We are very happy to have provided 605 bicycles to young tribal women at Jharkhand in the past two years and are now urgently looking to secure funding to provide another two hundred needed for new batches of girls to attend computer and vocational training centres.
Tribal children of Jharkand suffer multiple and intersectional disadvantages. Living remotely in low income village based communities, poorly educated and struggling with livelihood issues due to structural violence, dislocation and reduced access to forest products (and fair prices) they have depended upon for centuries. Even while Jharkhand is a state extremely rich in natural resources it is one of the poorest in India with high levels of malnutrition among tribal communities. It’s indigenous groups, representing 30% of the total population, are victim to development-induced displacement, issues related to mining, loss of livelihoods and trafficking of young girls in particular. With a view to filling some of the many gaps these vulnerable communities struggle with, Lotus Outreach and our local partners in India have launched some extraordinary programs directed toward providing female youth access to education and training facilities.
LO programs at Jharkand provide multidimensional assistance to ensure educational and training resources ensure access and lead to employment opportunities along career pathways most suitable to individual strengths preferences. All of the young women attending our computer and vocational training courses live remotely from schools and institutes and which severely impacts on their educational outcomes. We are very happy to have provided 605 bicycles there in the past two years and are now urgently looking to secure funding to provide another two hundred needed for new batches of girls to attend computer and vocational training centres.
