Empower Young Women to be Leaders, India

Women’s Education Project provides NGO partners in India our Leadership Academy, a curriculum for marginalized women (ages 15-24) to attain the skills and self-confidence to become leaders, earners and changemakers. Our Women’s Collaboration Lab, a training and resource center, supports the partners, and ensures the Academies remain grassroots and responsive to student need. 

An objective of our 2022-2024 Strategic Plan is to update and refine the Certificates of the Leadership Academy.  Recently, we piloted our fourth Certificate, the Ripple Effect, with three partners and 30 students.

The Leadership Academy Center, aside from courses, is a space to study and hangout.  Gathering over tea in the Academy’s center, students would tell stories of convincing their neighbor to halt their 15 year old daughter’s marriage and enroll her back in school; of asking their parents to decline the loan shark’s offer; and of teaching their mother to grow a kitchen garden, which now was full of fresh tomatoes.  From these stories, we knew that our students were changemakers.

During the pandemic, students told Academy Directors that their challenges were increasingly complicated, for instance the unstaffed clinic in their village and the open sewage canal were no longer annoyances, but serious health risks to their community and they asked for help to write petitions to government officials.  Knowing the courage and skill required to engage in these activities, we saw the need for a comprehensive training program for our students to safely and effectively make change in their own lives, families and communities.

To design the Ripple Effect Certificate, WEP hired a curriculum developer from Chennai to pilot the program for three-months with 30 students.  The Developer formed arts-based activities in which the students learned how to make positive change, develop projects (of any size), and after guidance from local traditional storytellers, tell their own stories.  At the conclusion of the storytelling sessions, students planted small trees, signifying growth and change.

WEP PROGRAM 2022 SNAPSHOT 

Women’s Education Project provides NGO partners in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan our Leadership Academy - a program for young women ages 15-24 to become leaders, earners and changemakers.  

At these partnerships, the Leadership Academy offers students: 

• safe space providing community and baseline essentials
• Four Certificates (Foundations, Skills, Exploration and Ripple Effect)
• Clubs, Scholarships to area programs, and an Alumnae Association.  

Leadership Academy, Madurai, TN (Partner:  AIRD)

Enrolled: 96 students, 50 enrolled in Academy sessions

Leadership Academy, Ramanathapuram, TN (Partner AIRD)

Enrolled: 25 students, 20 enrolled in Academy sessions

Leadership Academy, Hyderabad, TE(Partner CWS)

Enrolled: 72 students 

Leadership Academy, Kadapa, AP(Partner, Aarti Home)

Enrolled: 4 Batches 100 students

Leadership Academy, Bap, RJ (Partner, WomenServe)

Enrolled: 2 Batches 50 students

Plans Ahead: 

WEP, through its Women's Collaboration Lab in Hyderabad, is developing a storytelling focused reporting system.  Among other essential data, WEP seeks to gather staff and student stories which can help us to illustrate and quantify how the Academy and Lab upholds our core values (1. solutions come from the community itself and 2. young women thrive in safe supportive spaces with their peers).  Directors and students will upload written stories, videos and photo essays which will provide a feedback loop to inform WEP on our successes and challenges. 

February and March were busy months for WEP Leadership Academy students in Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Hyderabad.

Students at  the Madurai Center were offered courses  in Tally and Advanced Tally (business acounting software) they participated  in sessions on topics including a current affairs class on  fundimental rights, Adolescents: communication and relationsips, the neuroscience of happiness, dealing constructively with criticism, and mental health post COVID19.  They attended a workshop on Women and Society, which included information on cyber saftey.

Students also  honed their leadership skills planning and conductiong club meetings for the Technology, Financial, Language, and Dance and Sport clubs. 

At the Ramanathapuram Academy, Students participated in classes on spoken English and  civics. 

Students from the Madurai and Ramanathapuram Academies came together for an in person celebration of  Annual Day - a special tradition of the Madurai Academy. They participated in a joyous celebration of song, dance, games and speakers on topics of Women's Empowerment- including alumnae returning to share their expereinces. 

In Hyderabad, Students have been maintaining active book clubs in 10 different villages, and they  they participated in storytelling sessions on World Sparrow day, World Water Day, and International Women's Day. 

They have continued their cycling project-  riding a bicycle daily from the academy to their homes- they've also been teaching other village girls to cycle- and sharing their knowledge of the benefits of cycling to their health and the environment with village boys as well! 

42 Hyderabad students are now cultivating home gardens of pesticid- free vegatables, fruit, flowers and medicinal plants. They have been stydying pollinators, natural pest control methods, and composting, adding to the success of their efforts. 5 students from the program are also rearing chickens- which, along with the gardens have become  good micro businesses for them and their families.  

In March, Hyderabad students participated in sessions on womens reproductive health, ocupational therapy and physical therapy, which ended with a visit to a local hospital.  They completed community mapping activities, identifying essential services and learning about volunteerism and creating community solutions. They also  participated in sessions on facing critical situations, and making the right decisions. 

To celebrate International Womens Day, among other activities,  Hyderabad students spoke to their own parents about Gender Equality. K., an intermediate 1st year student, shared that she spoke to her mother about equality between the genders, and convinced her mom that she is not interested in early marriage, and wants to study and work.