Very exciting news to share - And it’s all because of you!!

Dear Family,

With huge pride and gratitude, we would like to announce that we were selected as 1 of the 34 organizations globally working on projects that create better opportunities for women and girls. As 1 of the 3 organizations from India, we would receive funding and additional support from Google.org. g.co/womenandgirlschallenge .

This is a testimony to the faith, support, and trust that you have shown in us. We plan to scale our work and reach out to 5000 Girls in the next 2 years.


We want to highlight that it was the funds generated from the crowdfunding campaign that was the backbone of this work and went on to become one of the most promising ideas globally. You believed in us and our vision.

As we continue to address gender equality by working with multiple stakeholders, we have expanded our portfolio of programs. We are happy to announce the launch of our 2021 annual Crowdfunding campaign, #GirlsGoDigital - to support newer initiatives that we undertake to reduce dropouts and have better access to digital education.

If you decide to donate and use the specific link below,  5% of your donations will be matched by a matching partner on donations above INR 1500/ USD 20.
Donate here

Other Links;
Google India Release
Google Global Release
https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-org/impact-challenge-women-girls-organizations-announced/

Thank you,
SwaTaleem Team

Dear family,

We are happy to inform you all that SwaTaleem will be organizing a discussion with Kamla Bhasin this Saturday (06/03/2021) evening @5 pm IST.

Kamala Bhasin is a feminist social activist who is constantly active on issues like gender equality, education, poverty alleviation, human rights, and peace in South Asia. She is one of the founding members of 'Jagori' and the South Asian network 'Sangat'.

Kamala Bhasin has written in great detail on patriarchy and gender equality. Her published works have been translated into about 30 languages. Her lyrics, slogans, banners, and posters are very vocal and catchy. She has also written many illustrative books for children.

On March 6, we will talk about:
- What is gender and how is it constructed?
- What values does the Constitution of our country emphasize and how do they connect with the teaching process?
- What is patriarchy and how does it promote disharmony? How can this be seen in our school classrooms?
- How to make gender a topic of discussion in the classroom through children's literature?
Youtube link for Kamla Bhasin's session:  https://youtu.be/jwpWlPtM6sA

कमला भसीन एक नारीवादी सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता हैं, जो स्त्री पुरुष समानता, शिक्षा, गरीबी उन्मूलन, मानवाधिकार और दक्षिण एशिया में शांति जैसे मुद्दों पर लगातार सक्रिय हैं। कमला जी ‘जागोरी’ और दक्षिण एशियाई नेटवर्क ‘संगत’ के संस्थापक सदस्यों में से एक हैं।

कमला जी ने पितृसत्ता और स्त्री पुरुष समानता पर काफी विस्तार से लिखा है। उनकी प्रकाशित रचनाओं का करीब 30 भाषाओं में अनुवाद हुआ है। उनके लिखे गीत, नारे, बैनर और पोस्टर बहुत मुखर और आकर्षक होते हैं। कमला जी ने बच्चों के लिए भी अनेक चित्रात्मक पुस्तकें लिखी हैं।

6 मार्च को हम बात करेंगे:
-    जेंडर क्या है और कैसे बनता है?
-    हमारे देश के संविधान की प्रस्तावना किन मूल्यों पर जोर देती है और कैसे ये शिक्षण प्रक्रिया से जुड़ते हैं?
-    पितृसत्ता क्या है और ये कैसे असामनता को बढ़ावा देती है? हमारे स्कूल की कक्षाओं में इसको कैसे देखा जा सकता है?
-    बाल साहित्य के माध्यम से जेंडर को कक्षा में कैसे चर्चा का विषय बनाया जाए?
कमला भसीन के सत्र के लिए Youtube लिंक:  https://youtu.be/jwpWlPtM6sA

We welcome all of you to this great session

Gratitude,
Team SwaTaleem

Dear family,

Thank you for your contribution to SwaTaleem Foundation. We are humbled by the trust and belief you have placed in us and grateful for your generosity towards our work. Having partners like you by our side deepens our commitment to keep serving the cause of Girls' Education.
Navigating the challenges and uncertainties posed by the pandemic has been difficult. The Girls, the Teachers and the team's resilience and spirit, supported by you, showed us the way forward. Your contribution has enabled us to rise to this challenge and be there for the community. For us, the work we do goes beyond enabling quality education for Girls from rural communities -- it is rather deeply reflective of the hope, the opportunities and the choices being created for the Girls, the Teachers, their families and Us.
One thing we are realizing is the need to invest more people in our journey. If you can take 2 minutes to share the reason as to "why you think we all should be contributing to Girls' education and leadership", we will be grateful. We also want your postal address to be able to send you something.
As the last year of uncertainty played out, the one thing that centred our team was our work. We are grateful to the community that supported us, encouraged us and stayed with us -- giving us the much needed strength! We are proud and grateful for the work we were able to do this year, and wanted to share some snapshots of how 2020 was for us at SwaTaleem Foundation

• Using IVRS To Navigate Inequities Around Access To Education
  Given continued closure of schools, we are staying connected and engaged with the Girls and their parents through a learning program using automated voice response technology. Recognizing the gender and rural divide in accessing technology, the IVRS platform has enabled us to bridge that gap to a certain extent. Today, we are consistently engaging with 300 girls, 300 parents and have created 50 hours of learning content related to their context and surroundings. You can learn more about it here
• Disseminating our Findings from the Field
  In order to build a community of sharing, we facilitated a dissemination session around our learnings from the field, that included our journey, voices of the Girls as well as a panel discussion with Ms. Deepti from KGBV Nuh, Prof. Mona Yadav from National council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and Ms. Prarthana from Nirantar on gender education in times of COVID-19. This was coupled with a musical performance around gender awareness by Manzil Mystics. You can access the full recording here
• Focus Group Discussions with the Girls
  During this time, we also conducted 2 FGD's with Girls to listen to them and understand their experiences and feelings in addition to loss of education during COVID-19. We found that loss of peers, friendships and support that girls gave each other while in school has been one of the more underrated effects of COVID-19 impacting both identity development and peer relationships. Teachers as the main source of support have been replaced by parents and siblings. 
• Crowdfunding Campaign
  We ran a crowdfunding campaign on Milaap through which we have raised INR 20,00,000 and gained 600+ supporters. We wouldn't have been able to be resilient and respond to the communities' needs if not for the support from many people. You can read more about the campaign and our learnings here

We would love to have your continued support and engage with you further, so please do follow us on social media. Or better, write to us on this email about your feedback, ideas and inspirations!

Gratitude,
Team SwaTaleem