Adolescent Girls Club : Clubs will strengthen adolescent girls by providing education, promoting health awareness, and enhancing social and life skills.
Adolescence is a crucial stage of development characterized by both challenges and opportunities. It is a transitional phase where individuals move beyond childhood and step toward adulthood. This period brings significant physiological and psychological changes, making teenagers vulnerable to various influences that may lead to risky behaviors. However, with the right guidance, they can discover their strengths, develop their talents, and work towards achieving their aspirations.
On October 5, 2024, the first Adolescent Girls Club under Mission Shakti was inaugurated at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Wokha, Nagaland, with 50 adolescent girls as members. These clubs are being established in both government and private schools for girls aged 10 to 19 years.
The mission of the “Adolescent Girls’ Club” in Wokha, with the motto “Live the Promise,” is to empower young girls by providing education, raising health awareness, and enhancing social and life skills, enabling them to grow into confident, knowledgeable, and compassionate leaders of the future.
The clubs are formed in Nagaland with the following objectives:
1. Empowerment: To equip the adolescent girls with skills, knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions.
2. Education: To provide access to resources that enhance academic performance and life skills.
3. Health awareness: To promote awareness about reproduction, health, risky sexual behavior, effect of substance abuse, nutrition, and mental health.
4. Leadership development: To cultivate leadership skills through workshops and mentorship programmes.
5. Social well-being: To encourage participation in community service projects to develop a sense of belonging and responsibility.
Various activities, including workshops, training sessions, mentorship programs, health camps, community initiatives, and creative expression workshops, are being prioritized to help adolescent girls nurture their strengths and talents.
A specialized Adolescent Tool Kit is being developed as a resource for both adolescent girls and their parents. Additionally, teachers and counselors are preparing IEC materials on important topics such as menstrual health and hygiene (MHH), mental health, teenage pregnancy and its consequences, child abuse prevention, and helpline information. These materials will be distributed to adolescent girls for awareness and support.
To keep the members engaged and provide a platform for discussing their concerns, it has also been decided that the Adolescent Girls Club will conduct monthly activities.