Table 1 Summary of intervention activities for project Samata
Stakeholder | Intervention activities |
|---|---|
Low caste adolescent girls | (i) Identify all low caste (scheduled tribe/scheduled caste) girls every year and track their situation. |
(ii) Develop individual plans for outreach and follow up | |
(iii) Establish safe spaces in which girls meet, receive life skills training, and gain leadership skills | |
(iv) Encourage attendance at special tutoring sessions designed to meet the needs of girls, particularly those who have fallen behind their peers. | |
Low caste families of adolescent girls | (i) Outreach workers conduct home visits and family meetings to sensitise parents around girl’s education, early marriage, and gender socialisation |
(ii) Map vulnerability in each low caste family | |
(iii) Link low caste families to government schemes that provide material and financial incentives for educating girls. | |
Adolescent boys | (i) Recruit and train local mentors to deliver “Parivartan,”--a sports-based, life-skills and empowerment programme. This programme encourages critical reflection on gender norms, including attitudes around violence against women and ‘eve’ teasing (sexual harassment/abuse) of girls. |
(ii) Form Parivartan boys groups in each village and implement activities. | |
Village communities and leaders | (i) Use community meetings and street theatre to sensitise local communities to the importance of girls’ education and the consequences of early marriage |
(ii) Develop local champions to encourage communities to take action to retain girls in school. | |
School staff and governing committees | (i) Train and equip school staff and school development and management committee (SDMC) members to conduct gender analyses of the school environment and to design and implement plans to make schools more “girl friendly”. |
(ii) Train staff and SDMC members to track school attendance of adolescent girls | |
(iii) Support and train school staff and committee members to develop leadership and career counselling programmes for girls | |
(iv) Support and train school staff to develop policies that ensure the safety and participation of girls in school. | |
Policy makers and Policy implementers | (i) Advocate with local government to support the project by briefing them regularly |
(ii) Share project findings and learnings to advocate for replication of key strategies. |