It was with the vision to empower these girls that the Girl’s Scholarship Program (GSP) was started in 2017 with the support of Mr Dirk Vyncke, Chairman, Vyncke Energietechniek NV. Initially, 38 girls were supported to continue their education and transition from primary to middle school. In the second year of the program, Mr Henk Wipkink of KROHNE Marshall also strengthened the initiative by supporting us and until last year, the Girl’s Scholarship Program was able to cater to the educational needs of 105 girls in the community.
Reaccessing Needs and Forging Meaningful Partnerships
On 24th January 2020 - the occasion of International Day of Education and National Girl Child Day, a report by Right to Education Forum and Centre for Budget Policy Studies with support of the World Bank and UNICEF was launched which revealed that even after ten years the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into being, nearly 40% of adolescent girls in the age group of 15-18 years are still not attending school.
We at Forbes Marshall acknowledged that in order to tackle complex social issues like these, we need more collaborative efforts and strategic solutions. Therefore, we took up the issue and approached our corporate partners who have been collaborating with us for the past two decades. We invited Mr Rohit Saroj, Manager CSR, Tata Motors and discussed the GSP with an aim to increase its outreach and impact. Shortly, we were also able to reach out to Tata Autocomp through Rati Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall, who is also a member of their CSR Board.
Vidyadhanam, Girls Scholarship Programme
After a series of discussion, we found alignment in our approaches, values and philosophies with the TATA Companies and decided to join hands to launch the "Vidyadhanam, Girls Scholarship Programme” to support girl’s education in Khed Taluka. A virtual inauguration was held on 5th December 2020 which was attended by senior management teams, our NGO partners, the recipients of the scholarships and the Principals of the schools they attend.