Step-Up to STEM

Gender bias, limited access to technology and STEM education, and conventional education methods result in fewer Indian girls pursuing STEM for higher education and employment. The problem is exacerbated in rural India because of poor school infrastructure and gender stereotypes, resulting in fewer women contributing towards STEM.

CottonConnect is proposing a vocational computer literacy and coding skills training programme for girls, age 14 to 18 years who will be transitioning from school education to advanced degrees and employment opportunities in Gujarat, India. The programme will encourage girls to pursue STEM through mentorship and counselling sessions for confidence building.

 According to MasterCard, globally there are less than 20% of women in high tech jobs. Only one in 20 girls opt for a career in STEM. If the solution is scaled globally it will help create interest to further enrol and pursue STEM opportunities.  STEM careers offer higher pay (24-30%) and longevity.

We are working to reduce educational and social barriers that prevent young women in India from learning digital skills and becoming employed in technology jobs.

The challenge is lack of access for STEM for girls in rural India, leading to lack of awareness, interest, support and knowledge on how girls can be successful in STEM jobs.  Pervasive stereotypes that women should not do tech jobs or shouldn’t work at all are still common in rural communities. The mindset and cultural barriers of rural families, combined with a lack of income, contribute to the reduced access of education and job opportunities in STEM for girls and women.

 To demonstrate that STEM is not reserved for boys alone, we would provide a first step towards STEM  careers by providing these girls with computer literacy and basic coding skills along with best counselling to encourage them to consider a future in STEM.

The low numbers of women in STEM education directly translates to STEM careers. Globally women represent a minority in science at only 30% and only 35% of STEM students are women. A UN report in 2016 shows that girls and women constitute only 14% of the total scientific community in India.

Our solution is a two-step process towards STEM:

• We will provide vocational training to girls aged 14 to 18 on computer literacy and basic coding skills, to increase their employability and build their capacities and confidence in technology related fields. The classes will consist of both theory and practical sessions.
• Mentorship and counselling sessions by experts to build their awareness and interest in STEM fields, and encourage girls to pursue it for higher education as well as employment.

 The solution will include:

• Computer literacy training – MS Office, Email, Internet, Audio Visual tools use, etc.
• Coding Skills – MySQL, HTML, basic website and small solution-based coding to enhance logical thinking
• Confidence building sessions through experts and counsellors using audio visual mediums

 The equipment and technology required is computers with audio visual facilities, projectors, large screens and a running internet connection. We will partner with online training academies to be our partners on this journey in building the girls’ capacities.

 The technology used here is simple but requires a dedicated and committed approach as the target population is not very comfortable with using technology and will require familiarization first before formal learning with trainers begins.

Our target population is girls/young women from the marginalized and economically weak families from the cotton farming communities of Siddhpur and nearby villages in Patan district of Gujarat, India. Low levels of knowledge in literacy, health, and rights reduce productivity and undermine family well-being. We have been working with this community since 2015, and over the years have built a strong partnership and trust.

 CottonConnect’s research has found that without specific outreach efforts just 4% of women join any form of training programmes.

 At CottonConnect our actions are based on the needs and views of the communities we work with. Our goal is to bring global knowledge and solutions to rural communities which are then embedded appropriately in terms of culture and language. Strengthening girls’ access to technology requires a nuanced understanding of how gaps between men and women manifest across different communities.

 We have a dedicated Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team, the data we collect from the beneficiaries informs improvements on programme design and impact.  Our solution will address their needs by providing access to digital literacy training and practical mentoring on the potential for STEM education to support the effectively transition from education to employment in related fields.

Our programme would run parallel to the school curriculum for the higher secondary girl students as we believe practical skill development cannot be carried out in isolation. Access to digital literacy and an introduction to the opportunities in a STEM career in these years will build their confidence to consider higher studies or short-term professional courses in computer technology and STEM related subjects.

