Milaan supports and guide adolescent girls to be responsible leaders through experiential leadership trainings, providing safe spaces to amplify their voices of change and opportunities to sensitize and mobilize communities with their social action projects. Their actions have shown their confidence and courage as leaders. Our assessment has revealed that 100% of the girls feel they have an identity. The program has helped develop self-awareness and self-worth in girls, which is important for any leader. By investing in the Girl’s education, community activism, and leadership skills, we create leaders; thereby, enabling them to challenge the status quo, break barriers and create a more equitable communities.
In the process the girls demonstrate freedom to take decisions based on their choices, with regard to their education, marriage, childbirth and livelihood. The leadership journey enhances their agency and awareness around self, hygiene, sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and gender roles. We build their skills to advocate for themselves to raise awareness to shift entrenched social norms and decrease gender based violence. Girls have shown a significant growth in their aspirations and setting goals towards their future. There has been a marked improvement in ratio of girls pursuing higher education and increased percentage of awareness on different careers they can pursue leading to growth in percentage of female literacy.They also have a deeper understanding of the social construct that leads to discrimination based on gender, caste, religion and region while developing empathy and the need to be inclusive. Our girls understand opportunities for self and others in communities, they create strong networks and work together to advocate and resolve challenges.
Besides, working with adolescent girls we also focus on engaging with key stakeholders like parents, community members, teachers, health workers and panchayat. We associate directly with them, we build trust, accountability and enhance belongingness towards a common goal.