As we all know, the Basic Education and Literacy Rotary Action Group (BELRAG) organizes a series of webinars every year to increase awareness about the pivotal role of Basic Education and Literacy (BEL) programs and projects as a vehicle of Rotary’s mission for empowering underprivileged communities around the world. Some of these webinars demonstrate how emphasizing BEL projects can impact the quality of life and the pace of economic development among our underserved communities. In this evocative story written by Dr. Anu Narula, the Chair of the Girls’ Education Professional Team of Experts and a member of the BELRAG Board of Directors, readers can derive an analytical perspective on how Rotary clubs can embrace and act on Girls’ Education projects in which educated girls can have a transformative role as agents of change. This story raises awareness for girls’ empowerment through education and makes a call for action for Rotary clubs serving vulnerable communities around the world. This story makes a case for Rotary to play a role in making equitable opportunities for education available for the girls who are battling the discriminatory determinants of illiteracy that unfortunately continue to prevail in communities around the world.
On January 16, 2025, BELRAG invited a couple of experts on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) to present on the topic of “Creating Truly Inclusive Education: Applying a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Lens to Education Programs.” This webinar was presented by Edward Winter, a Senior Technical Advisor for GESI at World Vision’s US office and Ila Pant who works as Grant Monitoring, Accountability and Learning Specialist at World Vision International in Nepal. These two outstanding professionals, who represented World Vision, delineated the application of gender equality, social inclusion, and the theory of change to educational and co-curricular programs designed for girls in under-resourced communities around the world and in Nepal. These presentations examined how education programs can challenge the systemic norms and policies that limit the opportunities for girls, boys, and children with special needs to reach their optimum potential.
These two presentations, attended by Rotarians and BEL experts from around the world, besides Rotary International Grant Officers and BELRAG BOD members, created an understanding of the socio-cultural and political barriers that limit the access to quality education for girls and other marginalized groups and also showcased success stories of programs that have removed these barriers. Some of these barriers stem from poverty, unemployment, the rural-urban divide, and socio-cultural malpractices like the dowry system, child marriage, and discrimination based on caste and class. Edward’s presentation highlighted the significance of engaging both the men and women in the family to support education as a mode of financial independence for their children. Edward emphasized that it’s the children who define the quality of education rather than vice versa while using global examples of transformative educational programs.
Edward’s presentation highlighted the need for women and girls, men and boys, and people with special needs to have equal access to the decision-making processes of educational systems and policies that will generate an environment of shared responsibility, collective participation, and mobilization of resources. Edward’s presentation shared a statistical analysis of the demographic, economic, and socio-cultural factors at play that cause gender inequality and social exclusion in education. Edward’s presentation demonstrated how using the GESI model of analysis can help us to identify the key issues and barriers that restrict girls, boys, and children with special needs from finding equitable access to meaningful and holistic opportunities for education.
Ila’s presentation started with an emphasis on the need to ensure girls’ access to menstrual health practices and clean toilets and emphasized the significant need for engaging parents to play a role in curbing inherent gender bias and cultural norms that restrict girls’ access to qualitative education. Ila’s presentation demonstrated how a program called Strengthening Inclusive Education in Nepal (SIKAI) engaged in teacher training to train teachers on inclusive education, co-curricular activities, and child-friendly pedagogy both for girls and boys. This program also engaged parents to coach them in giving equal opportunities to girls and children with special needs while highlighting the need to address behavioral aberrations like bullying of girls. Ila highlighted the significance of extracurricular activities like martial arts training for girls and special needs children to boost their abilities and self-confidence.
Ila’s presentation cited statistical evidence of educational programs implemented in Nepal that triggered a jump from 5% to 91.4% in the number of parents giving their girls and boys equal access to education. Ila cited the effectiveness of teacher training programs that caused a jump from 12.5% to 98.3% in the surveys that were conducted to gauge the effectiveness of teachers’ involvement in giving equal treatment to girls and boys in different aspects of education. Ila pointed out that programs like SIKAI and Government programs like “Beti Padao, Beti Bachao” (Educate Girls to Save Girls) in South Asian countries like Nepal and India have proven to have a revolutionary impact on curbing socio-cultural malpractices like Child marriage and Dowry system while using Girls’ Education as an engine of girls’ empowerment.
Last but not least, Ila shared a video that demonstrated how a program implemented in Nepal created the ripple effect of innovative education programs on the personality development of a girl named Ladli, literally meaning “the beloved.” In a poignant and powerful video, Ladli talks about recognizing her “inner power” as a result of a holistic model of education and talent inculcation to turn into a beloved figure in a conservative community. Ladli’s words in this video demonstrate how she played a role as an agent of change and empowerment who transformed the lives of as many as 1114 girls by inspiring them to get educated in an organic educational program called “Rupantaran,” literally meaning “transformation.”
My mind went back to my childhood spent in a small town amidst a conservative cultural environment in India where educating girls was not a priority or a norm in the rural areas of my home state. As a beloved daughter of parents who gave me the freedom to pursue the highest level of education as a vehicle for supporting my family and empowering an entire generation of girls in my role as a college educator, I feel grateful. I feel fortunate for a support system provided by my family, friends, and community members that enabled me to transcend the restrictive norms of gender roles to emerge as a confident woman and a college educator who could play a life-changing role, along with her colleagues, in the lives of girls and boys with the power of education. I feel equally grateful to Rotary for allowing me to grow as a human being, an educator, a writer, and an activist of “Service above Self” in my role as a Rotarian in D3054 and D3080 in India, starting in 1995. After migrating to the US and renewing my determination to be part of Rotary culture in the US, I feel grateful to be part of the culture of community service through Rotary in D6910, which enables us to touch and impact so many lives. Today, I feel honored and grateful to be a part of BELRAG and chair a Girls’ Education Team of Experts that is both brilliant and dedicated. Rotary also makes me feel whole and empowered as a mother of two who can join hands with her friends on the BELRAG Board of Directors to raise awareness on the need to promote Girls’ education, gender equity, and digital technology as tools of all-round development among communities battling illiteracy, economic deprivation and discriminatory socio-cultural norms around the world.
It’s not a cliché when we affirm that when we educate girls, we educate an entire family, and when a family educates an entire community, we see change happen all around us and it’s hard to miss the footprints of empowerment everywhere we see. My mind goes back to the Rotary International (R.I.) Convention in Melbourne in 2023, Australia where sitting next to my son Krishna, I heard and imbibed the visionary power of R.I. President Stephanie Urchick’s words when she recollected her visit to an Institute in India where bicycles and sewing machines were donated to young girls to support their access to means of livelihood, “That institute was a joyful reminder that when we empower young girls, they can go on to become empowered women who in turn empower and nurture an entire community.” Amen.