Project Lehar - Adolescent Girls' Empowerment Programme

Aga Khan Foundation (India)’s Project Lehar, which means wave in Urdu, works to empower and improve the quality of life of out-of-school adolescent girls in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh and Patna, Bihar. Lehar has a three-pronged empowerment approach for adolescents, comprising of scholastic support, vocational training and life skills education. It supports out-of-school girls through functional literacy programmes, encourages them to re-enroll into school and distance learning programmes (National Institute of Open Schooling), and provides remedial support, especially for class 10 exams. It trains girls in vocational skills to enter the formal job market, based on a thorough needs assessment of the girls and the choices available to them for meaningful livelihoods, and fosters entrepreneurship through innovative projects suited to the local context, like mushroom cultivation. Cutting across both the scholastic and vocational skills courses is life skills training which helps the girls build their confidence and agency, and understanding of how to successfully overcome the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives. Over 6,000 adolescent girls have benefited from AKF’s adolescent girls’ empowerment programme. Assessments have found that 42% of girls reported higher decision-making within their households. The programme also helped girls access livelihood opportunities, with 25% of vocational trainees now earning a regular income. Other results of the programme have been a shift in community attitudes towards girls’ roles and the need for a supportive environment, stopping and delaying of early marriage by the girls and development of community change-makers from amongst the programme alumni.