Economic empowerment - first steps

Photo courtesy of Three Hands

One of the things we have been focused on for GOAL this year is adding an economic empowerment component to the programme. After the first year, many girls came out saying "great, I now think I can achieve anything, so I want to be a [nurse/beautician/start my own business]." We've been trying to figure out how best to enable different economic pathways for these young girls, as well as boost our relationship with our local partners, and now we're on the path to get started!

We are about to launch a revolving loan fund as a pilot in Delhi, held by our local partners there Prerana and Deepalaya that our GOAL graduates will be able to access. They can borrow money to achieve personal or group objectives which they'll then pay back.

Excitingly, we already have a few applicants:
- Ambika will learn English so she can train to be an air hostess.
- Neetu will take a course in hotel management
- Shayama will study nursing
- Neelofur will aim for a bachelor in physical education

We'll keep you posted on their progress as we move along!

Population Council to advise on GOAL

We are very happy to announce that the Population Council will be spending the next several months advising on GOAL, our content and measurement and evaluation.

The Population Council, an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources.

Their expertise in working with adolescent girls is unparallelled and we are so thrilled to have their partnership.

For more on the Population Council, click here.

Standard Chartered CEO on Women's Empowerment

Standard Chartered's 2008 Sustainability Review goes live today, and features CEO Peter Sands talking about Women's Empowerment and GOAL. Peter Says:

Standard Chartered’s main markets are in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and in these parts of the world many women haven’t been in a position to fulfil their full potential and that has a very broad impact on the way these societies and economies have developed. Women who are economically empowered are an incredibly powerful force of development.

View the videoby clicking here!

Spotlight: Meet Neha

Neha is 19 years old and has been a part of GOAL for the past two years. She is currently undertaking an open university degree as well as training to become a netball coach.

Neha was in her final year at Deepalaya school when GOAL was piloted in 2006. When she heard of GOAL, she immediately wanted to join the program. She was fascinated by the idea of learning a sport simultaneously learning about various topics of well-being. She also wanted to continue her association with her school even after completing her studies.

Initially Neha was quite an introvert and would not mix with the rest of the participants. However, as time progressed and she got more involved with the program, the underlying leadership qualities in her started showing. She started taking initiative on the netball court and attended all the sessions. She would constantly ask questions and was completely involved in the program.

Recognizing her innate potential, Neha was given exposure to a senior national tournament camp where she participated as a volunteer: learning netball skills and interacting with senior players. She made lot of new friends, took initiative to help her fellow players and became extremely popular among the players who came from various parts of the country. As she returned from the camp, Neha recognised a new zeal and began to facilitate netball sessions with her GOAL group at Deepalaya.

In 2008, Neha was selected to become a ‘GOAL Champion’ and took part in a ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop. She was also selected to play netball in the Junior National Tournament as a part of the Delhi team. Her team came second in the tournament and boosted Neha’s confidence immensely.

Neha says:

“I really feel very happy and proud, when people address me as ‘Neha from the GOAL program of Naz Foundation’. It really adds to my sense of identity. I got the opportunity to learn netball and today, I want to pursue my career in physical education, and I attribute this clarity of the choice of career to my exposure through GOAL.”

Neha now regularly conducts netball sessions as well as helps to train the year II participants on GOAL. She also helps facilitate the netball game session for the Standard Chartered Bank volunteers every Friday.

Today she aspires to pursue a course in Physical Education and become a professional coach.

Google Map of GOAL sites

Approximate location of GOAL sites in Delhi and Mumbai


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GOAL: Netball + Education = Empowerment

Welcome to the first post on our brand new GOAL Blog!

I am Alisha, and I work for Standard Chartered Bank in Group Sustainability, managing the GOAL programme. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Check back here frequently for updates on the programme, more information on GOAL, updates from the girls and staff, pictures and videos! You can subscribe to the blog at right to get all the updates the minute they are posted.

For more information on GOAL, click here.