During the COVID-19 pandemic, Halima dropped out of school after completing Grade 7 following the loss of her mother. In the middle of grief and uncertainty, her education came to a sudden halt.

When Halima later tried to return to school, the prolonged gap in her education made her ineligible for formal school.

Where she comes from, and why it mattered

Halima comes from a remote rural community in Bihar. In such settings, access to education was shaped not just by availability, but by everyday realities at home and in the community. For many girls, schooling competed with household chores and long-held beliefs about when a girl’s education should end.

These realities formed the backdrop of Halima’s life. At home, encouragement was limited. While her brother and sister-in-law were present, they often discouraged her aspiration to continue her education. Her sister-in-law believed household chores mattered more than education.

Beyond her home, prevailing social norms posed an additional challenge. Attitudes around a girl’s marriageable age reinforced the idea that education could wait.

What it took to change minds

Educate Girls’ Prerak, Sabana Praveen, visited Halima’s home and spoke with her sister-in-law. The initial conversations did not lead to change. But Sabana and the Educate Girls team did not give up.

They organised a community meeting and invited parents of more girls like Halima and key stakeholders. The discussion focused on the importance of education, the opportunities available after Grade 10, and government schemes that support girls in continuing their education.

Slowly, perspectives began to shift.

Starting again

Over time, resistance gave way to consent. Halima’s brother agreed to let her attend the village learning camp and resume her education. That decision marked a turning point in her life.

Halima passed her Grade 10 examinations through open schooling with distinction and topped the Bihar State Open School. She is ready to continue her education with confidence and clarity about what lies ahead.

“I thank Educate Girls for supporting me and many other girls on this journey towards becoming self-reliant”, she said.

If you can’t see, you can’t learn

In an effort to extend our efforts in boosting learning outcomes for children in rural areas, we have initiated a pilot project along with VisionSpring to identify students having trouble with vision and facilitate them with the necessary eyeglasses.

How we went about it

Our Team Balika (Educate Girls’ community volunteers) were first trained on vision screening by experts from Vision Spring. The training then followed with screening of school children by Team Balika, who conducted this screening using the vision testing kit. The list of identified school children was then shared with the Vision Spring team who conduct a final screening of students and provide eye glasses and other health tips for maintaining healthy vision essential to concentrate and do well in studies.

The training of Team Balika was conducted in April 2017, followed by screening and identification of children facing problems with vision for the pilot phase. The team from Vision Spring then conducted a final eye testing camp and issued glasses to students who required it in May 2017.

The pilot was conducted in some blocks of Bhilwara, Bundi and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan. Of close to a 1000 students screened, 25% were identified with eye problems. 14% of these children were under the age of 15. The pilot will continue until April 2018 and will then be measured for effectiveness.

In the realm of improving learning outcomes of children, there is a lot that needs to be done. This initiative is a small step towards adding another measure to improve the quality of education for children in India.

_{[1] Dandona R, Dandona L, Srinivas M, Sahare P, Narsaiah S, Muñoz SR, et al. Refractive error in children in a rural population in India. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2002;43:615–22.} 

When asked what led her to work in this field, Safeena said, “India has a high number of attributes that discriminate against the girl child. Education is a key that can start to unlock the solutions to most of these problems. In the circumstances, it is absolutely necessary to ‘change mindsets’ and for that ‘a scalable solution’, that empowers communities to take ownership, was absolutely necessary!”

Links:

http://sites.ndtv.com/women-of-worth/about-the-awardee-safeena-husain/

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/time-to-toast-eight-women-of-worth-1291568

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/you-are-as-powerful-as-what-you-know-katrina-kaif-at-women-of-worth-award-1291533

http://sites.ndtv.com/women-of-worth/video-details-page/women-of-worth-awards-meet-safeena-husain-408887/

Safeena Husain, Executive Director of Educate Girls, with former President of the USA Bill Clinton and Stars Foundation Founding Chairman HE Amr Al-Dabbagh.

