Project background
In India, adolescent girls often face exclusion from education and pressures of early marriage. Bihar, one of India’s most populous states, has a significant adolescent population, with an estimated 36% of the population under the age of 15.
Adolescent girls in Bihar face numerous challenges:
- 41% of young women were married before the age of 18
- 11% of girls aged 15-19 have begun childbearing
- Only 9% of women have completed 12 years of formal education
The Adolescent Girls program, designed by The Hunger Project India in 2017, is locally led to specifically address these systemic barriers through targeted activities that empower girls and create lasting change.
The program was designed in consultation with elected women representatives who serve their gram panchayat (village council area). They identified the critical need to tackle the root issues faced by women and girls across India. By starting early and educating young girls as they transition through their teenage years, the program ensures they gain the skills, confidence, and opportunities necessary to transform their lives and break the cycle of hunger and poverty.
Project overview
Key to the program is delaying early marriage to keep girls in school. The program builds their confidence so they can advocate for their own needs and desires within their families and the broader community.
This is achieved through a series of workshops, drama pedagogy, campaigns, and life skills training on communication, negotiation, decision-making, and coping with stress. Learning visits to panchayat offices help familiarize the girls with available services and raise awareness about child helplines. The program also covers menstrual hygiene management, sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition, digital literacy, cyber safety, and skills development.
Over the three-year program, The Hunger Project plans to facilitate 792 bimonthly Sukanya Club meetings (240 in 2024, 280 in 2025, and 272 in 2026) and an additional 45 Life Skills Trainings in 2026. Adolescent girls are highly motivated when learning in groups, so bimonthly meetings and life skills training help them develop self-awareness. These meetings introduce concepts of self-reliance, the ill effects of child marriages, the importance of education, health, stress management, and menstrual hygiene.
These combined initiatives aim to empower the girls to make action plans that emphasize continuing education and saying no to child marriages.
In Year 1 (2024), the focus was on bringing the girls together in their Sukanya Clubs and enabling them to support each other. It's uncommon for girls from different backgrounds to have a safe space to meet, and breaking down cultural barriers can take time. To facilitate this and understand the specific challenges faced by the girls, Needs-Based Workshops and Girls Leadership Workshops are conducted. A total of 42 workshops were held in Year 1 (2024) and planned for Year 2 (2025).
The outcomes of the Needs-Based Workshops are then integrated into the Girls Leadership Workshops.
Finally, 40 Graduation Workshops will be conducted in 2026 to celebrate and consolidate the girls' achievements.
Project outcomes
The key outcomes of this project are:
- Increase in school re-enrolment.
- Increase in the number of girls completing their education.
- Increase in safe spaces for girls.
- Decrease of early child marriage.
- Increase of girls saying ‘no’ to early child marriage.
At the start of the program, baseline data is collected when the adolescent girls join the program. The outcome indicators are then tracked and mapped quarterly to assess and monitor the progress of the objectives.
The data is used at a state level to evaluate the program's progress and is discussed with field teams during review meetings. This allows for timely inputs to refine the strategy and make any necessary course adjustments.
At the end of the program, data is collected for assessments to evaluate the program's effectiveness. This informs the strategy and way forward for the Adolescent Girls program at an organizational level and allows The Hunger Project to report on the program’s impact to donors and other stakeholders.
What costs are covered?
- Program Staff Cost: remuneration for the ground staff implementing the project.
- Program Support Cost: administrative costs such as stationaries, communication, rent, etc.
- Core Program Cost: general expenses needed to organise and conduct workshops and trainings.
- THP Australia Cost: grant management costs for THP Australia.
- THP Global Costs: This covers the costs for THP Global for the overall governance of the project as well as support services such as Monitoring & Evaluation and Financial platforms.
Partner and community involvement
The program spans across four Districts and 40 Panchayats (village council areas) in Bihar and is facilitated by 12 local trainers and four gender experts/program coordinators. There are 350 girls in each of the four Districts.
During the program, the girls attend several Block Level Conventions to allow them to advocate for their needs in the presence of Government Officials and community partners including police officers and healthcare workers. The girls can raise their voice against issues affecting the broader community.
Issues raised in the conventions include:
- The demand for bribes from government officers and schools
- The need for better school facilities (bins in bathrooms, books for libraries etc.)
- The need for police patrols while girls are travelling to schools
- Better local-level health services, including anaemia testing
The program also engages with relevant stakeholders including families, schools, healthcare centres and the local government so the outcomes of the program can be achieved. The Hunger Project staff engage with the stakeholders prior to and regularly throughout the program to explain the objectives and to gain trust so the program can be run effectively with the support of all stakeholders.
How does this project fit into a larger strategy?
This project aligns with our global mission to facilitate individual and collective action to transform the systems of inequity that create hunger and cause it to persist. It sits within our three main pillars:
- Empowering women and girls as key change agents
- Mobilizing entire communities toward self-reliant action.
- Fostering effective partnerships to engage local government
In the short term, the program helps girls avert child marriage and supports their re-enrollment in school or continuation of education. In the long term, it empowers them to negotiate delayed marriages, pursue chosen livelihood options, and advocate for their rights.
Additionally, the program leads to significant infrastructure improvements in rural areas, such as schools equipped with electricity, safe drinking water, and sanitation facilities.
Safer environments are also created through police patrols and local government initiatives that better respond to girls' needs and concerns, leading to lasting improvements for the entire community.