Enhancing Agency of Adolescent Girls to Demand and Advocate for Equality
Aspiring young girls strengthen their agency to complete their education and lead change
Adolescent girls (15-18 years) in India are experiencing huge transitions. Their aspirations for and imagination of a better future has grown exponentially. But they face cultural, social and institutional constraints in fulfilling their aspirations. Norms and practices based on entrenched patriarchy inhibit their economic participation, and restrict their mobility due to insecurity, sexual harassment and violence in public. Despite policies, legislation and institutions aimed at promoting gender equality, most school educational programmes remain gender blind, with adolescent boys and girls not learning and practising equal gender relations.
Go Girls Go is a pilot project in 4 government schools of Delhi, focusing upon girls, so that they can complete their education, join vocational education, and strengthen their agency to lead change. It will also influence boys and sensitise them to equal rights for women, and preventing violence against women and girls.
The project complies with the sustainable development goals 4 (which is to provide universal quality education) and sustainable development goal 5 (which is to create universal gender equality).
The project adopts a multi-stakeholder approach, through interventions and workshops in the target government schools. Intervention in the schools will be implemented through participatory learning programme, youth led community outreach programme, empowerment of girls, advocacy & knowledge generation.
Project goals
• Adolescent girls learn and exercise their agency. This is built through innovative, participatory capacity building learning program.
• Sensitisation of adolescent boys to gender equal norms and prevention of violence against women and girls -- build ing their capacities as peers to influence the wider community and create an enabling environment for girls to be treated equally.
• Educational institutions learn to be open to providing equitable education to boys and girls.
• Demonstrate a scalable model to help achieve SDGs 4 and 5 that can be used by policy-makers seeking innovative solutions for national development through enhancing educational status and economic empowerment of girls.
Project activities
• Participatory learning programme: to build awareness among adolescent girls and boys through gender sensitisation workshops; analyse and challenge stigma and stereotypes; awareness on violence against women and girls, adolescent health and wellbeing; build self-confidence, communication and leadership skills youth led community outreach programme, empowerment of girls, advocacy & knowledge generation.
• Youth-led Community Outreach Programme: Youth clubs in schools build support among families and community, conduct and share Participatory Safety Assessments (PSAs) of schools.
• Empowerment of Girls: Identifying and supporting 30 girls to join vocational courses for chosen career through information sharing on opportunities/schemes/incentives, focused career counselling, exposure visits to vocational training institutes, interaction with professionals/prospective employers.
• Advocacy: With Delhi Government, Department of Education, and Education Minister to adopt gender sensitisation module, make it available online and issue advisory to government schools to use the module.
• Knowledge Generation, Dissemination, Visibility: Preparation of online gender sensitisation module and IEC material (audio-visuals); felicitation of teachers and schools that promote gender equality.
Project beneficiaries
200 adolescent girls and 100 adolescent boys.
Project location
Delhi. In four government schools (two co-educational and two all-girls' schools) -- RSVP School Nand Nagri, GGSS School Ambedkar Nagar 1, GSSV School Ambedkar Nagar 2 and SKV Andrewsgunj
Project duration
1st May 2019 to 30th April 2020
Funder
Embassy of The Netherlands in India
Supported by Delhi Government
