Milaan Be the Change
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Please help Milaan raise $50,000 to empower and educate adolescent girls from vulnerable communities in India.
India is home to 120 million adolescent girls, most of whom live in underserved communities. Unfortunately, many of them do not have the opportunity to fulfill their potential because of the barriers they face as girls, which leads to 40% of the girls dropping out before completing secondary school, 27% of girls getting married before the legal age of marriage, and 30% of women in India experiencing physical violence since the age of 15 years old. These numbers are representative of the lives of millions of girls who must navigate challenging social norms and barriers to fulfilling their potential
We at Milaan believe that girls having the opportunity to fulfill their potential should be the norm and therefore focus our efforts on increasing access to education and developing the leadership skills of girls who in turn are able to serve as leaders and role models in their communities.
Building a Movement of Grassroots Girl Leaders
Milaan through its Girl Icon program works with and for adolescent girls between the age of 12 to 18 years, school-going and out of school from low-income communities. The Girl Icon Program is a girl-led leadership program that provides mentoring and training for girls, , delivers a comprehensive 21st-century life-skills education, and drives collective action on issues that affect girls.
Meet Damini, a 16-year-old participant of the Girl Icon program with a desire to fight for girls’ rights within her rural community of India. Amidst the pandemic, Damini saw girls in her community being pushed into child marriage. Equipped with knowledge on girls’ rights, communication, and negotiation skills that she learned in the program, Damini rallied in her community to stop child marriages. As a result, four child marriages were stopped and these girls were saved from being subjected to lives they did not want for themselves.. Damini continues to use the skills she learned and the confidence she developed as part of the program to advocate for herself and other girls in her community.
Another trailblazer, Tusha, a 15-year-old girl leader in the program, helped to enroll 13 girls back in school who had dropped out because their parents did not see the value in educating girls. Tusha not only identified these girls and convinced their parents to let them continue their education, but she also made several trips to their school to help them fill out paperwork to ensure they were enrolled. Today all 13 girls are pursuing their secondary education thanks to Tusha’s leadership and the action she took to support girls in her community.
Working with girls like Damini and Tusha, the program creates a groundswell movement and harnesses the power of grassroots girl leaders to be mentors and role models. Milaan further trains them to provide mentorship to upcoming cohorts of the program thereby continuing to create a strong cadre of girl leaders driving change in their communities.
Impact
In the first five years of the program, Milaan has built a network of over 10,000 adolescent girls in three states in India. The girls in the program have shown some exceptional progress :
- 95% of the girls transitioned into secondary education
- 99% prevented from child marriage
- 96% of girls showed increased awareness and agency on adolescent health
- 80% of girls recognize gender-based discrimination and violence in their family and communities as unconstitutional and against human rights
In this project, Milaan aims to reach 1,000 adolescent girls between the ages of 12 to 18 years old. Milaan will provide leadership training, life skills education, and mentorship for 100 girls so that they are able to continue their education and learn how to advocate for themselves and other girls in their communities. Collectively these girls will focus on using their voice to increase community investment in girls’ education and empowerment, and will reach additional girls thereby having a multiplier effect.
Join the movement and support us in creating a world where every girl is educated, healthy and safe. When you support our work, you will bring us closer to achieving our mission of educating and empowering 100,000 adolescent girls in 5,000 communities in 5 states of India by 2025.
Please consider donating and share this fundraiser widely with your networks.
Read more stories of our exceptional grassroots girl leaders in articles by Ozy and The Lily by Washington Post
You can also follow us on our social media handles for inspiring stories, newsletters and updates
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
LinkedIn
Website
India is home to 120 million adolescent girls, most of whom live in underserved communities. Unfortunately, many of them do not have the opportunity to fulfill their potential because of the barriers they face as girls, which leads to 40% of the girls dropping out before completing secondary school, 27% of girls getting married before the legal age of marriage, and 30% of women in India experiencing physical violence since the age of 15 years old. These numbers are representative of the lives of millions of girls who must navigate challenging social norms and barriers to fulfilling their potential
We at Milaan believe that girls having the opportunity to fulfill their potential should be the norm and therefore focus our efforts on increasing access to education and developing the leadership skills of girls who in turn are able to serve as leaders and role models in their communities.
Building a Movement of Grassroots Girl Leaders
Milaan through its Girl Icon program works with and for adolescent girls between the age of 12 to 18 years, school-going and out of school from low-income communities. The Girl Icon Program is a girl-led leadership program that provides mentoring and training for girls, , delivers a comprehensive 21st-century life-skills education, and drives collective action on issues that affect girls.
