How We Empower Girls and Women
Women and girls around the world deserve an ally that will prevent and respond to gender-based violence while reducing stigma and fostering independence.
We offer community-based services such as Women’s and Girls’ Safe Spaces (WGSS), where the individuals seek respite, share their experiences and build support networks. They can access information and services and learn new skills, some of which can help them earn money. The activities at our programs also enable them to sit together, help each other, build relationships and focus on something positive and relaxing, helping women and their children to grow and thrive.
Empowerment happens by removing constraints that impede women’s and girls’ ability to determine and realize their goals. These constraints can be classified into three pillars:
Agency – the capacity for goal-setting and follow-through, indicative of their level of self-efficacy and self-esteem.
Resources – the inputs (such as capital, assets, tools, and information) that individuals have at their disposal to enable decision-making and actions to achieve their goals.
Context – an enabling environment for equitable decision-making, including institutions and social arrangements.
Addressing constraints across these pillars can empower women to realize specific achievements, leading to gender equality.
Scope for Intervention
The scope for the intervention is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional.
Some of the broader and more general areas of focus include:
Educational Attainment
Providing access to education and training programs that help women and girls develop new skills, knowledge and competencies, including school, higher education and vocational training
Health Care
Improving access to healthcare services that address the unique health needs of women and girls, including physical, emotional and menstrual health with special focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Working towards women and girls’ equal enjoyment of all human rights, including freedom from violence, sexual and reproductive rights, access to justice, socio-economic equality, and participation in decision-making.
Human Rights
Economic Empowerment
Creating opportunities for women and girls to participate in the economy as entrepreneurs, business owners, or wage earners. This will include programs that provide access to microfinance, business development services and skill training.
Leadership Development
Building the capacity of women and girls to participate in decision-making processes at all levels of society. This will include programs that focus on leadership training, mentorship or advocacy.
Creating a supportive environment where women and girls can access resources, networks and social support systems that help them achieve their goals. This will include programs that spotlight community mobilization, awareness-raising campaigns and peer support groups, such as boys’ clubs and gender equality committees.
Community Support
Guiding Principles
A combination of three multi-layered, critical, gender-focused and intersectional frameworks will be used parallelly to guide our work and better understand the unique challenges faced by women and girls:
Climate & Gender Analysis Framework
climate change acts as a ‘threat multiplier’, meaning for women and girls who already experience vulnerability in economic empowerment, political protection and social empowerment, climate change and climate-related disasters can enhance these vulnerabilities.
Persons with Disability & Gender Analysis Framework
The disability-inclusive development (DID) lens puts an emphasis on how persons with disabilities must be recognised as rights-holding, equal members of society who must be actively engaged in the development process irrespective of their impairment or other factors such as race, age, ethnicity or gender.
Gender Equality Analysis Framework
to understand the context in which women and girls and men and boys exist and how programs and policies can better address the realities of both groups to create gender parity.
Outcomes
Our intervention resulted in the following outcomes:
Improved empowerment of women and girls, including women/girls from disadvantaged and underserved communities, asserting their equality of rights and dealing with dominant social norms that perpetuate gender inequality and gender-based violence.
Improved and equitable attainment of lower secondary education among women and girls, including women and girls from disadvantaged communities.
Enhanced livelihood opportunities with sustainable resilient practices and improved incomes among women and girls, including women/girls with disabilities from disadvantaged communities.
We have directly reached 21,000 women and girls, while building the capacity of 4,500 men and boys. Using a context-specific and holistic approach, with coordinated interventions operating at the individual, household, school, community and societal levels, the program also engaged government officials, community leaders, women’s rights and civil society organizations, workspaces and employers to create a safe an enabling environment for the successful implementation and the sustainability of the program. In total, 100,000 community members have been reached through public campaigns.
21,000+
10+
Years of Intervention across 10 Districts of TN
Girls and Women were impacted
Our Unique Programs
AssureOurGirlsFuture
Assuring a bright future for girls involves a comprehensive approach focused on education, health, safety, and equal opportunities, supported by systemic change and community involvement. This requires challenging gender stereotypes and advocating for policies that promote their rights and potential.
BeAGirl - Girl Child Empowerment Program
A lifeskills program focusing on comprehensive sexuality education and mentorship for girls in government schools and child-care homes, aiming to combat issues like child marriage, teen pregnancy, abuse and build confidence through interactive classroom learning, experiential learning camps, inspiring talks, book events, movie screening and exposure visits.
Sisterhood Camps
We are committed to creating spaces of belonging and sisterhood for girls, young women, and mothers to dismantle years of judgment of self and other females, staying small, self-doubt, masking, denial of human emotions, people-pleasing, caretaking, shame, and disconnection from the body. We believe that by supporting girls and women in their journey to reclaim their womanhood, we can reshape the way the next generation of girls express themselves, see themselves, and interact in the world.