A big "Thank you" to all the applicants for the Dasra Girl Power Awards, we have selected 17 finalists with impactful and innovative interventions working with adolescent girls in these three areas – Health, Education and Life Skills. These organizations will join us for a workshop between the 1-4th of February, where they will pitch to a jury panel and three organizations will be selected as recipients for the 30 lakh prize money. The winning organizations will be announced at the Dasra Philanthropy Week. More information on the Dasra Girls Power Awards can be found http://www.dasraphilanthropyweek.org/girl-power.html

1. Dasra Girl Power Awards
Organization Summaries
Aaina
Represented by: Sneha Mishra
AAINA, a voluntary organisation, has been working extensively in the state of Odisha
since the past 15 years with rural and tribal population, professionals, administrative
agencies, government officials and legislators. AAINA works to empower persons
with disabilities, as well as women and children, through workshops, campaigns,
capacity building programs and formation of self-help, children and adolescent girls
groups.
Ashish Gram Rachna Trust (AGRT), Pachod/ The Institute of Health
Management Pachod (IHMP)
Represented by: Dr. Ashok Dyalchand
The Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP), based in Maharashtra, strives
for the health and development of communities through grassroots programmes,
training, and policy advocacy. The Institute aims at the holistic development of the
individual, family and community and is deeply committed to the upliftment of
marginalised groups. It engages with married and unmarried adolescents in the areas
of healthcare and life-skills education.
Association for Voluntary Action (Bachpan Bachao Andolan)
Represented by: Rakesh Senger & Daljeet Singh
Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) was one of the first organizations in India that
initiated direct action-oriented interventions to eliminate all forms exploitation of
children, especially child labor and child trafficking. Its preventative model, Child
Friendly Village, has been implemented in 356 villages since 2001, impacting
approximately 400,000 people and ensuring that all children till 14 years have access
to free and quality education. BBA engages with the children, administration and
local governance bodies to improve school infrastructure.
Bal Sansar Sanstha
Represented by: Priyamvada Singh & Mahendra Sharma
Bal Sansar Sanstha works to create an equitable society where everyone gets an
opportunity to realize one’s fullest potential in life, with no discrimination based on
gender, religion, caste, creed, social, cultural and economic status. It informs,
enables and empowers communities to demand, access and exercise their rights to
live their life with respect and dignity. Its interventions for the empowerment of
adolescents are critical to reduce their health risks and improve the overall quality of
their lives. Since inception, the team has impacted over 6,000 adolescents directly
and 10,000 indirectly.
Bella Health Care
Represented by: Colette Smith & Mandeep Kaur
Bella Health is an NGO in India that aims to empower women to increase their ability
to make informed family planning and reproductive health choices. Bella Health Care
provides health care services that address maternal, child and reproductive health
and enhance the health and quality of the life of the women, girls and adolescents in
our target areas. The organization has been able to directly impact over 8500
adolescent girls through its reproductive health education and health services
programs.
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2. Dasra Girl Power Awards
Organization Summaries
Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society
(CECOEDECON)
Represented by: Vibhuti Joshi & Kavita Mishra
CECOEDECON, an organization based in Rajasthan, takes a Rights-Based Approach to
development, treating the deprived not simply as economically disadvantaged, but
also perceiving and understanding how their rights and entitlements are curtailed at
manifold levels. Presently, CECOEDECON is working with adolescent girls to ensure
their overall development, through providing bridge courses, vocational, and nonformal life-skills education to out-of-school girls.
CULP - Centre for Unfolding Learning Potentials
Represented by: Om Prakash Kulhari and Dr. M.S. Rathore
Based in Jaipur, CULP has been working for over a decade to create a positive
environment among rural communities towards girl child education. CULP provides
out-of-school adolescent girls access to education, and to date, has impacted more
than 1 lakh adolescent girls in 4 districts in Rajasthan.
Developmental Association for Human Advancement
Represented by: Jitendra Chaturvedi & Khajanchi Lal Yadav
DEHAT works to educate, protect and empower under privileged children, especially
from tribal and oppressed communities, in over 700 villages in Uttar Pradesh. For
adolescent girls, DEHAT provides education services, delivers health and nutrition
programs, and forms adolescent groups to create awareness on various issues. Since
inception, DEHAT has impacted over 4500 girls through the Rural Education program
and over 82,000 girls through multiple programs catering to adolescent girls(10-14
years of age).
