Nishtha

Rural adolescent girls in West Bengal face a variety of barriers: early marriage, lack of familial support for education, and slim opportunities to learn important life and vocational skills. Nishtha is the only nongovernmental organization in its vicinity of rural West Bengal that addresses specifically the critical development challenges facing women and girls. Nishtha addresses some of the key issues in poverty—lack of education; lack of credit; and poor health—by providing or making accessible health, education and credit services, working closely with villagers so that its approaches are compatible with their realities.

EMpower’s fifth grant to Nishtha provides after school tutoring, admission support, leadership training, and basic health and hygiene information to 1000 girls, in addition to providing vocational skill training for a cohort of adolescent girls and continuing its work to foster community support for girls.