This year Stars Foundation, after reviewing 277 applications from organizations around the world, announced Educate Girls as the winner of the 2014 Impact Award for Education in Asia Pacific. The award entitles Educate Girls to 100,000 US Dollars of unrestricted funding and 20,000 US Dollars of consultancy support.

The award ceremony took place in London where former President of the USA, Bill Clinton, and His Excellency, Amr Al-Dabbagh, felicitated the winning organizations. Educate Girls are thrilled to have received the award.

“Educate Girls came across as a very well-connected organization, with an excellent range of support in place, including partnerships that provide a range of high-quality pro-bono support. Clear administrative, financial and HR systems and processes were demonstrated, and strong leadership was a strength noted at the Head Office and at the district level.” ~ Stars Foundation

About

Stars Foundation

Stars Foundation invests in organizations and ideas that transform the lives of disadvantaged children and their communities globally. Founded in 2001 by Al-Dabbagh Group and based in London, Stars is an independent charity committed to reaching 20 million people by 2020. By combining their Founding Donor’s entrepreneurial heritage with a longstanding dedication to locally-led solutions, Stars harnesses the insight, assets and ambition of local civil society organizations and private sector companies, enabling them to achieve social change. Ultimately they seek to champion and amplify the efforts of those working on the front line in the fight against poverty and child mortality.

Twitter: #educategirls @StarsFdn #starsfoundation #impact

Safeena Husain, Executive Director & Founder of Educate Girls, receives the Millennium Alliance Award from Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Govt. of India.

This week, our founder and Executive Director, Safeena Husain, attended the Millennium Alliance Awards Ceremony in New Delhi. 20 Award Winning organizations, including Educate Girls, were felicitated by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Govt. of India.

The winning organizations were selected through a rigorous selection and evaluation process of over 1,400 proposals received as a result of pan-India outreach supported through 40 roadshows across cities.

The ceremony was organized by FICCI in association with Technology Development Board (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DFID) of UK, ICCO Cooperation, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth and Wadhwani Initiative for Sustainable Health (WISH).

Read the Press Release.

About

Millennium Alliance

The Millennium Alliance is an inclusive and diverse platform to leverage Indian creativity, expertise and resources. They identify, support, and scale innovative solutions being developed and tested in India to address development challenges that will benefit low-income populations across India and the world.

For more information, please click here.

The Giving Championships bolster the ‘World of Difference’ (WOD) program in India, a flagship initiative run by the Vodafone Foundation globally. In its third season in India, the WOD program had 33 highly skilled Vodafone employees, identified after a rigorous selection process, working with 29 NGOs for a period of 8 weeks to address women related issues in India. WOD taps into the skills, expertise and passion of employees and enables them to take time out from their regular jobs and work for a charity of their choice. The employees continue to receive their salary and all related benefits from Vodafone India throughout the WOD Program.

Handing over the contribution cheque, Marten Pieters, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India said, “The Giving Championships is the Vodafone way of supporting the commendable work being done by select colleagues participating in the World of Difference program. All our employees participated to raise funds this year to support the common cause of educating girls. I am especially delighted that our collective efforts have helped in substantially surpassing the target of supporting 30,000 girls that we had set for ourselves and we will be sending thousands of more young girls back to school.”

Receiving the cheque, Educate Girls, Founder and Executive Director Safeena Husain said, “It is indeed very heartening to have a corporation of Vodafone’s stature support Educate Girls. Vodafone Foundation’s World of Difference program has helped Educate Girls Immensely with fundraising and capacity building at the field level. Vodafone’s contribution will go a long way as Educate Girls attempts to impact 7,500 schools and almost 1 million children in the underserved gender gap districts of Rajasthan.”

