Little Agents of Change

Poverty and discrimination mean girls living in rural India miss out on the chance to go to school.

FYF partners are working with communities to raise awareness of the importance of girls' education and to set up education centres for teenage girls.

Girls attending our centres have now been recognised as ‘little agents of change’ in an article by Puja Awasthi in the Deccan Herald, an Indian newspaper that has a readership of 860,000.

Dedicated teachers....

"We are able to talk about [HIV and AIDS], because the mothers have supported us. Though illiterate, they have been firm that their daughters' lot should be better than theirs. It is this hope for a brighter, healthier tomorrow that has kept us going.” Jyoti Tiwari, Teacher, Mendara Teenage Girl's Centre

Jyoti Tiwari is a teacher at one of theTeenage Girls’ Centres. She is a trained public health worker who “between tips on matching threads and setting patterns, weaves in lessons on adolescent sexuality, health and hygiene.” (Awasthi)

In Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, 5,000 people contracted HIV last year. This can, in large measure, be attributed to the fact that many men in the area migrate to work in brick kilns in other states. According to Awasthi risky behaviour among these men has become the norm “and it's the women who will bear the brunt in the long run.”

.....Self-Confident girls

“We are now questioning the barriers to girls leaving the home. I ask my parents why they discriminate between me and my brother. I am determined not to get married until I am economically independent.” Nikhat, Mendara Teenage Girls’ Centre.

Thanks to the dedication of women like Jyoti Tiwari girls attending the centres are gaining in self confidence.

As a result they are becoming ‘little agents of change’ in their communities. They are now demanding their right to education, tackling instances of child marriage within their villages and educating their parents about the transmission of HIV. (Awasthi)

£ 1,000 could cover the costs of running a six month course for 30 teenage girls in India. Donate now!

Watch this short video to learn more.