“ Nurturing Movement of Girls and Young Women as Agents of Change to Ascertain their Rights”
Project Goal
To empower girls and young women, who are victims and survivors of early child marriage to improve their access to rights, opportunities and services in Karnataka, India.
Operations and scale
In 5 years, the project will work among 15000 EMGs and survivors from 15 districts across Karnataka.
Key results
-At least 15,000 target girls and women are enrolled/ on-boarded in the movement by end of the project
– At least 100 change agents (representatives of target girls and young women) capacities are build to self-advocate effectively and to shape the broader dialogue around their rights and access to services
– At least 100 personnel from Government – education, health, women & child development, social welfare, law enforcement and judiciary sensitised on the representation and respond to voice of these women in Karnataka
– At least 50 Civil Society Organisations are sensitised and engaged in Movement building
Geographic location
At present through the IMAGE project, our presence is in 5 districts of Karnataka (Bidar, Bagalkote, Belagavi, Chamarajanagar and Chikbelapura). These 5 districts will be the regional movement unit, they will cover another 10 districts adjacent to them where the child marriage is high. It works through a consortium.
About the Consortium
It is a consortium of 7 organizations. Where Vidyaniketan (Lead of Consortium, Secretariat of proposed movement) and 4 NGO partners are REACH in Bagalkot district, SEVAK in Belgaum district, PMSR in Chamarajanagar district and ARPANAM TRUST in Chikballapur district. CRT is the Advocacy and Communications Resource partner and Terre des Hommes Netherlands is the Co-funding and technical assistance partner. The major funding is being done by the Comic Relief Fund(CRF), UK.
As a lead partner, Vidyanikethan is covering 2 more districts (Kalburgi and Yadgir) along with Bidar to Nurture this movement. At present, it is working among 489 Early Married Girls (EMGs) and 671 Survivors who are the victims of early child marriage. These girls are hailing from 133 villages, 78 Grampanchayats (GPs) of 8 blocks in 3 districts namely Bidar, Kalburgi and Yadgir.
Our Targets
- We will enrol at least 3,000 target girls and women in the movement by end of the project
- We will build the capacities of at least 20 change agents (representatives of target girls and young women) to self-advocate effectively and to shape the broader dialogue around their rights and access to services
- We will sensitize at least 20 personnel from Government – education, health, women & child development, social welfare, law enforcement and judiciary on the representation and respond to the voice of these women in Karnataka
- We will sensitize and engage at least 10 Civil Society Organisations in Movement building
Project Interventions across five thematic areas
We are working on five areas of project interventions with EMGs and Survivors, which are as follows
A. Movement building and strengthening: The project builds a strong and growing movement by identifying and organizing EMGs and young women married before 18 years through a membership drive and strengthen them on child marriage issues.
B. Norms and Behaviour Changes at Family and Society level: Awareness and sensitization to families of target population on gender, SRHR, health and nutrition of girls and young women through the campaigns and meetings.
C. Leadership development and capacity building: Identify and strengthen selected girls and women leaders as change agents to spearhead the movement
D. Engagement with Government and other stakeholders: Interface between girls & young women and Government & other stakeholders with the active participation of Government and CSOs on issues that are being strategic to the project.
E. Evidence gathering and communication strategies for influencing Government, community and other stakeholders: Studies to gather pieces of evidence around the issues faced by the target population, their needs, and demands, and landscape of existing interventions
About Our Funding Partners
Comic Relief Fund
Comic Relief Fund is a major charity based in the UK, with a vision of a just world, free from poverty. Its mission is to drive positive change through the power of entertainment. The money they raise is put towards incredible projects, in the UK and across the world, that are effectively tackling inequality and making lasting change. CRF works with a range of incredible organisations and companies to raise funds.
CRF Link address
TdH-NL (Terres des Hommes Netherlands)
Terre des hommes Netherlands (TdH-NL) works against child exploitation, removes children from exploitative situations and ensures these children can develop themselves in a safe environment. It is an international non-governmental organisation that works to create a world free of child exploitation. Since 1965 it has protected tens of millions of children from violence, child labour, trafficking, sexual exploitation, malnutrition, and other challenges. In India, TdH-NL focuses on preventing worst forms of child labour, child trafficking and migration, sexual exploitation of children and child abuse.
TdH-NL Link address