“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.”
Kahlil Gibran
Poet
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Leader of the Indian independence movement
“The purpose of human life is to serve and to show kindness and the will to help others.”
Albert Schweitzer
Humanitarian and Nobel laureate
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Civil rights leader
Turning education into employability
In a developing country like India, skills development matters as much as — if not more than — academic education. A marketable skill is what allows a young woman to find dignified work, or even to build a livelihood of her own. The Skills Development Program equips underprivileged girls with practical, employable skills they can use to pursue meaningful careers, gain financial independence, and lift their families out of poverty. Through paid training in high-demand trades and one-on-one mentorship, we help each enrolled girl turn what she learns into a career she can call her own.
The barriers girls face
Girls from economically weaker and marginalised backgrounds are often locked out of skills-building opportunities. The barriers they face are systemic and deeply rooted:
Financial constraints — nearly a quarter of India lives below the official poverty line, leaving no money for skills training.
Shortfalls in the education system — only about 2% of India’s workforce is formally skilled, compared with over 40% in countries like China, the USA and Germany, because vocational training is rarely part of mainstream schooling.
Inaccessible learning platforms — with only about 3% of rural Indians connected to the internet, online courses and urban training centres remain out of reach for most girls.
Gender inequality — from a young age, girls face discrimination in access to learning and economic resources, and are far less likely than boys to complete secondary education.
Outdated social beliefs — in families with scarce resources, boys are prioritised for additional learning, while an educated daughter is wrongly seen as less desirable for marriage.
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
Maya Angelou
Poet
What the program provides
Our Skills Development Program gives each enrolled girl more than a classroom — it gives her a safe, supported path to independence:
Paid skills-building opportunities — hands-on training in high-demand trades.
Access to nutritious food and good healthcare — so she can focus fully on learning and growing.
A safe and progressive environment — where it is okay to learn, to ask questions and to dream.
One-on-one guidance — we stay in direct touch with each girl and her parents, acting not only as sponsors but as mentors and guardians for her career.
How the program is built
We launched the Skills Development Program in 2017, working through smart partnerships: established skills-development institutes deliver the vocational training, eligible Support-A-Girl students receive scholarships, and companies that need skilled talent offer real job interviews at the end of it — so the training leads somewhere.
We are deliberate about growing carefully. Every rupee and every hour invested must create a real, lasting impact for the girls we serve. As of late 2017 we were in the early design phase, building a volunteer team to shape and run a pilot, with our first academy location expected by the end of 2018 and our first Support-A-Girl student joining in January 2019. Today the program has 12 girls enrolled, with two set to graduate as its first completers.
