Our Programs
Our Work Hamari Shiksha, Hamara Adhikar (My Education, My Rights)COVID-19
Hamari Shiksha Hamara Adhikar - My Education My Right” was designed on the core premise that if young girls stay in school and complete schooling; gain knowledge and confidence and have access to skills and resources to influence decisions and take charge of their life, it would led them to exercise their rights. The program has ensured that participating girls gain the skills, competencies and connections they need to have choices and negotiate their environment.
Simultaneously, the program has also worked with peer boys and males to foster gender equitable norms among them. It had institutionalized the processes on accountability at school and at education departments under the Right to Education (RTE) Act framework through a youth-led accountability mechanism.
STEM for Girls: Life - Career and Coding Skills
for Adolescent Girls
STEM For Girls is a school based program that works with adolescent girls in classes 8, 9, and 11, to build skills related to digital literacy, and life and employability skills. Being implemented with Quest Alliance, the program focuses on improving self- efficacy and employability skills through gender based life-skill sessions and career skill sessions.
The digital skill sessions develop IT skills of the students, including computer operations, basics of computer programming and coding. Life skills and career sessions focus on enhancing girls’ self-efficacy, ability to map and use resources, as well as develop their planning, communication, and personal management skills. These are augmented by career sessions that focus on girls’ awareness of their own skills and interests that in turn help them develop career maps, and identify concrete pathways towards future economic enhancement
PAHAL Program
The PAHAL program, in partnership with HCL Foundation, sought to build an understanding among young girls and boys organized in Police Clubs in Chennai slums on gender equality. The project worked with parents and the community at large (through community action and community campaigns led by girls and boys) to create gender equitable conditions in the communities.
The program focused on educating young girls and boys with life skills (based on modules), gender based discrimination/ violence, self etc. The main objective of the project has been to create a gender transformative community environment and promote gender transformative behavioral practices among adolescent girls and boys organized as part of the PBGCs.
The curriculum has prepared adolescents to understand their career aspirations, make independent decisions, and build a practice of gender equitable behavior. In addition to the gender transformative curriculum, the program also has adopted an ecosystem approach — fostering gender equitable norms amongst male peers, families, and community members through a community based development model, with the aim of reducing gender based resistance to girls’ success.
PAHAL - The Initiative
PAHAL - The Initiative aims for children in Jharkhand’s Pakur district and Hiranpur block to have improved access to education and retention in educational institutions and accountable and responsive child protection mechanisms. With a multi-faceted approach, the programme aims to reach target groups such as children, parents, teachers, panchayat members (particularly the Committee on Education and Child Protection Committee), Anganwadi workers, ASHAs and Local Civil Society Organization members.
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The 5-year program started this year would aim to drop in the school dropout rate in the targeted area while also seeing increase in self-esteem and confidence and knowledge on their rights for children. Program also aims to build understanding on gender issues and roles with parents perception in valuing a girl child and pledge to support their education increases. This would be complemented by the decrease and prevention of child marriage rate in the targeted Panchayats with an aim for these Panchayats to declare themselves as child-marriage free.
Youth Climate Action Lab
Youth Climate Action Lab is a youth-led movement on addressing the issues of climate change in Urban Bengaluru. The 36-month long phase commenced in November 2021 and will train, mobilize and connect youth climate champions and youth researchers in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
These youth climate champions will work in the identified focus areas and take lead in identifying the challenges arising from the impacts of climate change and raise awareness to mobilize communities to take action about the real barriers between climate change and the people in the informal settlement colonies.
In the process the young champions and researchers will engage their peers, communities, and local and national governments to build a movement that drives progress towards the state climate action plan.
The program aims to disseminate learnings among key stakeholders, including citizens, city officials, and experts to ensure that policymakers and city officials are made aware of the positive effects of citizen and youth engagement in climate policy; and amongst citizens with the aim that peer engagement will create and further develop citizen engagement.