A recent Gender Equality report has placed India at no. 132 in the world. Our project empowers 600 poor girls a year and thousands more thru outreach by training in life skills to become strong and active. Girls train in English, computers, photography, leadership and community work. They complete school and engage in social work . We need space for a permanent place for training, coordination and expansion to more slums. We are seeking 10% of the total cost, having collected 90 % already.
The community of 18 large slums is very poor. It is made up of religious, linguistic and ethnic minorities from villages seeking jobs. Orthodox traditions and son preference heavily discriminate against girls. Their access to education is limited. Girls, families and local groups will benefit from the project. Girls will acquire new skills and self confidence, the others a gender perspective. They will share some project resources like library, computers, film shows and health fairs.
Thru classes, workshops and training, the project will train 700 girls in computers, English, photography, art, community work & leadership. They will complete school, acquire hard & soft skills, self confidence and job worthiness. 300 will organize public events, publish newsletters, run a mobile library, and work on equal footing with boys on local issues. Outreach will cover thousands. All this will raise girls' status in community, reduce vulnerabilities and give better choices in life.
1000 girls will have access to learning resources and more freedoms. Women and girls will have a say in decision making at various levels. 15,000 people will have been impacted thru campaigns and advocacy and public events. Many but unspecific number of people will be able to use to govt. schemes and facilities, often denied to the poor. Local leadership will have girls' and women's issues on their agenda. Youth will have community leadership with good participation of girls.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