Highlighting the program’s success, Rohit Adya, Director External Affairs, Vodafone India said “This year, the Giving Championships in just over a month has achieved strong numbers. Vodafone’s robust network of 454 exclusive retail stores also raised funds and created awareness about girl child education through the sale of special school-themed ZooZoo and Zumi merchandise. I am pleased that through our combined efforts, we were able to successfully raise a record amount.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dhaval Udani, CEO of GiveIndia, that provided the fundraising platform for the Giving Championships, said, “Congratulations to Vodafone for running one of the largest fund raising campaigns in Corporate India by creatively engaging its employees, customers and its various stakeholders. GiveIndia is proud to partner on this initiative through our fundraising expertise and donation platform as Vodafone’s charity partner. We aimed to significantly go beyond the target that Vodafone set for itself and were happy to go well beyond that. ”

Vodafone is committed to contributing to society with a strong belief that what is good for Society is also good for business. Through its Foundation which focuses primarily on Women Empowerment, the Giving Championships will enable girls to access education for one year. Vodafone wishes all the girls a successful life ahead.

About
Vodafone Foundation

Mobilizing the community, mobilizing social change. The Vodafone Foundation in India recognizes the power of mobile technology to address some of India’s most pressing challenges relating to education, health, equality and access. We are committed to enable people and technology to drive innovation, disseminate knowledge, and create shared value to improve lives.

By leveraging our mobile technology in the four areas of m-women, m-education, m-health and m-agriculture, we work in partnership with key charities, development agencies and the community to drive social change on a large scale in India. As part of our social investment program, the Vodafone Foundation in India also focusses on disaster relief and implements the World of Difference program, an unique employee engagement.

In countries in which Vodafone operates, a unique footprint of 27 Vodafone Foundations operate to deliver our social investment program. These programs are directed and chosen by the Foundation Trustees and receive funding from the Vodafone Foundation in the UK as well as their local Vodafone company.

Give India

Give India is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping donors donate to credible, transparent NGOs. It’s a ‘philanthropy exchange’ that does a thorough due diligence on NGOs of a wide range of causes for the donors to choose and donate.

Give India offers a range of 10 causes, 200+ NGOs and 750+ donation options. Every donor gets a feedback report informing them on how their donation has been utilized. Give India does this at a cost of fundraising of 9.1% which is one of the lowest in the world against an average of 30-50% in this sector. Give India has channelled Rs. 200 Crores to NGOs since inception through their platform. The mission of Give India is to propagate the culture of giving.

Twitter: #educategirls @vodafoneIN_Fdtn #vodafone

Let Anu tell us more about her support for our program and her dedication to girls’ education:

1. Why do you embrace Educate Girls’ cause?

“Education has served to open many doors in my own life and I believe that it could potentially be the cornerstone to differentiate one’s self out of whatever circumstances one finds themselves in. Educate Girls is unique in both its leadership and focused efforts in Rajasthan, where several cultural and socio-economic factors come into play when speaking about educating women. Having taught in rural Punjab, I got a glimpse of the great disparities in opportunities between rural and urban populations, more so for women. I am very excited about working with a great team of thinkers and looking forward to being a part of their efforts.”

2. Can you tell us more about you and how you intend to use your multiple skills to help Rajasthani girls get the education they deserve?

“I have tried my hand at being an educator, an entrepreneur and an athlete, with no holds barred and a very supportive family. It would be a great privilege for me to share the lessons I have learned along the way (in terms of resilience, self-reliance and persistence) with the girls that are a part of Educate Girls’ outreach and also learn about the immediate barriers they face, understand how much of it can be solved by better funding and how much needs a deeper social debate (either in academic or other public forums) and contribute meaningfully to the objectives Educate Girls have set for themselves.”

3. What gets you the most excited/inspired about working with Educate Girls?

“I would be most eager to visit the field and understanding the gaps in the system that pose as barriers. I am also excited about sharing my knowledge about training for marathons and putting together to run on behalf of Educate Girls and potentially raising funds through sustainable programs in the future.”

