MARG: Border Security Forces inspiring students 

On October 4 2021, in collaboration with BSF(Border Security Forces) Rajasthan, we hosted our first MARG event for 9th to 12th grade students! In our interaction with the girls during 'Giving Circle Kickoff', girls had shown an interest in careers in BSF and related fields. We reached out to the district BSF leadership and they obliged by sending a team of female and male leaders to talk to the students at the school.

Here is what happened on that Monday!

The whole school saw a flurry of excitement, with all students from 1st to 12th being excited to see various equipments.

The girls looked wide-eyed as many female officers walked in their uniforms, with equipments.

Two sessions were attended by ~130 girl and boy students from grade 9 to 12. The session with girls saw video clippings on BSF, women's role in BSF, and ways to join BSF. This was followed by interaction with the women staff who shared stories of them coming from similar village environment, and what it took to get here. BSF leadership answered queries of students. The team left detailed pamphlets for each student to take home and reflect on. The team also promised to visit again to help interested students with the preparation.

In the following weeks, I conducted post survey and interviews with students about their experience of the event. To quote a 10th grade girl "I just wanted to keep looking at those women in uniform!" Another one echoed "When I thought of BSF, I used to only think of men. Now, I imagine both". A third one shared "When the lady officer told how she came from a village, I felt that she was like us. I feel confident that if she can do so many things, I can do too".

It reinforced and further highlighted 'what matters' for girls in rural environment:

1. Relatability: Of backgrounds, stories.
2. Reliability: Concrete information on what it takes.
3. Responsibility: Someone took time to visit and share information.
4. Expand imagination by seeing women in various roles.

Here is the self-reported pre and post scores that underline the role of such an event. 

Encouraged, we kicked-off our third and most exciting 10 week running program NEEV for 5th to 8th grade girls on October 23rd. Watch out this space for updates, pictures and videos soon 🙂 You can follow our journey on Linkedin or Twitter

P.S. I have a surprise partner school where we started NEEV program on October 20th! More on that soon..!

If you want to share your story or your organisation wants to inspire girls from villages into newer opportunities and careers, please reach out to us!