Life Skill and Gender Transformative Workshops to create an enabling environment for the girls to pursue their life plan

The Madhesh Province has been falling behind in terms of education when compared to the other six provinces of Nepal. While the literacy rate in Nepal is 57.4%, the women’s literacy rate is 38.88% in Madhesh Province. This indicates a significant gap between female and male literacy. About 3.6% of students drop out of school nationally, which is 2.91% in Madhesh Province, and child marriage remains one of the most dominant reasons for school dropout.
The Aarambha project was implemented in Madhesh province in Rautahat and Bara districts to improve the life chances of out-of-school (OOS) adolescent girls (age 10–19). Of the 9,497 girls enrolled in the CLCs, 8,122 have successfully graduated and made life plans to reach their goals and embrace change. Among the enrolled girls, 4,986 transitioned to school to continue their studies, and 2,347 chose technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to start their businesses.

The project conducted a life skills session along with the CLC courses to support and prompt these girls to pursue their life plans in their respective CLCs. A gender transformative workshop (GTW) was organised in schools as well as in communities where the CLC graduates started their businesses or continued their learning in schools. Both approaches are aimed to empower the girls to pursue their life plans. The GTW has focused on mitigating gender-based violence (GBV), socially harmful practices such as child marriage, the dowry system, and other restrictive social barriers to a girl’s education. Its premise is to create a more inclusive and gender-sensitive school environment with effective management, that results in a continuation of girls in school learning.