Build community ownership to create and sustain increased enrollment and retention for girls, and improve learning outcomes of children.
Team Leader
Safeena Husain
Create a continuum of support for last-mile girls (aged from 6-29) by strengthening enrolment, retention, and learning outcomes, expanding structured second-chance pathways, and scaling impact through government adoption for sustainable systems change.
Solution Pitch
The Problem
In India gender remains a persistent barrier to education with 4.1 million girls out of school. The country is home to the largest population of illiterate women in the world, counting over 200 million, and ranks 135 out of 187 countries on the United Nations Development Programme’s Education Index.
The Solution
Educate Girls (EG) aims to solve this problem by enrolling up to 1.5 million out-of-school girls back in school by 2024. EG employs a holistic, community based program model focused on improving the enrollment, retention and learning outcomes of out-of-school girls. EG’s program is hinged around its community volunteers called Team Balika who are trained to conduct program activities on the ground with the field staff. EG uses a geo-tagged tech-based monitoring system to collect, aggregate, and report on program performance, informing actionable targets and resource allocation.
EG works in over 50,000 schools across 18,000 villages in India and plans to expand to 35,000 villages by 2024. In partnership with the State Governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, EG has enrolled 800,000 out of school girls and improved learning outcomes for 1.3 million children through its curriculum. Over 11 million children have benefited from improved school governance & infrastructure.
Stats
To date, Educate Girls has enrolled 800,000 out-of-school-girls in India.
Market Opportunity
The governments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are investing heavily in education, with more than 7 billion committed between the three states to primary and higher education in 2020. EG currently operates in 18,000+ villages in these states. Using advanced analytics to pinpoint hotspot villages with the highest concentration of out-of-school girls, EG plans to expand its program across 35,000 villages by 2024, benefiting 15 million children cumulatively.
Organization Highlights
Some of Educate Girls’ notable achievements include:
In 2019, Educate Girls was the first organization in Asia to be chosen as one of TED’s Audacious Projects
Educate Girls’ Founder & Executive Director Safeena Husain spoke at TED 2019 on her plans to empower out-of-school girls in India
Educate Girls successfully implemented the world’s first Development Impact Bond (DIB) in education in partnership with UBS Optimus Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in Bhilwara, Rajistan
Featured in Business Standard, Tech Crunch, Business Insider, Fast Company, Forbes, and more
Partnership Goals
Educate Girls currently seeks:
Funding to expand its activities across 35,000 villages in India, enrolling up to 1.5 million girls in school and benefitting 15 million children overall by 2024
Strategic marketing and communications support to build a global brand and reach millions of girls worldwide
Connections to cross-sector leaders with experience in international development, philanthropy, media, advocacy and finance to serve on its board and promote its mission of gender equity and girls’ education
What is the name of your organization?
Educate Girls
What is the name of your solution?
Strategy 3.0 - 10 Million Learners in 10 Years
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Create a continuum of support for last-mile girls (aged from 6-29) by strengthening enrolment, retention, and learning outcomes, expanding structured second-chance pathways, and scaling impact through government adoption for sustainable systems change.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Mumbai
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
India
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
India achieves near-universal primary girl enrolment, but secondary dropout is high (47.5% progression). Poverty, early marriage, migration, norms, poor foundations, and scarce schools drive dropouts. Underserved areas lack infrastructure; fragmented NIOS offers weak re-entry, trapping millions in inequality.
What is your solution?
Through Strategy 3.0, Foundation to Educate Girls Globally will support girls aged 6-29 via Vidya and Pragati programs, targeting 10M learners in 10 years.
Vidya targets out-of-school girls aged 6-14 for enrolment/retention and improves outcomes for grades 3-8 via Gyan Ka Pitara, reaching 700K children in 5 years in hotspots.
Pragati offers second-chance Grade 10 certification for dropouts aged 15-29 using government open schooling.
Systemically, we’ll partner with 12 state governments to strengthen open schools. Combining direct delivery, NGOs, and government ties, Strategy 3.0 ensures scalable impact.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution supports last-mile girls and young women aged 6 to 29 who are out of formal education or face major barriers to learning. Vidya focuses on children aged 6 to 14 out of school or at risk of dropping out due to poverty, restrictive social norms, early marriage, migration, or weak learning foundations. Pragati supports adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 29 who are over-age, have dropped out, or are ineligible for formal schooling, providing second-chance education via Grade 10 certification and flexible pathways for further learning and livelihoods.
Our programs operate primarily in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar—states with high exclusion rates—targeting Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. Most learners are first-generation with limited family support and deep-rooted social disadvantages. By addressing these barriers, we help them access education, build life skills and confidence, strengthen agency, and unlock sustainable socio-economic empowerment.
Solver Team
Organization Type: Non-Profit
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Stage: Scale
Working in: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, India
