According to the UNICEF report, Bangladesh has the highest number of girls married off before 15. Over 700 million girls worldwide were victims of child marriage and one in every three of them were married off before 15. In Kurigram, 78% of girls under 18 were married. According to current statistics, Kurigram has been identified as the 3rd city in the world for child marriage.
To address this challenge, in 2018 Women in Digital supported by CARE and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to examine how to support married adolescent girls in the Kurigram district of Rangpur division in Bangladesh. The project aimed to work with 100 girls of Punchgacchi and Belgachha unions under Kurigram Sadar Upazila in Kurigram district.
To reduce child marriage and to empower the girls Women in Digital conducted ICT training program. The project aims to build the capability of girls in IT skills and job placement: Basic Computing, Graphics Design, Web Developing, Digital Marketing and E-Commerce. Along with the courses, English and Soft Skill courses are mandatory for all the 100 girls.
In the 3-month training program, 100 girls are trained in 5 courses so that they can build their own self-reliance. In the training program we trained 100 girls in those 5 courses. 20 girls are trained in each course.
After successfully complete the training program some students feedback are-
After my marriage, I was in a fix that what should I do other than household chores to support my family financially. WID illuminated me with the lights of computer education. With the help of WID, Now I hope and dream to jump over any hurdles of life and become financially independent as well as solvent.
-Archana Rani from Digital marketing course
After the E-commerce training course I will not sit idly, now I can do something for my betterment. -Konika Rani, Student of E-commerce Course
To make their training success, we have provided 100 laptops to all the girls who are undergoing training. This initiative has been taken so that they can apply this training in real life.
After the training, they change their lifestyle. Some of the girls are now, doing a great job. Some of them have become a trainer, some of them become a graphics designer. Some are freelancer and some run their own business.