Global Girl News: 27 November

• In what ways do you think poor women are affected by climate change? What are its implications for young girls? According to the UNFPA, women suffer the most from drought, rising seas, melting glaciers and other consequences of climate change. They have urged world leaders to address this issue in the UN Climate Change Conference (Dec 7^th-18^th 2009) next month. What do you think can be done to make a change?
• The British public believe that the best way to help stop poverty in the developing world is to invest in education for girls. For example, studies have confirmed that £2 billion could be added to the Kenyan economy if the country educated its girls to secondary school level. These are only a couple of powerful points that Plan highlights in their ‘Girls without Voices’ campaign.
• Here is another interesting news article on the importance of educating girls.
• If you are still not convinced why it is important to invest in adolescent girls’ education, then you might want to check this short article!

Global Girl News: 24 November

• Do you agree that none of the Millennium Development Goals could be met unless there is significant progress in girl’s lives? Well, this is only one of the findings of this really insightful UN report on the importance of the link between young girls, education, and development.
• How much do you think you know about women and girls’ status around the world? Take this short test and find out!
• There are also some interesting resources here to learn about young girls’ lives.
• Do you agree with the Chinese proverb ‘Women hold up half the sky’? Read this excellent report in order to learn about the economic as well as non-economic achievements and goals for women around the world, and let us know to what degree you (dis)agree with the proverb!

Good luck to Hansa & Nayana!

We are proud to announce that 2 Goal participants, Hansa Pardeshi and Nayana Pardeshi, have been selected to play as part of the Thane district team at the Junior State level Netball tournament at the Akole town in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. This exciting event will take place from the 21st to the 23rd of November 2009. Good luck girls!

Global Girl News: 11 November

• Interesting article about the ways in which different types of violence impact young girls’ education in Ethiopia. 

•  Are you ready to challenge yourself, celebrate young girls’ accomplishments, and connect with other people who have the same concerns as you? If you have said yes to any of the above questions then you might want to check out The Centenary of International Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. It starts in 2010 and the Europe Region WAGGGS wants to kick off this celebration by bringing together members from all over Europe to eurolife.03 from 28 December 2009 to 2 January 2010. 

• The World Thinking Day theme for 2010 is that “girls worldwide say together we can end extreme poverty and hunger" and the aim is to raise awareness among everyone about the situation and improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. Click here to see how World Thinking Day was celebrated around the world in the past, and here to see what you can do for the exciting events coming up!

• Are you interested to learn more about teen pregnancy and the significance of reproductive and sexual health knolwedge? Here is an insightful report on teen pregnancy in Malawi.

Graduation Day at Globe Mills Passage School!

GOAL programme completed the curriculum with first batch of participants at all the 3 sites in Mumbai, namely, Hamara Foundation, Asha Sadan and Globe Mills and it was convocation time!

We had recruited 160 girls and it was heartening to see 111 girls complete the programme successfully. Graduation ceremony was organized at the Globe Mills Municipal School on Saturday, September 12, 2009 and the successful candidates were felicitated. Quite a few SCB staff part were present to encourage the young girls.

Here are a few highlights:

-Girls from Hamara Foundation gave a lovely performance on a Hindi song number- catch the moment of truth in the video attached

-All successful participants were awarded a certificate and a pair of shoes (in case you are wondering why shoes, nothing better than a good pair of shoes for the young netball players). These were distributed by our employees

-Since netball is an integral part of the GOAL programme, the event concluded with an exciting netball match between the three sites!

Drawing Competition at Hamara Foundation

An environment day was organized at Hamara Foundation (which is one of our NGO partners in Mumbai). A drawing competition themed “Protecting our Environment” was held to mark the day.

The enthusiastic Goal participants were asked to express their thoughts on nurturing and protecting our environment. In all the fun and frolic, we did see some interesting and thought provoking ideas coming from the group.

And of course, the judge (one of our volunteers from the Bank) had a tough time in selecting the top 3 drawings!

Nalamdana: Welcome to Goal!

We are pleased and proud do welcome our newest Goal partner in India (and first in Chennai) to the programme. Nalamdana works to empower communities in Chennai and will be rolling out Goal in partnership with Naz and SCB staff.

Stay tuned for our official Chennai launch.