VOICE 4 Girls

VOICE 4 Girls conducts activity-based camps for adolescent marginalized girls and boys in government and low-cost private schools of India. As the Pandemic hit, the schools have been shut for over a year now. India saw an increase in Child Marriages, especially in the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh where VOICE's major work is based. This made it imperative for us to reach out to as many adolescents as we can and we adapted our camp based curriculum into online mode. We requested data from schools and started contacting each and every student on the list. Sadly, at least 50% of the students, especially girls do not have access to smart phones or internet data packs to attend these online sessions that are being conducted. Right now, we are conducting online sessions and providing the adolescents with knowledge on their health, safety, rights, and future planning. But we are aware of the 50% of the population that is left behind. With the funding and the support from Elevate Prize, we want to start tapping on to those 50% who are left out by means of providing them with smart phones/tablets for learning or/and recharging their internet data. 

I have been working in the development sector since 2002. Initially it started as internships, but I soon realized my calling in the sector and decided to devote my full time to it. I have always been passionate about girl child education and addressing gender issues. Looking into my family and so many other families, gendered socialization looked like something which is a common ground everywhere. 

With VOICE 4 Girls, addressing gender issues and empowering adolescent girls became my vision. It was clear from the beginning that whatever programs we implement should meet to address the importance of girls having a safe space to voice their opinions and enable them to take charge of their futures. Through our programs we have reached out to 92000 adolescents in India. 

The goal is to empower more and more adolescent girls. We have been very resilient in quickly adapting our programs in this pandemic and shifting to an online base. We want to further that work. We have started a conversation with boys and including them in the fight against patriarchy. The next few years will vision on raising a feminist generation who build a safe environment for all genders. 

VOICE has been working with marginalized adolescent girls in order to keep them in school and reducing the drop out rates. It is seen that when the girls drop out in an early age, they are victims of child marriage, violence, and teenage pregnancy. Around 30% of girls are married off between the age of 15 - 19. During the Pandemic, this number has increased. In Telangana (where our major work is focused), the State Women and Child Development rescued around 497 minors from child marriage within the first few months of the pandemic. 

To address the issue of adolescent girls dropping out of the school, VOICE taps on to the girls in school before they start menstruating. We conduct activity-based educational camps where we provide critical knowledge on health, safety, rights, and future planning, spoken English, and life skills. We believe that when a girl finds her voice, the world around her begins to change. We have seen adolescents, empowered with knowledge and skills, negotiating to stay in school. Our campers (beneficiaries) continuously surprise us with their zeal, where 13-14 year old girls have stopped either theirs or someone else's child marriage in the community. Through our work, we create peer leaders in the community! 

We have a very synchronized mechanism of delivering projects that make us unique: 

1. We conduct activity-based camps which makes a classroom interesting and helps adolescents to remember crucial and complex information like gender and sexuality, sexual health, as well as leadership and apply them in real life. Even in the pandemic as we have shifted to an online model, we have been able to retain the activity-based method of teaching. 

2. We believe that everyone has the capabilities to become a leader. We train our campers to become Sakhis (peer leaders) in their schools and communities and to provide knowledge and support other girls like her. 

3. VOICE works extensively with volunteers/interns who are college going students. Apart from recognizing the need to work with adolescents, we also realize that to meet our vision, it is equally important for us to work with young people who will further create a safe environment for these empowered girls to grow in. We train these young women, who mostly come from marginalized backgrounds to become mentors and teachers to the adolescent girls. Reducing the age gap between the trainer and trainee also furthers the purpose of transfer of knowledge. 

India has the second largest population in the world. It is known that the maximum population of India will be the workforce age. It is extremely important for us to prepare our future generation to enter the workforce and be in-charge of their futures. The world needs informed leaders especially women with diverse backgrounds who understand social change, real-world challenges and are grounded in local issues.

VOICE through its work ensures that the drop out rate among girls decrease. We enable life skills and future readiness skills in not just the adolescents with whom we work, but also in the young women who are responsible for imparting knowledge to these adolescents. Through our work, we are ensuring that we raise a generation which is sensitive, responsible, inclusive, and in-charge of their futures.