Bollywood
Actress and International Recording Artist Priyanka Chopra inspires teenage
girls to aim high with UNICEF
Bollywood
Actress, International recording Artist and UNICEF India
Ambassador Priyanka Chopra met with young women in Chandrapur, India, to mark
International Youth Day[1]
and to witness how their lives are being transformed through the Building Young
Futures programme, which is run in partnership with Barclays.
Priyanka Chopra
has been supporting UNICEF’s adolescent work in India for eight years. During her visit she met young women from the
Building Young Futures programme, locally known as Deepshikha, and saw how they
are being empowered to help fulfil their potential.
Building Young
Futures is a global partnership between Barclays and UNICEF
that aims to unlock the potential of young people from disadvantaged
communities. Through the programme in India young women are receiving peer to
peer support in developing the life,
enterprise and financial skills they need to overcome the challenges they face
to become strong, financially independent women as well as agents of change in
their communities. This includes learning how to save, building business plans,developing
their own enterprises and learning how to network as well as buildingconfidence,
understanding girl’s rights and leadership skills.
In India there
are around 243 million adolescents who are facing rising youth unemployment[2].
Life can be particularly hard for young women as they face the challenges of
limited economic opportunities and access to training and employment, which
reinforce broader issues of discrimination, early marriage, violence and
poverty.
Priyanka Chopra
said: “Girls have the ability to transform their own lives, develop their
own enterprises and help grow India’s economy. The Building Young Futures
programme being implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with Barclays is giving
them the vital skills and support they need to make this happen.
“I met girls
who have experienced incredible hardship in their lives. Building Young
Futures has given them a voice and confidence, or ‘daring’ as they call
it. These girls are working together, setting up businesses, planning
their futures; they are empowered to handle the challenges life throws at
them. I strongly advocate that parents,
care-givers and educators must give the girls more and more opportunities to
grow in their lives.”
In India,by 2015, Building Young Futures
will have empowered around100,000 girls and young women directly and another 200,000 girls through the programme being scaled up by
the
Maharashtra Human Development Commissionerate.The programme depends on UNICEF, Barclays and the Government of
Maharashtrasharing their expertise. It
has helped these young women to build confidence,
knowledge and skills, which gives them choices and the opportunity to build sustainable livelihoods. The girls take
their strength, and determination back into their communities, effecting significant change and helping to transform the wellbeing of
even more women and children.
Ram Gopal, Chief
Operating Officer, Barclays India, said: “Barclays is committed to
supporting young people to develop the skills to fulfil their potential. Through
Building Young Futures, we are able to empower these young women in India,
teach them that they are equal to men, and help provide them with the skills they
need to become economically empowered individuals. Building Young Futures is
part of our global goal to support five million young people in becoming the
next generation of achievers.”
Louis-George Arsenault, Representative for UNICEF India, explained: “Adolescence is an age of opportunity and UNICEF is committed to
investing in young people and enabling them to transform society. The
Deepshikha programme, which is currently being implemented in some districts of
Maharashtra with the support of Barclays, has been extremely successful in
providing girls and young women with the skills and confidence to start their
own enterprises and we look forward to expanding this programme
across the state and more widely in India.”
Priyanka met
girls including SadhanaChaudhari,
who
was discriminated against by her family and had to leave school early with
limited skills. Sadhana, now 23 years
old, runs her own tailoring business, and is setting up a group sanitary napkin
business with other girls from her village.
She has become a leader in the programme, orPrerikaas they are locally
known, and is determined to pass what she has learnt onto other women in the
community.
“Joining the
Building Young Futures Deepshikha programme was a turning point in my life,” says Sadhana. “The Building Young Futures/ Deepshikha
programme has given me confidence and now I can support my family. I come to the training
as I learn a lot from this. I cannot do anything sitting at home, so I
must come out and take charge of my own destiny.”
Ends
Notes to
Editors
For further
information, please contact:
UNICEF India
Swati
Mohapatra, UNICEF Maharashtra, +91-9930235472,smohapatra@unicef.org
Geetanjali
Master ,UNICEF India, +91-981 810 5861, gmaster@unicef.org
Sonia Sarkar, UNICEF
India, +91-981 017 0289, ssarkar@unicef.org
UNICEF UK
Kate Wills, UNICEF UK, + 44 (0)7880 292
429/ 0044 (0)7966 935 639 kwills@unicef.org.uk
Georgina Thompson, UNICEF UK, +44 (0)207 375
6167 gthompson@unicef.org.uk
About Building
Young Futures
Building Young
Futures is a global partnership between Barclays and UNICEF, set up in 2008,
that aims to unlock the potential of disadvantaged young people by providing
them with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to set up their own
businesses and find work, as well as achieve a stronger economic future for
themselves and their communities. The
programme runs in Brazil, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Uganda and Zambia.
In India Building Young Futures is locally known as
Deepshikha.
The impact of
Building Young Futures / Deepshikha in India to date:
·
Over 6,000
adolescent girls started income generating activities
·
Over 5,000
adolescent girls and facilitators joined vocational training courses
·
Over 1,300
adolescent girls and prerikas(young women leaders) have resumed their
education
·
1,350 Adolescent
Girls Self-Help Groups formed; 1,198 of these have bank accounts
·
These groups have
generated savings worth over Rs 4.2 million (US$69,440/ GB£41,200 approx)
·
Over 400prerikas being elected to local self-government
institutions
·
292
child marriages averted
About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes
the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our
partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment
into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable
and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more
information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org
About BarclaysBarclays is an international financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth management with an extensive presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays’ purpose is to help people achieve their ambitions – in the right way.
With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs approximately 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.
Barclays is committed to helping people achieve their
ambitions - in the right way. As part of Barclays' Citizenship strategy, it is
focused on building the next generation of achievers through its 5 Million
Young Futures goal. This is a commitment to invest £250m in programmes focused
on supporting five million young
people develop the enterprise, employability and financial skillsthey need to
achieve their goals and become financially independent.
Building
Young Futures directly supports this ambition. Barclays renewed its commitment
to the programme with an additional £5m investment in 2012. Barclays provides
more than a financial investment, it supports the Building Young Futures
partnership with its financial and business expertise, as well as the
knowledge, time and skills of its employees who participate in the programme.
