Payanam

Trust for Youth and Child Leadership (TYCL) plans to support 20 rural girls (first-time interstate travellers) in a year from Puducherry, Cuddalore and Villupuram districts of Tamil Nadu to learn leadership skills by traveling in north India. Girls will get a ten-days learning opportunity to plan, travel, network, meet new people, cross-cultural experience, and journaling the leadership journey in a gender lens. TYCL will cover the orientation, food, accommodation, medical insurance, and travel expenses estimated by the girls.

TYCL has conducted off/online study to identify the top five issues faced by girls in the Puducherry region. The following five responses were received from the girls:

• Insecure to travel alone/fear of going alone.
• Fear of stalking and harassment at anywhere and anytime.
• Fear of dowry causing mental health issues.
• Forced marriages/Fear of getting married soon.
• Denial/Restriction to undergo higher studies outside of Puducherry.

There is a very strong fear among girls towards men, their parents, and society. These fear factors spoil their courage, creativity, compassion in life. In order to build young girls as strong knowledge-based resources in society, there is a need to create a safe space for girls to explore the world and learn leadership skills. The proposed travel program will develop girls’ self-esteem and courage, and build their skills in setting boundaries, dealing with conflict, and de-escalating violence.

Goal

The main goal of the project is to build leadership skills through travel to socio-economically disadvantaged passionate young girls from rural areas

• To provide an opportunity for the young girls to explore themselves by creating a safe, learning-oriented and joyful traveling experience.
• To create an opportunity for young women to explore and share their learning experience back into their family/community after the trip and to document the whole PAYANAM experience.
• To offer support to young girls to connect with like-minded persons/organizations/communities in their respective places of travel.

Participants

Initially, Five girls in the age group of 18-25 years from Puducherry, Cuddalore, Villupuram, who are socially and economically disadvantaged but interested in learning leadership through travel will be selected by self-made applications. 20 girls will be supported throughout the year in three phases.

Duration

The Payanam travel program will be for 10 days in every phase. This whole project will be implemented in three phases. Phase 1- March to May 2020 | Phase 2- September-October 2020 | December 2020- January 2021.

The outcome of the Project

The project will give cross-cultural exposure to 20 rural girls who haven’t travel in the past. This opportunity helps 20 girls to come out of their fear of men and society and help them to take courageous decisions for their own life. The project will help 20 girls to explore inner abilities and leadership skills to practice for their own and family development.