GESI- Gender Equality Social Inclusion
Sukanya
Nutrition, period, and reproductive health. Because every girl matters!
Young marriages of girls aged as early as 15 and 17 years are common in the community. Girls are seen as a burden in terms of resource distribution and their protection in the family, despite girls as young as 5 starting domestic help at their homes and, in a worst yet common scenario, assisting their mothers as domestic help at work.
‘Sukanya’ aims to break this chain for young and adolescent girls by providing them with monthly fellowships to prevent dropping out of school as soon as their periods start, or to avoid early work or marriage.
Monthly fellowship helps adolescent dependent girls to live dignified lives without feeling like a burden, with access to period hygiene that contributes to avoiding future reproductive health-related issues, eating well, and continuing their education by bearing the bare minimum travel cost.
Impact: Girls are used to eating last or leftovers at home. They are not the priority for health and nutrition at home. Many girls and children join GharShala for periodic nutritious food distribution. The discussions on period, personal hygiene, reproductive diseases, and sex education are absent in the families we work with. Mentoring girls on these vital topics has improved their knowledge of their bodies, their relationships with their bodies, and the choices they can make related to sex and reproduction.