Breakthrough

Gender gaps tend to favour men and are more pronounced in developing countries, where poverty and gender inequality create a two-way vicious cycle. India stands out for unequal opportunities and outcomes for women in early marriage, gender-based violence, and labour force participation. There is increasing recognition that there are limits to addressing these widespread structural inequalities without working to address the underlying beliefs which sustain them. As such, affirmative intervention at the right time, which can effectively change people’s attitudes towards gender, can play a powerful role in addressing gender inequality. Early adolescence is a period of identity formation when attitudes are malleable, and are therefore a promising point of entry for such programmes.

With this investment, GIF is supporting Breakthrough to work in partnership with the Department of Education to adapt the Taaron ki Toli curriculum for implementation in two states. In Punjab, TKT will be integrated with existing curricula and equip master trainers to deliver the programme across all 4,500 upper primary government schools in the state. Meanwhile, a pilot across 100 schools will enable Breakthrough to refine the model to be used for scaling in the state of Odisha. GIF funding also will enable J-PAL to conduct process evaluations of both programmes in Punjab and Odisha as part of a commitment to generating and disseminating learning on the requirements and challenges of scaling gender equality innovations through government education systems. A reproduction manual will mean that learning from this investment is made accessible to others.