The solution has the potential to scale up in India as well as globally with customization as per the need and requirement of the women and girls from a specific country and region. 

We have been working in rural cotton communities in India for 10 years.  To date solutions have focused on sustainable agronomic practices.  However, we believe that our work should be holistic if we are to build resilient communities especially in light of COVID 19.  In 2015 we launched our Women in Cotton programme which covers health, business literacy and micro-entrepreneurial skills.  Our work with girls (aged 12 to 18) has to date focused on health and vocational skills, we now believe the time is right to bring digital literacy training solutions to these communities. We are not aware of any other similar programmes with over 320,000 farmers we work with across India.

Through our work we are giving opportunities to new generations to learn the most popular technologies being used across industries and specially in the field of education like – online education application, tools and websites

We are reaching to those communities which do not have direct access to such learning and capacity building opportunities.

From our experience of working with women in the farming communities and adolescent girls we very well understand the need of the future and how girls and women with better education in STEM and digital literacy would benefit in long run. It is a win-win situation for the society as a whole and not just the number of girls or women directly part of the trainings.  

The first phase will be for the participants to gain confidence using standard computer programmes, audio-visual meetings and training tools. As their confidence grows, we will use online applications and software which provide training on coding skills.  Our approach will be to translate this information so knowledge can be easily gained.  We will use surveys to test their knowledge and gather information on the type of resources they are using to increase their knowledge apart from what we will be teaching during our programme.  

The solution will also be sowing the seed for a behavioural shift towards building interest of girls towards digital literacy and also STEM based careers which they otherwise would not even think of due to cultural beliefs, no support from parents and other gender stereotypes. CottonConnect will provide mentorship and counselling to girls throughout the programme and after programme as well.  

The planning, implementation and coordination for these skills trainings will be done by CottonConnect along with the identification of experts, selection of online tools and academies, and open source materials, mobile applications, interactive methodologies etc. with support from, our partner, school staff and management wherever necessary. 

We have seen in the past in our various social programme directed at women that they are more inclined to learning the latest technologies and skills and utilise them to make their lives better in whatever possible ways they can. Even if it is just by using an application to learn better agricultural practices or health and hygiene practices, they have shown interest and learned to access useful information quickly and implement it in their lives. It has given us confidence that with right guidance and training girls can really make the change happen.

 Girls and women in the rural and tribal communities usually face the biggest challenge in accessing these technologies freely because they not have access in their households. Only the males in the families use smartphones or desktops if at all available. In the past we have seen that girls are very excited to learn the use of mobile to access information which could help them in their day to day life. We have worked using SMS, WhatsApp as medium to reach out with relevant information to our communities and received positive feedback and responses. If dedicated training is provided to girls, they show great learning potential and eagerness to step up and move beyond basics quickly.

 And we move forward believe strongly in the proverb “IF YOU EDUCATE A MAN YOU EDUCATE AN INDIVIDUAL, BUT IF YOU EDUCATE A WOMAN YOU EDUCATE A NATION.” With this thought we want to build stronger communities by empowering women. 

It is believed that if you educate a girl you are educating the family and communities. Girls’ education and women empowerment are the two pillars of building a stronger community. In the last 10 years CottonConnect has trained over 50,000 women including 1,000 adolescent girls covering various topics which led to their increased awareness on their rights, self-care, decision making etc. Through this programme we plan to focus on secondary school age girls and build their capacities for digital literacy directly and encourage interest in STEM education to meet the increasing demand for technology and STEM skills. The girls will have increased job opportunities and not be restricted to farming.