Ibtada
Represented by: Rajesh Singhi & Panini Bhatt
Started in 1997, Ibtada strengthens communities, especially women, in order to
reduce social and economic poverty and inequality. Ibtada works in the Mewat
region, which is characterized by low education levels and poor status of women and
girls. Ibtada works on providing education to girls in the region, both through direct
services such as setting up Taleemshalas, and community based interventions that
work on strengthening government schools.
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3. Dasra Girl Power Awards
Organization Summaries
Integrated Development Center for Advancement reforms and Educational
(INDCARE) Trust
Represented by: Ankita Pant and Reeva Sood
INDCARE Trust was established in 1989 to promote capability development and
empower the underprivileged, especially women, to improve their living
environment and livelihoods. The organization has been successfully working in
different parts of the country, focused largely on the urban slums of Delhi, with the
goal of improving living conditions and quality of life of the urban and rural poor that
live below the poverty line (BPL).
Lok Swasthya Sewa Trust
Represented by: Susan Thomas and Mirai Chatterjee
Lok Swasthya Sewa Trust implements a range of health related interventions for
poor self-employed women and their families in Gujarat. Its interventions include
providing health education and awareness and primary health care services through
an integrated approach, through a network of grassroots-level health workers who
go door-to-door to meet the needs of its self-employed beneficiaries. Lok Swasthya
Sewa Trust is a sister organization of SEWA.
Mentor Together
Represented by: Arundhuti Gupta & Namrata Baruah
Mentor Together provides girls facing risk and adversity enduring, fun and
empowering one-to-one mentoring relationships, with committed volunteer
professionals, to help them achieve their goals and dreams. Their mentees are in the
age group of 14-18 years and are identified through partnerships with Government
or NGO-run homes and schools. Using structured activities , volunteer mentors have
delivered 30000+ hours of mentoring in English, Life Skills, Career & Academic
planning, and Community Leadership to 450 disadvantaged youth.
PROTSAHAN India Foundation
Represented by: Sonal Kapoor & Geetika Mrig
Protsahan India Foundation uses design thinking and art innovation to transform
lives of street and slum children facing abuse and vulnerability with a focus on
empowering adolescent young girls to break the extreme cycle of poverty. Protsahan
focuses on creative education for children and their subsequent mainstreaming
through sustainable livelihoods through Art. It uses the creativity of design, art,
cinema, technology and digital stories to impact and empower underprivileged
children to mainstream them and their communities inclusively on issues like Child
Marriage, Gender Violence, Nutrition, Education and Livelihoods.
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4. Dasra Girl Power Awards
Organization Summaries
Sharda Mahila Vikas Society
Represented by: Dr. Shobha Shah & Ranjan Atodariya
Sharda Mahila Vikas Society (SMVS) was established with the objective of
empowering women to achieve their potential through economic and skill building
activities. This philosophy came from SMVS’ parent organization – SEWA Rural, which
is part of the renowned national SEWA network. The Adolescent Girls Program
started as a natural transition from SMVS’ activities focused on women. The program
aims to provide adolescent girls with appropriate knowledge on reproductive health,
sexual harassment, anemia, personal and menstrual hygiene, and addictive
substances like tobacco.
Thoughtshop Foundation
Represented by: Revati Banerjee
Thoughtshop Foundation comprises professionals dedicated to creating new and
effective ways of dealing with social issues, with the aim to educate, motivate and
empower for social change since 1992. Thoughtshop develops innovative behaviour
change communication tools for various social issues including adolescent
reproductive health, gender equity, child rights, and water and sanitation, and trains
youth to become effective peer educators using such tools.
Vacha Charitable Trust
Represented by: Medhavinee Namjoshi
Vacha Trust works to create a society without exploitation, oppression or
discrimination against women, girls or any other section of society. Vacha’s mission is
to focus on issues of girls and women from disadvantaged sections of society through
educational and empowerment programs, resource creation, training and
networking. For adolescents, Vacha works towards increasing the participation of
adolescent girls in civic life by imparting relevant life skills to them and ensuring their
continuation of education till class 12. The team also facilitates discussions for girls to
speak up about issues and concerns focused mainly towards education, health and
safety. Since inception, the team has impacted over 7,139 adolescents directly.
VOICE 4 Girls
Represented by: Averil Spencer & Amrita Randhawa
VOICE conducts activity-based camps to build leadership, critical thinking and problem
solving skills in marginalized adolescent girls by imparting English speaking and life
skills, and communicating critical knowledge about their rights. Its flagship program Her
VOICE features 90 hours of curriculum that focus on topics such as health and hygiene,
safety and career planning. It has reached out to 4,375 girls through the VOICE camps
since 2011, working with government school and low income private schools.
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