For most girls and women in remote villages of Rajasthan, access to higher education is still a distant dream. Education is the basic requirement for human development. With education, come employment opportunities and the chance to earn an income. The development of an individual and the progress of a nation depends on education.
Education is vital to the development and growth of a child, and in preparing him/her to be a responsible, intelligent, and capable citizen. Education is also equally important to improve women’s status and autonomy. It enhances one's confidence and decision-making power within the household.
As per the latest baseline study done by IPSOP under the Second Chance education program supported by UN Women in Baran, Chittorgarh, and Jaisalmer districts, 7.06 % of girls drop out at the primary school level, 5.17 at upper primary and 15.25 % drop out in higher education. As per the finding, the main reasons for dropout are :
The SCE program envisages assisting those who couldn’t complete their secondary education to re-integrate into the system. The program is empowering and reintegrating dropout girls and women into the education system.
As per the project, enrolment of women through NIOS (Open University) and other available avenues is the starting point. Identification of open education platforms, online courses, remedial classes based on need, etc. is the follow-up activity.
Education is a very powerful tool for empowerment and plays a vital role in one’s life. We have strived to remove structured barriers i.e., finance, technology, etc. Our program design is based on adult learning principles.
We have devised a way for women to learn through peer-to-peer group work. Education classes have been facilitated in the community setting, which allows women to participate with ease and flexibility. We have also created women's empowerment hubs which are women-friendly, safe, and have all relevant infrastructure and aid to support women.
We have facilitated convergence with government programs that aim to support dropout women and girls. We have also enrolled women through the National Institute of Open Schooling - a very useful and flexible platform for dropout women.
We are leveraging SHG women's federations as a platform to help in identification, mobilization, enrolment, monitoring supervision, and learning. Our women community educators are playing a transformative role in educating and training women on various curriculum-based skills and life skills.
Our Testimonials
'Manjari’ literally translates to “seed of Tulsi”, a sacred Indian plant. When women mobilise themselves to form institutions, they are empowered to sow their own ‘seeds of change’.
"Development of Corporate Citizenship (DoCC), the social internship program of SPJIMR has been collaborating with Manjari Foundation since 2015. This has been fruitful relationship for us. I want to emphasise the four following themes. First the internships give our students a different idea of leadership which also gives them a sense of requirements for the future and adds to the ethics of sociological content. The participants acquire a notion of innovation- both social and technical which gives them a systemic view of the society. Such an empirical location gives them both a sense of limits and possibilities of what they can do. Environmental consciousness and gender sensitivity constitute two critical parts of social responsibility as we define it today. The participants of the internship understand what these key concepts mean in everyday sense. Internship at Manjari adds to their imagination in this direction. We value this relationship."
"Our collaboration with Manjari has allowed us to better understand the approach of solidarity groups and concretely towards the empowerment of women in the commune of Logo.The participation of Indian PRCs has been beneficial because the women have appropriated easily by seeing that they are rural women Indian women who share their experiences with them. The Camide team was formed by the professionals of Manjari with enthusiasm and professionalism and is able to reproduce most of the activities. This period of collaboration opens up prospects for our two structures to replicate the model in Mali and Africa. We again thank Manjari for all the efforts made for Camide and particularly the Director Sanjay Kumar. We were able to reach more than 2,500 women and more than 180 million CFA francs of credit granted four test henhouses substantial support for the winter and market gardening campaign in terms of results thank you."
"Without larger vision and dedication of the team of MF and its leadership, both vertical and horizontal growth would have never been possible to pick up at this level in this short history of its evolution. Since I have been associated with the Sakhi project of MF funded by Hindustan Zinc for the last 2 years, the happiness and confidence seen in their faces of hundreds of women in the villages proves its vitality. I have also witnessed the UN-women funded second chance education project (SCE) being implemented in 3 districts under the guidance of PRADAN is a much worthy to reach out to those young women in the age group of 16-35 who have been deprived in their childhood with the education, skills and employment are now happily enrolled and trained to overcome these deprivations with much positive outcome. While writing all these statements, I recall each visit to the project area to witness the change processes that were taking place within those women who had never dreamed of being so empowered and self-reliant so soon in their lifetimes."
"Manjari Foundation is IPE Global’s implementation partner in Dholpur, Rajasthan under the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), UK supported Project Udaan that aims at reducing teenage pregnancies. They have been instrumental in successfully piloting interventions for improving the knowledge of adolescents around sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Bari block of Dholpur. Their efforts in organizing a team to take up the issue of adolescent SRH and facilitating its implementation with great sensitivity across the block has not only been recognized by the district administration, but has also paved way for attempting a scale-up across the district. Their coordination with the community-level institutions, local government bodies and the target group has been noteworthy and exemplary. "