GIRLS: BETTER AFTER QUAKE

Year: 2016 - 2017
Supported by: Accountability Lab Nepal
Partnership with: Helping Hands Club Kharanitar
Major component: girls’ leadership, social safety net, advocacy, mentorship, earthquake

Introduction

Visible Impact implemented Girls: Better after Quake program in an earthquake affected Kharanitar village of Nuwakot district with the support from Accountability Lab. Immediately after the earthquake, the adolescent girls needed a social safety net, where they could believe that resilience is possible. The issues and voices the girls were quite unheard at that time, and this initiative aimed to unleash social and economic leadership in them.

Activities conducted under the project

GBAQ is a girl (aged 15-18) centered program, where fifteen adolescent girls were recruited and provided with mentorship in 2016. In 2017, second cohort with a total of 18 girls was selected which also included girls from the first cohort as per their interest. The girls from first cohort served as mentor for the second cohort.

In the first year, 15 adolescent girls were mentored while focusing on their capacity development through monthly workshops, safe space meetings and engagement in community events. The program mainly focused on developing their leadership skills, public speaking skills, storytelling and unleashing their confidence, such that they could become social leaders. The new cohort of adolescents in 2017 included 18 adolescent girls who received mentorship in decision making skills, leadership skills, advocacy skills, accountability skills, etc. Girls were mentored to identify social issues, made aware of the local bodies working in their community and how they could assist them or make their voices heard.

Later, the girls conducted community sessions and advocacy sessions with local government, to question about the girls’ specific fund for the rural municipality and how they can be utilized for the benefit of the girls in the community.

Our Impact

The leadership and change in the girls was well appreciated by the community and their gatekeepers. The local government was also committed to involve the girls in social issues. Because of the growth seen in the girls, the community also demanded for this program to involve more girls which we were unable to do due to the financial limitations.