Empowering the Girl Child

Education being the prime starter of change, HCDI gives supreme importance to the empowerment of the girl child.  She is assisted in the learning process at every stage of her life until she is able to stand on her own feet and even beyond  that when she becomes a member of a SHG or is enabled to participate in income generation, training and seminars.  Learning is a continual process giving the girl child every opportunity to strengthen herself.  Hence it is rightly believed that educational empowerment of the girl child has wide concentric ramifications which impact positively on the family, the community and the nation.

We ensure that basic education is available at the level of the Early Child Care Centers.  These children are given a wide spectrum of education beyond numbers and letters.  They are taught social living, healthcare, competitiveness, participation, gender equality.  All these children later go to Primary School, High School and even beyond.  Parents on the projects are well aware that education of the girl child is an investment in the future and are encouraging her to attend tuition classes and even leave the village for further study.

Apart from academic education, the girl child is empowered through Grihini Training and Vocational and Technical Training.  As Grihinis they are taught to manage the home by learning the skills of home management, childcare and cooking.  They are also taught about reproductive health.  At the SHGs trainings are continuous in some area or the other.  Empowerment has enabled them to maintain records, run SHGs and generate income.  They have become confident enough to make their own decisions and step into new areas of employment.

When girl children join Childrens’ Parliaments, the world of governance opens up for them.  They learn to conduct meetings, write reports and take responsibility as office bearers and help bring about change in the villages.  They become articulate and are prepared to talk to village elders and adults and the competent authorities connected with their lives like the District Education Office, Taluka Development Office, Agriculture and Forest Officers to right wrongs, exploitations, deficiencies of service and as an assertion of their rights.

Health empowerment of the girl child begins at the ECC level, goes up to the tuition classes level and beyond to the health care workers on the projects.  The basics of healthcare and hygiene empower the girl child not to care just for personal health but also for social, preventive and environmental care.  This empowerment stays with her all her life.  The training of young birth attendants has lowered mother/child mortality rates.

Through Hostel Programme, we support 2900 girl children who are taken care in residential units located in different parts of the country.

Through our Children At High Risk programme, the girl children are provided with rehabilitative services in the form of nutritious food, safe drinking water and shelters where their educational and social needs are taken care of. The highlight of the programmes for them have been psychosocial care in the form of personal and group counselling, vocational guidance and providing monetary assistance for higher education. The program emphasis  on education and personality development.These programmes focus on creating awareness about one’s potential and builds assertiveness and resilience in the girls to face the challenges of life. HCDI provides vocational training, English language development, self-defence and computer skills which have made the girls confident and enterprising.

HCDI’s success in empowering the girl child with education, health, opportunities for mental and social growth, life skills and income generation has enabled the girl child to participate fully in the development process on par with men.  They have been nurtured to be substantial contributors to the human resources of the country.