Girl Effect connects girls to the resources, opportunities, and support they need to overcome barriers, see themselves differently, and realise their full potential. The project is rooted in the belief that one of the most powerful forces for breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty is girls themselves. The larger objective of the project is to connect girls to what they need, challenge the limitations that communities may place on them, and transform the way they see themselves. When girls are empowered to recognise their own potential, they have the ability to influence their families, communities, and ultimately, the world. They change the world. That’s the Girl Effect.
As part of this project, I had the opportunity to document young adolescent girls at The Doon International Public School, Rishikesh, and GGIC, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The project gave me the opportunity to go beyond simply creating photographs. I was able to document moments of curiosity, confidence, vulnerability, joy, hesitation, friendship, determination, and self-expression. Each image became a way of telling a personal story and portraying the girls as individuals with their own identities, dreams, challenges, and ambitions.
Girl Effect projects are girl centered. The projects engage girls through evidence based social and behavior change. By meeting girls where they are today, in the spaces, on the platforms and channels they trust and love. They work with governments to transform systems to work for HER.
The projects reach girls across the world, where they are -online and offline, to support them at the critical moments in life when choices around their health, education and economic future need to be made.
In 2019, Girl Effect launched ‘Chhaa Jaa ‘in India, a digital-first youth programme that helps girls in India build the confidence to make choices and changes in their lives - from accessing information about her body and services around her, to negotiating about education choices . Chhaa Jaa was designed keeping in mind adolescent girls between 17-19 years, currently in higher education, and accessible online via mobile – whether girls own or borrow amobile phone.
Over the years, Girl Effect has invested in setting up key online assets and infrastructure that can be leveraged to deliver programmes under a range of thematics for older adolescent girls. They have built a multi-product digital ecosystem of products - across ‘broadcast’ and ‘interactive’ features - that are social media-based and available to girls whenever they need it.