Girls Get Equal (GGE) Project
The project aims to reduce the incidence of child marriage in 6 unions of Taltoli upazila within the district of Barguna. Taltoli upazila has been selected specifically because of their low score on SRHR indicators, such as lack of access to quality SRHR services and poor knowledge of SRHR issues. Taltoli is also a vulnerable area in terms of natural disasters, floods and cyclones, which exacerbates child marriage. The percentage of extreme poor people living in Taltoli 12 (while the national average is 12, 9).
The activities given below carried out during the project period in chronological order:
a) Orientation on Target Beneficiary Selection Process
A three days residential orientation workshop on the “Target Beneficiary Selection Process” for newly recruited SOYEE component staff were conducted in this quarter. All SOYEE component project staff were participated in this programme on 21-23 November 2020 at RDF training center, RDF Tower in Barguna. This orientation was facilitated by the Head of SOYEE and Specialists of SOYEE team, Plan International Bangladesh through using different learning methods including participatory discussion, experience sharing, presentation, brain storming and field exercise etc. After this orientation, participants were able to understand the project concept, activity implementation process and felt confident at to perform their roles to rollout the project activities in field level. The staff of the project received an in-depth understanding of the activities and implementation strategies under outcome-3. They have broadened their skills on facilitation, group management, planning, monitoring and reporting.
b) Conducting PRA for Selecting Target Beneficiaries
A total of 42 PRA sessions were conducted in same number of villages at 6 unions under Taltoli upazila of Barguna district during November 2020 to January 2021. The project used PRA tools (transact walk, social mapping and wellbeing analysis) for selecting the target beneficiaries from the selected villages. People of all strata were actively involved with these sessions in respective villages. These sessions were facilitated by the project staffs and monitored by the project personnel of Plan International Bangladesh. Before conducting these PRA sessions, a facilitation guideline in Bangla was developed and all staffs were oriented. A total 42 numbers of PRA session were conducted based on the guideline. A list of the households was prepared and marked in different groups. Households of ‘C’ category were be considered as target people of the project.
c) Household Visit for Beneficiaries Selection
After the identification of marginalized HHs with a girl aged 11-19 through PRA, Field Facilitators of GGE project visited door to door for verifying the authenticity of the identified HHs under ‘C’ category and prepared a primary list of beneficiaries considering the different situations of the most marginalized people, their present capacities and the crosscutting issues like gender, resilience and inclusion related to selection criteria of the project. A total of 1075 numbers of households in 42 village at 06 unions under Taltoli upazila were visited. Out of 1075 HHs, 850 HHs were primarily selected for the target beneficiary. The GGE project management staff also visited each of the primarily selected beneficiary families to households the list of project beneficiaries.
d) Orientation on Local Level Job Market Scanning
A one-day non-residential approach to “Local Level Job Market Scanning” was conducted on 14 December 2020 at the GGE Project Office, Taltoli. This orientation was facilitated by Md. Rezwanul Haque Chowdhury, Specialist-SOYEE, Plan International Bangladesh. The project has developed a common format for conducting job market scan at the local level. After this orientation, all the staff had a deep idea about this format. As a result, they could easily collect information about income-generation through wage-employment and self-employment by using this format. Information of local level market scan was collected by Technical Officer-YEE and assisted by related Field Facilitators through visiting the market, discussion with business group/employer and their association, community people, Union Parisad representatives etc. Fourteen local level market scan information will collected in the month of January 2021. These market scan information helped selecting to particular and right quick income-generating activities through self/wage employment for the selected beneficiaries.
Lessons Learned:
Girls Get Equal (GGE) is an agricultural based economic activity and development performing project to protect the adolescent girls giving financial supports on livestock, fisheries & crops based activities through team building & group organizing. This project ensured trained and activated them in Duck Rearing, Chicken Farming, Vegetable Farming, Fish Culture & Farming and they are now sustained & well organized.
It is learned from this project, if girls can aware off their rights and their way of earning through skill development, the value of girls in the society will increase. They will be considered as an asset in the society and the tendency of Early Marriage and Forced Marriage will be decreased for their employment and sustainable income earning.
It’s an exceptional project to develop adolescent girls as asset for the nation.