The Himalayan Daughters Rise for Education as a project was envisaged as a collaborative project of Jagori Rural and Ekno Travel in the year 2012 in response to the felt needs of Girls from marginalized families from Himachal Pradesh.
In the last ten years of our work, in the field area of nearly 110 villages for girls and women’s empowerment, Jagori Rural activists observed that a large number of girls from remote rural mountainous areas are deprived of higher education, primarily due to socio economic constrains. The scholarship support programme needs to be seen within this context.
The main objectives of the programme are:
- Provide financial Support to young girls from under privileged and marginalized communities for higher education.
- Provide young women an opportunity to become self confident, self assertive and aware of gender equality issues.
- Provide fellowship awards and offer mentoring placements for young women who desire to become feminist activists.
However to identify deserving candidates, conducting interviews and finding a local organization to anchor the programme ,it took nearly one year of travel to remote sites as well as create collaborative principles to work together with the anchor organization to achieve the objectives stated above.
The report cycle April 14 to November 14
We are happy to share the first report of our achievements:
Under the project , 22 girls in total were selected from socio-economic marginalized families for supporting their education. These girls have been selected in 3 districts with the help of local organizations.
Pls see attached the map of Himachal Pradesh

Selected District |
No. of Girls |
Partner organsations |
Chamba |
10 |
JAGORI GRAMEEN HIMAT SANGHTAN |
Sirmour |
10 |
People’s Actions for People in Need-PAPN |
Kangra |
2 |
Jagori Rural |
In Chamba and Sirmour Districts, local monitoring committees have been formed to monitor the project implementation. The members of these committees includes women leaders, senior citizens, retired teachers and principals etc.
Chamba District
Jagori Rural has a district level programme in collboration with Jagori Grameen Himat Sangathan, a local organization. On April 10, 2014, 16 girls came for the interview. Along with the local organization, Abha Bhaiya from Jagori and Sharon Thrup from Ekno Travels, interviewed the girls and heard the stories. Through this process, nine deserving girls from the District Chamba were selected under the project – Himalaya Daughters Rise for Education (HDRE).
On 15th August 2014, a meeting of all fellowship awardees was convened in the District Office of Jagori Grameen Himat Sanghtan, Chamba. The prime objective of this meeting was to provide the girls part of their fellowship money. This was to be required for all their education related expenses such as books, stationary, uniform etc. Pinki Devi, Dhani Devi and Neelam shared that they don’t have proper clothes and therefore they need to buy one pair of dress each.
The girls were explained that this stipend is for them to use and they can spend it on their tuition fee, copies, pens, school bags, etc. They must focus on their studies as the main purpose of providing this support them to show excellence in their efforts.
The selected girls are also associated with a government programme SABLA for adolescent girls empowerment. They all attend the meeting of adolescent girls collectives in their respective villages. They also shared that they are called to Anganwadi center on a monthly basis where they are given nutritious food. The girls shared that this was an opportunity for them to come to Chamba, and also meet and connect with other girls. They were very happy to receive our help. Besides explaining to them how to maintain hygiene during menstruation, information about their education was also shared.
During the interaction, some other needs were also identified such as school uniform sweaters and school shoes. The shoe size of the girls and their preferred colour in sweaters was noted. In the month of September 2014, school shoes were provided.
In the month of September 2014, follow up meeting was held with the selected girls. They shared that the fellowship amount provided to them was spent on their education. The girls studying in tenth class submitted their fee requirement circular. They were equipped with school bags, copies, stationary and practical exams related material, a pair of shoes and a suit for daily wear.
A news report in a local paper (Headline reads Jagori Grameen will pay for nine female students in Chamba District)

Sirmour district
In the month of July 2014, Jyoti Seth from behalf of Jagori Rural and Sharon Thrup from Ekno Travels visited the Sirmour district. The selected girls were invited by the local partner organization an NGO “PAPN-people actions in people in need, 16 girls along with their mothers were given complete information about this program. Almost all girls shared their painful stories. The levels of poverty and extremely difficult socio economic backgrounds such as all from single parent families, were heart wrenching and it was obvious that without the support none of them are in a position to study FURTHER.. After the interview, a total of 10 girls were selected in the month of august 2014. A list of their requirements was prepared in consultation with the girls and their mothers.
- notebooks
- shoes and umbrella
- School fee
- Lunch box
- School bag/sweater
- Help book/examination master
- Expense for medicines, etc
Subsequently, ten school bags were provided to the girls. On September 14, a gathering was convened for the girls where their mothers, as well as one member of the organization and retired school teacher participated.
In addition, in same month, half day awareness session was conducted on personal hygiene, menstruation cycle, sexual harassment, rape. The girls were able to continue their education. They were made aware of their health issues and were given a platform to discuss their problems.
On September 14, the July-Aug school fee for the girls along with an amount of Rs. 500 was given and the bills and receipts were obtained from them.
Kangra District
In the Kangra District, two girls one from Nepali community and one from dalit family have been provided scholarship on monthly basis. They also participated actively in the Kishori-Kishor utsav (Adolscent Girls Fairs).
In addition, nearly 12 applications have been received.
It is proposed to hold the interview in the month of December 2014 and start the scholarship for the selected girls from January 2015.
In the month of February 2015 it is proposed to hold the hold a three day workshop for all the girls on gender and empowerment at the Jagori centre – TARA. This will provide them an opportunity to live and learn together.
In the end we extend our appreciation of your support that has made this possible. Your support will significantly contribute to the development of the girls and create new possibilities for them to realize their dreams.
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