 Activities:

• Need assessments for feedback and assessment of current capacities of target population
• Implementation of training for a period of 3 months – 2 days a week.
• Online training sessions on computer literacy and basic coding algorithms.
• Training on access to open source material and free online courses for self-paced learning
• Build confidence and capacity building on pursuing STEM related fields

 Outputs:

• Increased access to learning methods and platforms
• Increased awareness on STEM and its importance
• Regular guidance and counselling support
• Increased confidence to pursue STEM based higher studies, courses, diplomas and careers
• Increased knowledge on how computers can be used for various activities and basic coding knowledge 

Outcomes:

• Increased number of girls participating in computer literacy training and considering careers in STEM
• Strengthened practical skills, competencies, and experiential learning opportunities, particularly in digital literacy, for girls and young women to effectively transition from education to employment; 
• Reduced barriers preventing girls entering computer technology and STEM careers
• Enhanced awareness of the importance of STEM education for girls at an early stage for informed decision making

• Strengthened capacity of CottonConnect to deliver gender-responsive education

Means of Verification/Data source:

• Tool based Baseline and Endline survey
• Training Attendance Register
• Data from local partners
• Beneficiary Testimonies

Risks:

• Distance of the school for girls to travel regularly
• Parents do not send girls to the school in remote locations due to safety issues
• Girls do not attend the training due to personal or external factors

We currently plan to serve 200 girls through this solution in 2020-21. In future we want to scale this model up. Our goal is to have two batches of trainings per year (200 girls each year) with current capacity and with more schools adding up and use of online mediums the reach could be far more. With support and a dedicated approach to scale up the programme, it is possible that in five years could reach more than 5,000 girls. The accurate number of people affected by our solution could be much higher once we include more institutions and organizations on this transformational journey for the young women from the rural areas and farming family backgrounds who otherwise would be left out from these learning opportunities. 

For next 1 year:

• Conduct assessment of students’ knowledge level; design training accordingly and roll out in a phased manner through the first year (3 months’ time for training in a year)
• Build a robust system of experts, online training tools and platforms available to support wider reach without much human support requirement.  
• Improve girls’ knowledge and awareness in STEM based fields, steps to take, computer literacy, logical thinking through basic coding skills training for increased access to learning and move them a step closer to the world of STEM related opportunities.
• Post training feedback and assessment on knowledge based on the trainings implemented to help improve in following years.

 Long term goal:

• Strengthen computer literacy, coding skills and STEM based knowledge among girls by building their confidence and awareness on these skills and opportunities.
• Give more and more such students the access to formal and informal learning through various platforms through CottonConnect or even otherwise sharing info on free platforms at their disposal.

We plan to achieve this by bringing in more partners who could help us scale this solution to various villages in India and form a network of trainers and experts to help build us our training curriculum as per the industry demand and needs of the beneficiaries both. We would market our results and look for potential investors who are willing to support the empowerment of girls and women from the economically weak sections of the society who are deprived of education and hence related opportunities.  

Below are some of the barriers which exist in our way to accomplishing the goals we have:

• Technical- Need for more infrastructure to support the trainings as we scale up, more institutions to support this initiative and provide access to the girls studying in their educational institutes to be part of our solution.
• Cultural- We need to change the attitude and norms in rural communities on girl education, especially higher education and jobs in technology and STEM fields and their participation in economy. It is difficult to get agreement from parents in rural areas to send their daughters to schools, higher studies, diploma’s and such training programmes to make them employable in the job market. Boys and men are given more access to such opportunities as they are considered the bread winners. 

We will address the barriers through partnerships, collaborations and engagement with stakeholders. We plan to engage with our brand and other partners to strengthen and scale up the project.

 We believe the investment from Solve will create a platform to drive awareness and potentially funding for additional computer literacy and STEM activities in rural communities in India.  The project will provide a platform to seek additional investors willing to be part of the journey to create the impact in the lives of these young girls and women.

 To shift norms, we will work on building self-efficacy, confidence and knowledge of girls. We will also engage with school teachers, parents and local influencers to create an enabling environment for girls. Role models and recognising improved capacities of girls will also help in shifting norms.  

