Help Every Day partnership with SAKAR in India

Giving 50-60 young girls the skills and education to rise above suppression

Reporting

February 20th 2013: Read the latest updates from the training and two personal stories here.

December 14th 2012: We just received this update and a few pictures from activities at the education and training program in Uttar Pradesh India.

October 23rd 2012: We've now received this great message from SAKAR, India, showing a few pictures from the opening of the program. 30 girls have now started to receive training and education! Stay tuned for more updates and reporting on this page over the next six months.

YES! NOW FULLY FUNDED.

We're very exited that we've all made this fantastic project possible through our Coins of Compassion. As updates and photos come back from our partner in India we will be posting them directly on this project page so stay tuned!

Overall purpose of this project

The project aims to develop Basic Literacy and Vocational skills among the adolescent girls of the poorest families of the Muslim & Dalit community. When given the right education these girls can emerge as entrepreneurs and lead a socially and economically empowered life.

Summary

In the Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh, India, youth in general and young girls in particular are very poorly educated or illiterate. Young girls leave school at e very young age to help at their household, where they are often suppressed and subject to violence. This leaves them with no chances of getting educated and living an independent life.
Through this project partnership with the SAKAR organization in India, Help Every Day will give 50-60 young girls in the district of Bareilly the chance to learn new skills directly related to their job opportunities and a future of social and economic independence. The students attending this program will learn basic skills as a Beautician as well as basic tailoring and stitching skills. The program will also include courses of awareness building on gender issues and social equality. During the program there will be visits to a University and other educational institutions. Help Every Day will finance all costs of this 6 months program.

What are the current challenges that SAKAR needs help to solve?

The various challenges that the project addresses are:
• Semi-literate or illiterate young girls, who are unemployed because of lack of education.
• No technical skills or technical education to available job opportunities in the area.
• Most of the adolescent girls from minorities and poor communities compromise to low wages and daily labour work.
• Gender discrimination and financial insecurity leads to exploitation of the girls in their home and in society at large.

It is important to understand that the socio-cultural context of the project area deprives these adolescent girls of even basic entitlements like education, health and hygiene, right to choice, and they lack opportunities for their personality to grow. The problem is of the identity of the girls who are fighting everyday to establish themselves in this restricted environment as they face suppression from their family and outside.

How does this project address the issue?

Scaling Heights - A Centre for Educational Excellence: 
Through the funding received from Help Every Day, SAKAR will establish the program called "Scaling Heights - a centre for educational excellence". This program will be established in the Bhojipura part of the Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh, India. The centre will cater for 50-60 young girls from poor, minority families. The centre will have two main courses, with short term courses as well as guest lectures. Awareness building and personal development will be a part of each course.

MAIN COURSES
1. Beautician
OUTPUT:
• At least 15 trained beauticians will work in parlors in nearby town of Bareilly.
• At least 5 beauticians will start their own parlor in the village or Kasba as we call it.

2. Tailoring & Stitching
OUTPUT:
• At least 20 girls will be trained in tailoring and start their own venture independently or in a group of two-three.
• Supply of stitched garments in the nearby market of the town or the block.

3. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
OUTPUT
All the participating adolescents will be encouraged to enhance their personality and become smart and confident while learning basic knowledge about the area, country and basic international information.

4. SHORT COURSES
FIRST AID COURSE: Focusing on first aid treatment to patients, till the time medical facility is available to them.
YOGA CLASSES: One week Yoga classes for the rural adolescent girls and boys will be a medical boost to them.
EXPOSURE VISITS to University, Indian Vetenary Research Institute, Press, factories, etc.
AWARENESS BUILDING on issues like gender, dowry, protection of women against domestic violence, right to information act, right to education act and other legal rights.
OUTPUT:
Aware, informed, confident, articulate adolescent girls will voice for their rights and demand equity and equality among all sections of the society across caste and creed.

Long term impact

• Social and financial independence of adolescent girls.
• Trained, empowered girls will act as leaders and trainers for preparing a skilled workforce at rural level.
• Even after marriage, these adolescent girls being financially independent will oppose any kind of violence on them.

Background information about SAKAR and the “Scaling Heights program”

SAKAR is working in the Bhojipura block of the Bareilly district in western Uttar Pradesh. At present our intervention is in 35 villages of the block where we are working with women on issues related to governance and their collectivization leading to their social and economic empowerment. With the adolescent we have started working in the area of life skill development, but want to scale up to empower them economically as well as socially. We have been working in the area for the past five years and have managed to build a strong rapport with the community, where they have taken initiatives to take up issues and bring some change in their lives.
• Under the program “Scaling Heights”, we vision to work with the adolescent girls of nearby villages, by bringing them together in groups and training them to become economically strong and socially active.

For advanced background information about SAKAR, the program of Scaling Heights and the socio-economic and cultural reality of the area and target population, see the following document:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7428058/Help%20Every%20Day%20SAKAR.docx

Raised
Goal
 
$2,417
 
$2,417
 
 
 
 

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