Working Towards Female Empowerment in Maharashtra, India

Girls Gaining Ground (GGG) is a catalyst for empowerment, encouraging program participants to realize the “freedom of choice and action to shape one’s life, including the control over resources, decisions and institutions necessary to do so.” GGG creates a safe space for girls to spend time together with an educated female facilitator from their community. The facilitators themselves benefit from the GGG program, and experience positive transformation as a result of participating in the facilitator training and teaching the GGG curriculum. High levels of empowerment through 3 GGG also lead to community action; many GGG participants become engaged community members. To address the economic needs of the girls, the GGG program over time may provide vocational training to improve the economic conditions of the girls themselves and their communities, fill a gap for girls with limited social networks to use for economic empowerment, and increase the age of marriage, which research has linked to improved economic benefits for girls.