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An adolescent girl is a potpourri of contrasts. While she's still a child, she is changing into a woman, though she seems waif-like, she is bursting at the seams with fire and energy, though she is just learning to dream, she is straddled with societal pressures and patriarchal mindsets charting the course of her life. Girls from socially and economically backgrounds are especially vulnerable since they stand to be pressured to drop out of school and get married! These girls feel no ownership, of their bodies, their minds or their future.
However, given the right tools—critical information about health, safety and basic rights, life skills and agency—these girls can reimagine their lives. At VOICE Camps, we provide this information to adolescent girls through fun, activity-based lessons.
In our endeavour, we look to you all for help. A single VOICE Camp for 25 girls costs Rs. 25,000; this includes the cost of camp supplies, colourful camper books, stationery, stipend paid to counsellors and transportation costs. We are looking to raise funds for 10 such camps!
Why VOICE Camps?
VOICE's fun, interactive curriculum exposes 13-15-year-old campers to:
- Critical knowledge topics such as basic health, safety, rights, self-awareness, and future planning
- Action-oriented life skills like interpersonal skills, leadership, problem-solving, independent and critical thinking ability
- Communicative English skills which provide campers with a marketable skill that can increase education and employment opportunities
Because campers have limited mobility, VOICE transforms low-income private and government schools into girl-safe environments.
Through these camps, adolescent girls are given the tools to make informed choices and negotiate for their rights to stay in school and delay marriage.
Why do we work with adolescent girls?
India is home to the largest population of adolescents in the world – approximately 243 million, of which a whopping 113 million are girls. At an age that is riddled with physical and emotional changes aplenty, adolescent girls in India also deal with regressive social norms, patriarchal mindsets, economical constraints and rampant risk of abuse, lack of awareness about issues of health and hygiene, making for an unsettling passage into adulthood. According to recent statistics, 70% of girls in India do not graduate class 10 and almost 50% get married before the legal age of 18. While the Right to Education Act remains effective to the extent of mandating education for children between the ages of 6 and 14, it leaves adolescent girls open to social and economic pressures that force them to drop out of school by 8th grade!
Why donate to VOICE?
Every penny counts! Your donation could mean that one girl or many get a chance to rewrite the script laid out for their life. Each rupee brings one young girl closer to realising her dream of becoming a doctor or an IPS officer. What's more, while you help these girls realise their dreams, you also help them edge away from dangers like early marriage, teen pregnancy, abuse, discrimination and a life of poverty.
Show us some love, and we will return the favour with small tokens of appreciation. How?
- For every donation between Rs 500-1000: You get a big SHOUTOUT from the VOICE Team on social media; let your friends know about your good deed!
- For a donation between Rs 1001-2500: We send you a quirky and colourful #GirlPower badge + A big SHOUTOUT on social media!
- For donations between Rs 2501-5000: A colourful VOICE coaster to liven up your day + A big SHOUTOUT on social media.
- For donations between Rs 5001-10000: We send you a funky cloth bag that shows how your heart is in the right place + A big SHOUTOUT on social media.
- For donations between Rs 10001- 50,000: A super-duper goody bag packed to its seams with love, and yes the BIG SHOUTOUT too.
