CorStone is pleased to announce the results of the Children’s Resiliency Program for Girls | CRPG with 1,000 girls from the slums of Surat, India.
The CRPG was conducted in partnership with the Federation of Slum Dwelling Women, a cooperative of over 1,000 women in Surat. Girls in the program were 12-16 years of age, from the Dalit (so-called “untouchable”) caste, at risk for abuse, discrimination, child marriage, and school dropout.
“In just 12 weeks | 2 hours per week, girls who attended the program saw measurable impact on mental health, self-esteem, optimism, peer and family relationships and school conduct.”Sangath Research Results
Measurable impact on improving lives
Using a mix of standardized assessments and qualitative interviews, our local research partner, Sangath, confirmed that girl participants experienced significant change including:
- Better able to control their anger
- More hopeful and optimistic
- Improved ability to resolve disagreements and avoid conflicts
- Better able to cope with challenges in their environments including: health problems, school exams, conflicts with peers and family members, crime and violence
Girls First Participant
Data and details of change
Girls scoring Normal on the standardized psychological assessments increased from 65.5% to 79.2% after 12 weeks of participating in the Children’s Resilience program.
Girls scoring Borderline decreased from 22.3% to 8.8% after 12 weeks. The control group showed no statistically significant difference.
Additional findings from Sangath’s research include:
- Parents insisted that their daughters attend the sessions because they believed they couldn’t learn these skills anywhere else. Many parents even asked if they could enroll in the training for their own benefit.
- Group facilitators considered the program so important that they often personally paid for transportation for girls for whom transportation costs were a problem.
- Slum leaders from over 25 slums have united in support of the program and have requested its expansion beyond the schools and into the community.
Teacher | Girls First Program
Learn more about our research, methods and results
To learn more about the evidence-based research that we collect and analyze to determine how effective our methods are over time, visit our Research Results page.
