Giving Compass' Take:

• Empowering young girls in India takes more than just access to help lift them out of poverty. They need to obtain skills, resources and competencies to truly provide sustainable opportunities. 

• What are the best ways to address barriers that young girls in India face? What is the largest challenge for them right now and how are Indians addressing it?

• Read about how collaboration could change the lives of adolescents in India. 

Today’s global learning crisis focuses for good reasons on adolescent girls in the developing world. Globally, 600 million adolescent girls continue to face huge challenges to access their right to an education while 130 million girls are still out of school. These are staggering figures indeed that add up to lost opportunities and broken dreams. Poverty, gender inequality, and pervasive patriarchy are some of the major barriers that stand in the way of girls’ education.

Access alone however, was not enough to improve girls’ educational outcomes, as is evident from a study in Bihar, where girls’ enrollment increased dramatically after they received bicycles, but not their retention and completion rates.

Cultural expectations in many parts of the developing world, including India, often limit a girl’s future to an early marriage and child bearing. These social norms compromise a pivotal moment in a girl’s life when she especially needs support to pursue her educational goals and successfully transition to the next stage of adulthood.

Supporting adolescent girls’ multifaceted needs at these tipping points in their lives by providing them with the necessary skills, resources, and competencies is key if they are to realize their educational aspirations and lead lives of dignity, choice, and opportunity.

Read the full article on empowering adolescent girls by Armene Modi at Brookings