and rights to be able to provide a more complete and unique learning experience during those 15 days.

The fourth SELF Academy will particularly strengthen and build knowledge, understanding and skills on the idea of ‘space’ and the interface and interaction young girls and women have with its various aspects and forms - Public spaces, personal spaces, online and digital spaces etc. through a feminist lens. What does mobility, accessibility and visibility mean to young girls and women in rural areas? In what ways and forms is this controlled, monitored and supervised through norms, deep seated beliefs, customs and practices in families, schools, workplace and communities? How can this be challenged without a threat to their lives? How can we collectively support each other to resist this? How does this impact the decisions I make about my education, work, health and life? SELF Academy will explore the myriad ways in which these intersect with gender, caste, sexuality, religion and more in lives of young girls through courses designed by CREA, in collaboration with Agents of Ishq, Blank Noise, Point of View, Soccer Foundation, CEQUIN, Digital Empowerment Foundation. Classes on computers, social media, leadership and campaigning, spoken English, football, arts etc. will further sharpen their skills. Girls at the SELF Academy will also work towards creating messages, campaigns and interventions they could initiate, share and lead with other girls and women in their community during the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Based Violence from 25 November – 10 December 2018.

All of us at CREA and our partner organisations are extremely excited to be at the upcoming SELF Academy! Do follow us on Instagram, Facebbok and Twitter.

*Community- based partner organisation in Jharkhand:

Lok Prerana Kendra, Chatra, Jharkhand

Mahila Mukti Sansthan, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand

Srijan Foundation, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand

Nurture Trust, East Singhbhum, Jharkhand