A story of a young girl who becomes the advocate of girl’s education – ACTED

Every girl is powerful, and the collective voices of young girls increase strength, independence, knowledge, confidence, and impact. Together with the power of education, they are a force. Saima was one of those young girls who have tenacity and passion to improve and was, therefore, a torchbearer for a lot of girls of her age. She learned basic life skills and for the first time in her life and got to know about her rights as a woman during the project Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB). Saima belongs to a marginalized community in Sindh where people frown upon girls’ right to education.

People of that area believe that women should stay in the house and remain dependent on the male member of their house for any kind of support. Like a typical patriarchal structure, girls need permission from their male family members for any decision.

For the coaches, the challenge was not only to convince the girls to join but also to create awareness about the importance of adolescent girls’ education among the parents. Similarly, Saima had no access to education and development opportunities and was solely responsible for taking care of her siblings and helping her mother with the household chores. 

The coaches at the centers played an important part in engaging not only the girls but also their parents. The coaching and the activities helped Saima to gain confidence and to become more self-aware. The coaches guided Saima and other girls to share their learning experiences with their family and friends.

Saima is now a proud graduate of Leaving No Girl Behind center which emphasized on girls’ education as well as engaged community girls in play-based activities. Now Saima’s top priority is to engage the parents of the girls in addressing the importance of education in the community. Along with her parents, she went door to door to meet other parents in her community, to talk to them about the importance of girls’ education and explain in detail the platform.

She is now a mentor and shares her education and learning experiences with these girls. Like many others, this was the first time she found out that girls like her who come from an underprivileged society and can also have rights, be equally entitled to take part in education, sports, community activities and daily life decisions.