Rescue Pink Inc

Results: In just a little over 3 years we now have 4 centers in rural areas in different states in India. We have 164 girls in our after-school program and 125 mothers in our pregnancy and lactating program. We treated over 1,450 women and girls in our medical camps last year alone, and reached over 2,500 people in awareness programs. We are also so proud to say that we have launched 205 successful women entrepreneurs! It’s been amazing to see how quickly we are already seeing change.

Target demographics: Rescuing Girls from infanticide, neglect, trafficking and child marriage

Direct beneficiaries per year: In just a little over 3 years we now have 4 centers in rural areas in different states in India. We have 164 girls in our after-school program and 125 mothers in our pregnancy and lactating program. We treated over 1,450 women and girls in our medical camps last year alone, and reached over 2,500 people in awareness programs. We are also so proud to say that we have launched 205 successful women entrepreneurs! It’s been amazing to see how quickly we are already seeing change.

Geographic areas served: India

Programs: Rural Centers & After School Program for Girls: There are over 60 million missing girls in India. They were either aborted before birth, killed once born, died of neglect, trafficked, or given away in child marriage. This stems from disregarding the value of its women for centuries. The root of this stems from extreme poverty and the age-old practice of dowry that is deeply ingrained in its culture. The girls are at deep risk because rural poor families cannot afford them and consider them a burden on the family. Our After-School Program is an initiative to provide a safe environment to girls who are at risk by providing them with education, nutrition, health services and skills to help them pull themselves up out of the poverty cycle they are in. This program does not just focus on the overall development of the child but also works towards providing a safer environment by building stronger relationships with the families in order to create change. Pregnancy & Lactating Women's Programs: This program was launched with an aim to build trust and eradicate malnutrition in mothers, and preventing it from passing on to their children. We provide nutrition to these pregnant and lactating mothers and also have regular health checkups to ensure they stay healthy. Because when they are healthy, their baby girls stay healthy and we help give her a strong start. After 9 or more months of trust-building, we are then able to have a voice with the mom when they are disappointed in having a girl. We are able to encourage them with alternatives to female infanticide and then able to encourage them to get into our entrepreneurship program (see next program), in order for her to be able to afford and provide for her girl, and avoid the other atrocities that could happen to her. Women's Entrepreneurship Program: Our Women’s Entrepreneurship Program is one of the most successful programs at Rescue Pink. This program aims to provide financial stability to mother with one or more girls hailing from a lower socioeconomic background. Thus, ensuring a safer environment for them to grow in. Our women attend business training classes and write a business plan, and then are given a $150 grant to launch her business. Over the course of a year we walk with her throughout the process as she repays the grant and learns to provide for her daughter(s). Awareness Program: This is one of the core areas of Rescue Pink, to spread awareness. Awareness programs are held at various levels: Village/Urban, Educational Institutes and social media. The various issues we focus on include: Prevention of child marriages, human trafficking and the ways to identify it, importance of a girl child and gender discrimination, health and hygiene during the rainy season, addressing gender based violence, and on the importance of education for girls – with the main focus on girl child school dropouts. Medical Camps: Rescue Pink has a special focus on the healthy of women and girls, because there is nothing we can achieve if their basic needs are not met. We organize medical camps specifically or women and children where they are treated by well qualified doctors who specialize in Gynecology, Pediatrics and General Medicine. We have realized that health, is the most important, and at the same time most neglected aspect among women in rural villages. Medical camps help give us insight into who are the most vulnerable so we can intervene, and by hosting them 3 times annually in each area where we work, we are able to measure and track the progress of our own beneficiaries. Skills Based Centers: Our goal is to make sure our after-school girls have the skills to move forward and pull themselves out of poverty and change the trajectory of their own lives. We currently offer them training in kitchen gardening, and learning how to buy and sell in the market, and how to budget and reinvest in a business. We introduce computers and teach them how to navigate so they can attend higher education or get a job that pays them well. We want to expand by offering tailoring and many other skills based options for them, so they can have more options to be able to provide for themselves.