Tongue-tied girls become change-makers
LUCKNOW: Teenagers Uzma and Khushboo have come a long way from being shy and tongue-tied.
Today they confidently convince other girls about their rights and have taken steps with girls of their own age on public issues.
“Three years ago I hid behind family members while talking to a guest at home. But now I am a confident and transformed girl who leads a team of 20 others as a change-maker,” said Uzma, a native of Varanasi and part of Milan Foundation’s ‘The Girl Icon Programme.’
Milan Foundation has been running the programme since 2015 to empower girls and has made 3,000 girls from various parts of the state changemakers.
“The two-year programme has been designed after research on reasons that prevent girls from being confident citizens. We selected girls between 12 and 18 years of age as it is the best age to develop leadership qualities. Also we try that a girl from a weak economic background gets the opportunity,” said Tina Kapoor, head, strategic partnerships, Milan Foundation.
She said that the study revealed some startling reasons behind girls becoming school dropouts.
First the parents did not think it was a good investment to educate girls and secondly parents were apprehensive about girls stepping out of the house.
“But when the girls come for our programme they not only change themselves but also others in their society,” said Tina.
Khushboo (from Lucknow) and Uzma shared their journey and experience while officebearers of the foundation described how they planned to launch the programme on a larger scale in the state.