4. What would you say to the children you’re helping? What message would you like them to keep in mind as they grow into confident young women?

“I would say to them that self-belief would get them further than any teacher or brand-ambassador can! More seriously, I would reinforce the fact that they are unique and worth every effort in helping their own lives along and that hard work would yield benefits.”

We are so happy and proud to welcome Anu on board and have her advocate our cause around the world! With women acting as positive role models, we can see change happening and a bright future for the next generation of girls!

Please read more about Anu’s incredible career and commitment on her website.

Chandni Jafri, Tushar Gogia, Nusrat Jafri, Roshani Sanghani, Aditi Patel, Rashid Mohammed, Kunal Bhide, Nooreen Dossa, Shrikant Ayyangar, Neeti Bandodker, Sudarshan Sarma, Hemant Parar, Hansal Mehta, Nupur Shah and Daanish Antulay we are humbled and grateful for your support, faith and passion for education.

Our runners did a brilliant job, training for the run, donating themselves and encouraging their friends and family to donate as well. Our online donations amounted to an extremely generous amount – one which will be used to provide quality education to girls in the villages of Rajasthan.

Among these Tushar Gogia and Chandni Jafri deserve a special mention for their online donations. The highest online fund-raiser Tushar, who also ran the full marathon, had this to say “It is a proud moment for me, as not only was I able to run the entire 42 kms but also managed to surpass my fundraising goal. These funds will be used by Educate Girls to ensure that rural girls in Rajasthan get access to an education in a healthy and wholesome learning environment. It is crucial to educate adolescent girls as they are the future of our society.”

Chandni Jafri, a strong supporter of Educate Girls and the second highest online fundraiser, puts it beautifully, “I love running. When I run, I feel I am on a runway just short of a takeoff – it sets me free. I have strongly believed that educating girls provides just that kind of runway, where takeoff to a great future is a clear promise. And Educate Girls is doing just that kind of stellar work of putting girls’ education on the forefront thus ensuring that our country can fully achieve the potential it’s truly capable of. Imagine when an exciting opportunity like running to support girl’s education came by courtesy the Standard Chartered Marathon and Educate Girls – to be honest, that day I didn’t actually run for any cause, I ran for myself. And yes, will do it as many times as I get a chance.”

Twitter: #educategirls #mumbaimarathon #impact

Mark is a professional documentary photographer most recently focusing on issues surrounding women and girls in Africa, India and Latin America and was awarded Global Health Council Photographer of the Year.

In the last two years Mark has visited rural India as part of a long term project to document women’s and young girls’ lack of autonomy over their own lives. We have been happy to have him document the stories at Educate girls on many occasions. Mark also sought to capture the efforts being made to educate and empower them.

“Over the past decade it has become my personal focus to document the lack of autonomy women in the developing world have over their own lives and bodies. I also seek to capture the positive efforts being made to educate and empower women and girls. In India, I’ve concentrated on the work of three NGO’s: the Global Fund for Women, Educate Girls and Action India”, says Mark.

“San Francisco based Global Fund for Women ‘plays a leading role in advancing women’s rights by making grants that support and strengthen women’s groups around the world”, he adds.

Here are some of the photos Mark clicked when he visited Rajasthan with Educate Girls.

Kala cleaning at home by Mark Tuschman.

“We visited Kala at home. Her parents are both manual laborers and not at home when we visited. Here are photos of her cleaning, studying and another portrait. She had a certain elegance and brightness, and I could not help but feel saddened by the fact that her destiny was determined at three months.”

Chaddi reads to her mother by Mark Tuschman.

“Chaddi a 14 years old child bride is in the 7th grade. She is  reading to her mother, who never had an opportunity for any education.”

Here is Mark talking about his work and the exhibition.

For more information on Mark Tuschman, please visit his website or blog.

Twitter: #educategirls @marktuschman @world_affairs #photography