– As Advisory Council members, both will be driving conversations to bridge India’s gender and literacy gaps through girls’ education
MUMBAI, India, Dec. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Educate Girls, a non-profit working in the most rural and remote villages of India to bridge gender and literacy gaps through girls’ education, have appointed two new members to their Advisory Council, renowned film makers and husband-wife duo – Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari.
The announcement was made as part of Educate Girls’ 13th Foundation Day celebrations and International Volunteers Day 2020. Since their inception in 2007, Educate Girls has been expanding its interventions to champion and support girl’s education in rural India. Presently, it is working in 18,000 villages of the three states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to enrol, retain, and improve learning outcomes of drop-out or never enrolled girls. With a team of over 13,000 Team Balika community volunteers working at the grassroots, Educate Girls is trying to reach those regions which have the highest number of out-of-school girls in these states.
Announcing the appointment, Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls, said, “I’m thankful to both Ashwiny and Nitesh for recognising the criticality of girls’ education and giving their voice to advocate for the cause, especially during the pandemic. Through films like Dangal and Nil Battey Sannata, they have been making strong statements for gender equality and women empowerment. I am sure that, together, we will bring a positive change in the mind-set of our rural communities on the issues of girls’ education and gender equality.”
Citing their motivation to join Educate Girls’ Advisory Council, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, said, “I have been finding my purpose in life that contributes to humanity beyond stories. The impact that Educate Girls is creating is driven by focused leadership, it’s Team Balika volunteering model and latest technology. This is a cause very close to my heart and we are hoping to be a catalyst in creating and championing the conversations on girls’ education, and its benefits for our future generations.”
Adding to this, Nitesh Tiwari, said, “Educate Girls has identified 5 per cent of those villages which have up to 40 per cent of India’s out-of-school girls through predictive analytics, and aims to connect these girls with quality education. This technology-driven endeavour has the potential to have a lasting impact as it will set off a huge multiplier effect for the generations to come. Health, nutrition, climate change, immunisation, earning potential, many positives can be achieved when girls get an education. And both of us are glad to join this mission.”
Well-known for pioneering the world’s first Development Impact Bond in education, and as the first Asian non-profit to become an Audacious Project, Educate Girls has improved learning outcomes for over 1.3 million children since 2007, using their remedial learning curriculum. They work closely with the government and village communities, convincing and counselling parents to send their girls to school, in line with the Government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ vision.