Meet Damini, a 16-year-old participant of the Girl Icon program with a desire to fight for girls’ rights within her rural community of India. Amidst the pandemic, Damini saw girls in her community being pushed into child marriage. Equipped with knowledge on girls’ rights, communication, and negotiation skills that she learned in the program, Damini rallied in her community to stop child marriages. As a result, four child marriages were stopped and these girls were saved from being subjected to lives they did not want for themselves.. Damini continues to use the skills she learned and the confidence she developed as part of the program to advocate for herself and other girls in her community.
Another trailblazer, Tusha, a 15-year-old girl leader in the program, helped to enroll 13 girls back in school who had dropped out because their parents did not see the value in educating girls. Tusha not only identified these girls and convinced their parents to let them continue their education, but she also made several trips to their school to help them fill out paperwork to ensure they were enrolled. Today all 13 girls are pursuing their secondary education thanks to Tusha’s leadership and the action she took to support girls in her community.
Working with girls like Damini and Tusha, the program creates a groundswell movement and harnesses the power of grassroots girl leaders to be mentors and role models. Milaan further trains them to provide mentorship to upcoming cohorts of the program thereby continuing to create a strong cadre of girl leaders driving change in their communities.
Impact
In the first five years of the program, Milaan has built a network of over 10,000 adolescent girls in three states in India. The girls in the program have shown some exceptional progress :
- 95% of the girls transitioned into secondary education
- 99% prevented from child marriage
- 96% of girls showed increased awareness and agency on adolescent health
- 80% of girls recognize gender-based discrimination and violence in their family and communities as unconstitutional and against human rights
In this project, Milaan aims to reach 1,000 adolescent girls between the ages of 12 to 18 years old. Milaan will provide leadership training, life skills education, and mentorship for 100 girls so that they are able to continue their education and learn how to advocate for themselves and other girls in their communities. Collectively these girls will focus on using their voice to increase community investment in girls’ education and empowerment, and will reach additional girls thereby having a multiplier effect.
Join the movement and support us in creating a world where every girl is educated, healthy and safe. When you support our work, you will bring us closer to achieving our mission of educating and empowering 100,000 adolescent girls in 5,000 communities in 5 states of India by 2025.
Please consider donating and share this fundraiser widely with your networks.
Read more stories of our exceptional grassroots girl leaders in articles by Ozy and The Lily by Washington Post
You can also follow us on our social media handles for inspiring stories, newsletters and updates
YouTube
Website
This project is supported by the Girls Opportunity Alliance .
Your donation to benefit this campaign/project will be allocated to the Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund (“GOA Fund”), a project of GoFundMe.org (a U.S. public charity). The Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund may grant a refund in limited circumstances at its sole and absolute discretion, however, donations are not refundable after the GoFundMe payment platform has transferred your donation to the Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund. Transfers from GoFundMe to Girls Opportunity Alliance fund typically occur once monthly. All donations are subject to the variance power of GoFundMe.org, as stated in the applicable GoFundMe.org policies. Subject to applicable law, donations may be tax-deductible.
The GOA Fund is restricted to supporting girls' education and your donation is made for the support of the above described project. Notwithstanding that the campaign description may name a specific organization that is anticipated to engage in the projects, GoFundMe.org retains variance power, that is, discretion and control over how funds are disbursed within the purposes of the GOA Fund generally, and within the purpose of the project specifically. For example, if the project does not reach its minimum fundraising goal, GoFundMe.org may re-assign money raised to another campaign within the GOA Fund.
As of April 11, 2019, the Direct Impact Fund operates as GoFundMe.org.
Your donation to benefit this campaign/project will be allocated to the Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund (“GOA Fund”), a project of GoFundMe.org (a U.S. public charity). The Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund may grant a refund in limited circumstances at its sole and absolute discretion, however, donations are not refundable after the GoFundMe payment platform has transferred your donation to the Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund. Transfers from GoFundMe to Girls Opportunity Alliance fund typically occur once monthly. All donations are subject to the variance power of GoFundMe.org, as stated in the applicable GoFundMe.org policies. Subject to applicable law, donations may be tax-deductible.
The GOA Fund is restricted to supporting girls' education and your donation is made for the support of the above described project. Notwithstanding that the campaign description may name a specific organization that is anticipated to engage in the projects, GoFundMe.org retains variance power, that is, discretion and control over how funds are disbursed within the purposes of the GOA Fund generally, and within the purpose of the project specifically. For example, if the project does not reach its minimum fundraising goal, GoFundMe.org may re-assign money raised to another campaign within the GOA Fund.
As of April 11, 2019, the Direct Impact Fund operates as GoFundMe.org.
Organizer and beneficiary
Tina Kapoor
Organizer
India
Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund, A Project Of GoFundMe.org
Beneficiary
