“It makes me feel proud when my father now asks me for money when he is in need” shares a beaming Kanchan Kumari, one of our Edu-leaders, while talking about her experiences and changes she witnessed because of the i-Saksham Edu-Leaders’ Fellowship.
As soon as she turned 18 and cleared her 12th board exam way back in 2006, Seema Kumari was married off to ease the “burden” off her parents’ shoulders like how she’d like to describe her marriage. Her studies got disrupted and she always regretted the missed opportunities due to family and financial constraints. After a haul of 16 long years of yearning to complete her graduation, Seema finally found the courage to start her Bachelors in 2020 after joining the i-Saksham Edu-leaders’ fellowship.
Today, Seema Kumari is one of our i-Saksham Edu-leaders, a cadre of trained local young women who undergo a 2- year long intensive fellowship program. Seema dedicatedly works to improve the learning environment for children in an under-resourced Govt school in her village and at the same time, she also got the confidence and the motivation to enroll herself for a bachelor’s degree.
The pride that Kanchan Kumari carries and the dream that Seema could fulfill are no longer just isolated cases of success stories in a state like Bihar where poverty, gender conditioning, and lack of social connections affect women’s inclusion in various spheres of socio-economic life.
A young woman’s life in backward states like Bihar follows a typical trajectory of dropping out of higher education, early marriage, and limited economic life. For reference, as per National Family Health Survey data, in Bihar, around 88% of girls drop out after higher secondary, and 43% are forced into early marriage. Consequently, 96% of women neither participate in the workforce nor aspire to do so. So, in the State, the potential of more than 10 million women gets wasted, for lack of voice and choice. They end up spending the rest of their lives only on household chores, believing that all life events are predetermined. The i-Saksham Edu-Leaders’ fellowship, a flagship program of I-Saksham Education and Learning Foundation is designed to help young women and girls from remote areas and difficult backgrounds to become the “Change leaders” in their respective communities and beyond. The fellowship program focuses on giving women like Seema, Kanchan, and numerous others who never gave up on their dreams, the opportunity to take ownership of building their own identities.
The fellowship equips these women and girls with knowledge and skills to let them have “Voice and Choice”, individually and collectively.
i-Saksham was founded in 2015 by three of the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows (PMRDF) based on their experience of working with administration and people. The core belief behind setting up i-Saksham was that to develop in a real sense, grassroots leadership is critical.
Over the past 6 years, i-Saksham has built a cadre of 350+ local young women leaders in 6 backward districts of Bihar who are unlocking the leadership potential of 10,700+ girls and other vulnerable children. These trained young women are seen as role models in their communities by their counterparts and have been instrumental in bringing social changes through their engagement with children, other girls, and women. Tapping into the untapped potential of women has made the organization witness the change in the lives of these i-Saksham fellows. Their increased autonomy, soft skills, respect, and identity in their communities have helped in shaping the program outcomes in a more precise manner.
“Previously, nobody really knew me while I remained at home and did the chores, waiting for the day when my parents would marry me off when they find a prospective groom. After I was selected for the fellowship by i-Saksham, everything changed. People now recognize me as someone who has contributed towards the improvement of their children’s education, elders give my example to other girls and everyone started treating me with respect “, another Edu-leader shares her observations after joining the fellowship.
Their contributions are bringing desired change. The children feel more engaged in the classrooms, attendance increases and learning outcomes improve.
During the covid-induced lockdown, the edu-leaders ensured learning continuity for children by using innovative methods of phone-line teaching (the majority of the parents did have only basic phones), worksheets, activity-based learning, etc.
Teachers laud the efforts of the edu-leaders.
What teachers say-
What parents say
i-Saksham creates local women leaders who are going to stay in their communities and continue to drive the vision of voice and choice beyond the fellowship, impacting other young women and girls to shift community mindsets, and provide lifelong mutual support through peer-driven networks and collectives. The confident young women who have completed their fellowship are now able to make informed decisions at household and community levels, influence their peers, and with the technical/teaching skills are also becoming financially independent. Thus, reaffirming the belief that educating and empowering a woman is empowering society.
i-Saksham aims to build a network of 10,000 young women leaders, spread across villages, who will enable the voice and choice for every woman in Bihar.