IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA, EDUCATION IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY FOR A GIRL TO ESCAPE THE CYCLE OF CHILDHOOD MARRIAGE, PRE-TEEN PREGNANCY AND ABUSE. A MIDDLE-SCHOOL EDUCATED GIRL WILL MARRY 4 YEARS LATER, HAVE 2 FEWER CHILDREN, AND DOUBLE HER INCOME. EDUCATED WOMEN MAKE THEIR COMMUNITIES MORE TOLERANT AND OPEN-MINDED, AND THE WORLD NEEDS THEM NOW, MORE THAN EVER!
WE DONATE 50% OF OUR PROFITS TO PROGRAMS THAT SEND GIRLS TO SCHOOL. THAT MEANS 10-20% OF YOUR PURCHASE VALUE DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOU BUY ONLINE OR FROM ONE OF OUR STOCKISTS. THE MONEY GOES TO TWO KINDS OF PROGRAMS.
GRASSROOTS PROGRAM
NEARLY 3 MILLION GIRLS IN RURAL INDIA ARE OUT OF SCHOOL. THEY HAVE FREE ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS BUT CENTURIES-OLD DEEP-ROOTED TRADITIONAL BELIEFS STAND IN THE WAY. THE GRASSROOTS PROGRAM TARGETS ENTIRE VILLAGE COMMUNITIES, AND TYPICALLY INCREASES ENROLLMENTS TO 90% WITHIN MONTHS. IT IS RUN BY OUR PARTNER EDUCATE GIRLS.
TARGETED PROGRAM
EACH YEAR, WE ALSO DIRECTLY FUND COMMUNITIES OR SCHOOLS THAT HAVE AN IMMEDIATE NEED. THEIR CHALLENGES ARE UNIQUE SUCH AS INDIGENOUS TRIBES WITH NO SCHOOL ACCESS, MARRIED ADOLESCENTS THAT CANT GET BACK TO SCHOOL, OR GIRLS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS. THESE PROGRAMS OFTEN HAVE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON ENROLLMENT.
Our grassroots program is run by EducateGirls.
Their 4,500 passionate volunteers have enrolled 100,000 out-of-school girls to date, using amateur psychology skills, local knowledge and experience.
ABOUT OUR PARTNER
Educate Girls works in 4,500 villages of india, covering 8,000 schools in areas where 40% of girls leave school before completing 5th grade. Their award-winning model includes local volunteers who visit out-of-school girls at home and help them re-enroll. These volunteers also serve as mentors and tutors, helping girls improve academically and stay in school.
THE MODEL
Volunteers
In every district, a team of volunteers (team “balika”) is recruited from within the community to work in the schools and communities and visit the homes of the girls. Often between the ages of 18-25, they are among the most educated members of their communities. They are trained in methods of community mobilization, leadership, and motivation.
VOLUNTEERS COVER NEARLY 8,000 SCHOOLS AND 4,500 VILLAGES TODAY
Community Ownership
Once out-of school girls in the area are identified, village meetings are organized to prepare community-led enrollment plans. Responsibility is distributed between the village leaders, elders and school administration to bring the girls back to school. This often involves going door to door to convince parents to send their girls to school.
COVERED REGIONS BOAST A 90% GIRLS’ ENROLLMENT RATE
Girl Leaders
Perhaps the most innovative element of the model, educate girls facilitates the election of girls' councils in every school. This council gives girls a voice, a leadership position in the school and training in “life skills. These girls also act as role-models for the younger girls and gives them conviction to voice their desires to stay in school.
87% OF THE GIRLS IN COVERED SCHOOLS RE-ENROLL THE FOLLOWING YEAR
.Our currently active initiatives that directly benefit a school or a village with an immediate need. Each project typically lasts 1 year.
Ashray Akruti
JUNE 2017-18
Ashray Akruti brings hope and dignity to thousands of children with hearing disability in and around the South Indian city of Hyderabad. They operate a residential school where many of these children get specialized education. The vocational training center at the school teaches children valuable skills such as painting, sewing and cooking, which help many of them earn a livelihood when they grow up. Bloom & Give will provide this center full financial support to train 50 girls for an entire year.
Read the story here.
DOOSRA DASHAK
NOVEMBER 2016-17
Doosra Dashak ("Second Decade") provides a second chance of education to rural area adolescents who are out of school. Through our partnership, we will provide full funding to a community center in Samrathpura village in Rajasthan for 1 year. This center will provide basic education and training in health, gender sensitivity, religious harmony and personal cleanliness to the nearly 100 out-of-school adolescents in the village, to help them take charge of their lives with dignity.
Read the story here.
Mangala School
JULY 2016-17
The Mangala Government School serves 15 tribal villages in the southern state of Karnataka. Due to its location in a heavily forested region, the school faces a big problem of attrition - of students, and teachers as well. The school has been adopted by The Vanam Foundation, a non-profit organization that promote socially just and ecologically sustainable development. Vanam helps fund infrastructure projects, student retention efforts and helps with teacher staffing.
Read the story here.
WE CONTINUALLY MONITOR OUR PROGRAMS FOR EFFECTIVENESS. SEVERAL TIMES A YEAR, WE VISIT THE SCHOOLS AND VILLAGES TO SEE THE IMPACT FIRST-HAND. IN THESE VISITS, EVERY SINGLE GIRL WE TALKED TO HAS TOLD US THAT SCHOOL IS THE FAVORITE PART OF HER LIFE, AND THAT SHE WANTS TO KEEP ON STUDYING. THEIR SMILING FACES ARE OUR TRUEST SOURCE OF MOTIVATION TO REMAIN COMMITTED TO OUR MISSION.
COME, BE A PART OF THIS!