IDEATE 2023: Experts & Panelists Stress On Empowering India’s Adolescent Girls

New Delhi: The 12th edition of IDEATE 2023, a Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation initiative in partnership with FICCI and UNICEF as knowledge partner, brought together policymakers, industry leaders and experts to discuss transformative strategies for empowering India’s adolescent girls.

Speaking at IDEATE 2023 — organised under the auspices of G20 Empower Jan Bhagidari, themed ‘Foundational & Lifecycle Interventions to EMPOWER’ — Vipin Kumar, Additional Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Government of India, emphasised the importance of providing quality education to girls in India, focusing on vocational education as a means to ensure employability and relevance to the demands of the industry.

Kumar said that NEP emphasises the importance of providing 21st-century skills to girls to participate in the economy. “To achieve this, the Ministry of Education is in discussions with state governments to identify requirements for specific geographical areas and industries,” he informed.

Underlining the Union government’s ambitious target for girls’ education, Kumar noted that at least 50% of girls who are passing out from the 12th standard by 2025-26 should be expert in one skill relevant to the job market.

Subhrakant Panda, FICCI president and a trustee at BIPF, highlighted the importance of investing early in adolescent development.

“India has the largest adolescent population in the world, with every fifth person in the 10-19 age group. Given that approximately 47% of this cohort are girls, the need of the hour is their technical and educational upliftment so they go on to have skillsets which enable them to tackle any challenges and be equal partners in India’s progress,” he said.

Delivering the keynote address, UNICEF India representative Cynthia McCaffrey, stressed on a multi-sectoral approach to empowering young women and girls.

“Getting to the root causes and barriers holding girls back in the digital age needs to be addressed from all aspects. It is not just about closing the gender gap, but also about creating a generation of innovators, creators, and leaders to shape a more inclusive and equitable society. Adopting a multi-sectoral approach, working together with businesses, we need to ensure early access to technology, digital, and life skills training. We need to redouble efforts that address harmful gender stereotypes within and outside families including online abuse,” she said.

Shaifalika Panda, trustee and CEO of BIPF, hosted a fireside chat on mentoring across the lifecycle of girls. The panelists were Ashish Dhawan, Founder CEO, The Convergence Foundation, and Manya Mishra, Youth Icon.

The conversation explored the creation of a progressive adolescent ecosystem and the importance of mentoring from childhood to adulthood.

A panel discussion titled ‘Empowering Girls during the Foundational Years’ was moderated by Namita Bhandare, independent journalist and writer.

The panelists – who included Osama Manzar, Founder & Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation; Maharshi Vaishnav, CEO, Educate Girls; Praveen Kumar Karn, Head – Group CSR, Spark Minda Group; Shipra Jha, Gender Specialist, UNICEF and Anita Kujur, Student of Medicine – spoke on the importance of sustained efforts in education, life skills, health, hygiene, digital skills, livelihood opportunities, capacity building, and nurturing family and mother-child health.