Hyderabad: Girl changemakers relate experiences in webinar

Hyderabad: From listening to impactful poems by artists to the soothing voice of singers to inspiring stories of social innovators and activist, the virtual event "My voice-Our Equal Future" organised by Youngistaan Foundation in partnership with Telangana State Police, Women Safety Wing, and Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC), on Monday, marking International Day of Girl Child, was an amalgamation of diverse girl changemakers across India doing their bit and fighting all the odds for a self-empowerment and collective growth. The event saw active participation from 20 girl orphanages, government schools, not for profits, spread out across the state of Telangana, and viewers through Facebook live. Along with the girl change makers, the event saw catalysts who are driving the girl child development in Telangana— Sumathi Badugula, DIG-WSW, Telangana Police, and Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary (IT & C).

The girl changemakers who shared their stories were – Social Changemakers: Nataliya Arora (17), Ridhi Nemala (12) and Prakrithi Badugula (16); Climate activist: Licypriya (9); Social Innovators: Raajanjali (13) and Srija (14).

Speaking on the importance of nurturing a girl child, Sumathi Badugula, said, "Today is the day to mark an establishment to nurture girl child with no conditions and make their voice heard. The foremost importance that as a girl child we should take care of is of our health, education to voice our opinions. While accessibility is the ultimate problem for girl children, today it is being tackled efficiently by organizations like the Youngistaan Foundation working towards enabling the Culture of Accessibility by many awareness sessions." She also added that the first of its kind initiatives being taken by Telangana Police's Women Safety Wing is ensuring the safety of girl child, and that 'you all have to raise your voice for yourself."

Jayesh Ranjan said, "Irrespective of where we come from, what we do, what we study, as a girl child we hold a right to stand for ourselves and grow for ourselves. About the organic growth, we have strategized a program STEM for the girl child to break the notions of only boys can study technology. Further, we have TSIC and We Hub to enable girl children to innovate for their problems, and societal problems, further leading to Inclusive community."

Arun Daniel Yellamaty, founder of Youngistaan Foundation, said, "Our main aim of the event was to re imagine the girl child development by exemplifying existing changemakers, to inspire more adolescent girls across India to build on their innate abilities and voice their interest. Youngistaan Foundation has been working on collective development and this is only such event by concentrating on adolescent girls.