Empower Young Women to be Leaders, India

Amidst the continuing challenges of 2021, all three WEP Academies have remained open. Our Kadapa partner has served 60 residential students with another 30 starting at the end of October. Our Hyderabad and Madurai parners respectively have served 35 and 55 students online with some in-person engagement as possible. Our new Leadership Academy in Rajasthan has just opened serving an initial 22 students.  

WEP-India Director and staff have prepared WEP for expansion across seven states throughout India. Currently working in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan, new networked partners are enabling growth to Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Mizoram. Curriculum specialists are preparing the Academy for satellite programs, mobile/web-based solutions, and translation into five languages. 

In response to COVID, and its impact on the communities where we work, we started the Ripple Effect virtual training program for WEP students, alumnae and staff, covering topics crucial for navigating the pandemic: COVID health and safety information, countering disinformation, resilience building, stress management, empathetic leadership, volunteerism, safe migration and human trafficking. The course concluded with livelihood training and natural resource management. WEP has now incorporated these  program-wide courses and training programs into our Leadership Academy curriculum as part of our Ripple Effect certificate.  

While in lockdown, Hyderabad students mapped their community to learn area needs. They petitioned officials to re-open a clinic for COVID patients, arranged for the building of a pipeline to replace an open sewage canal, established small fish farms, and grew Neem Trees and pollinator plants in their kitchen gardens. 

The following story, told by WEP Leadership Academy (Hyderabad) Director, highlights two students, who supported by their mentor, gave an example of this training in action:

"The village’s drain pipelines led to a student’s colony and the water would end up forming a pool of drain-water by homes that attracted many mosquitoes, flies, and pigs. 

This became a breeding site for disease and many villagers became sick with illnesses. This was especially a problem during the monsoon season.

When WEP Hyderabad started its Ripple Effect program, three students decided to take up this issue. This was a very critical issue because, earlier, when the community’s elders had spoken to the Sarpanch about this problem, nothing was done and the problem became worse every day. 

So, after finishing their mapping of their village and community, the girls felt that they should definitely take up this issue. One student reported this issue to the Hyderabad Director and the girls moved forward, having explained to their community that they were preparing a complaint petition to submit to the Sarpanch at the Gram Panchayat’s office. When they submitted the petition the Sarpanch ignored them at first and did not take up the issue. Then, the girls informed other community members who then took the petition to the Mandal Revenue Officer at the Mandal headquarters.  The Mandal HQ then spoke to the village Sarpanch for them.

Within five days, the construction of a pipeline started and it was completed after one month. The villagers and the students parents were very relieved that their drainage problem had been solved and are much happier now. The students were praised by the community and thanked for helping to rid the village of this problem.

The Director has suggested to these girls that they should plant one Neem Tree seed for every house so that they can have pure air as well as medicine from its leaves, which are helpful in preventing malaria and other viruses."