The Power of Storytelling: New Projects in India

The year is a little more than half over, and PaperSeed has already met and exceeded the global impact we made in 2015! As a part of our initiative to break down barriers to girls’ education, we have partnered with two new organizations in India:

Girl Rising India

Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls’ education and empowerment, and the Girl Rising film has been an instrumental tool for raising awareness and inspiring action. The Girl Rising India Campaign was created to address the specific needs and cultural barriers that exist for girls in India. As of today, over 40% of girls in India never make it to secondary school due to issues like early marriage, gender based violence, and domestic slavery. Moreover, there are pervasive cultural beliefs about a girl’s role in society; that role often does not include school.

Stories have the power to change minds, and we are very excited to partner with Girl Rising India and the Global India Fund to bring an innovative multimedia module to India’s schools. This module will use stories to help students think about gender stereotypes, and how they can personally take action to shut those stereotypes down. Teachers will be trained in the use of these modules and will play an active role in changing the school environment to be more inclusive.

Going to School

With so few students completing secondary school, there is a rising demand for skilled workers. Unfortunately, current vocational training opportunities don’t put enough focus on the 21st century skills that students will need as they enter India’s modern workforce.

Going to School is using stories to teach entrepreneurial skills to students in grades 8, 9 and 10 (between the ages of 13 and 16.) The stories are meticulously crafted, using the Human Centered Design approach, and aim to teach children broad-based skills with multiple applications such as communication, negotiation, teamwork, identifying an opportunity, and making a plan. PaperSeed is partnering with Going to School to provide funds for printing 18,700 skill books and essential teacher training for 1,700 girls in Jharkand, India.