• Full-time staff -    6
• Experts/Consultants -   2

Our team have been present on the ground since the beginning of CottonConnect 10 years ago. We have a team of local experts with knowledge and experience in working with rural communities. We are a trusted partner in these communities. The team members are based in India giving them a unique position to tackle the issue from the source.  We have technical experts too to review the training content and methodology to provide feedback on regular basis. We have a strong Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team for data collection and sharing the impacts through interactive reporting.

Our company has experience of working with communities on various issues on education, health, financial literacy, livelihoods, agricultural practices and micro-enterprise. In past we focused on life skills and supporting young girls to learn vocational skills.  Although a wide range of skills were available the girls chose more traditional skills like sewing and tailoring. Courses were designed keeping in mind the requirements at community level and most important to start learning such skills at High School so that once the girls leave school they have skills further helping them to get job to earn some extra income for the family, to support further studies or even to start up their own small scale venture utilizing the skills learnt.  Training on computer literacy and mentoring on STEM based careers offers a next step in learning agenda and will build confidence for women and girls in these communities to lift their vision above current horizons.

We will partner with Yoganjali Kelvani Mandal (YKM) which is a public charitable trust established in 1974 to work for the upliftment of humanity. They “provide help to the weakest from the remote areas in education, women empowerment, health, social and spiritual development”. The Trust especially focusses on women by providing them shelter, livelihood means, education. They also have schools and hostels for children belonging to “economically backward and marginalized families”. YKM has been running educational institute for 20 years and children from nearby 42 villages have studied there. 300 girls are currently part of their school.

We have worked with YKM for 5 years and covered 500 women beneficiaries and 150 adolescent girls by building their knowledge and awareness on topics like nutrition, hygiene, child rights and building confidence in public speaking and leadership.  We have also taught vocational skills to 200 girls in school to support incomes after completing school. We have also helped women link with popular social protection schemes and help them be part of self-help groups. This builds a solid foundation to ‘Step-Up to STEM’ via a digital literacy training and mentoring.

YKM provides the infrastructure and the students enrolled in their schools. CottonConnect provides the overall management for the successful planning and implementation of the training programme to these students and carefully capturing the inputs and feedbacks from the beneficiaries as we go on with the training to have insights on improvement to support in development of a robust scalable system in place. http://yoganjaliashram.org/

• Value Proposition – provide girls with knowledge and capacity building skills to improve their access to education with training on developing their computer literacy and coding skills.
• Beneficiaries – girls and young women from the rural and marginalized families.
• Service – Training and capacity building. Implementation and programme management support. Access to best online training sessions and tools
• Medium of providing service – Online tools like applications, physical study material, interactions though audio visual setups and physical trainings to support knowledge sharing. The approach is theory backed with practical and fun activities to engage.
• Why this service - our beneficiaries deserve the same opportunities as others in the cities and town or those from the wealthy families but because of poverty, they are left out, discriminated, marginalized which is not fair for their future. No cultural barriers should keep girls from their right to education and learning. No gender bias should make them feel they are any less and STEM is not a career for them.

Before we provide any service, we carry out need assessments that includes  feedback and actual needs from beneficiaries. Then we design training plan and modules based on the actual needs. We work with partners derived from lower levels e.g. community volunteers, local community-based organizations, donors and stakeholders who are doing similar projects in the same communities. These partners have built a relationship with the people around then and people trust them which helps us on-board them and take on this learning journey.  

CottonConnect has developed a sustainable financial model based on services provided to brand, retailers and donors focused on sustainable cotton and supply chains.

Our mission is to support farmers and farming communities to and enjoy better livelihoods through a holistic approach which supports a more resilient future.  We are therefore applying for the Solve fund to further support our mission with a focus on improving the economic status of women in the rural communities in which we operate

To reach the position of financial sustainability we will keep on reaching out to different donors, funders and also market our services to brands/retailers interested in CSR activities empowering young girls and women from rural India to make them employable.  We depend on the donations or grants because the services we give to the beneficiaries are provided for free, but the costs of trainers, infrastructure, assessments and implementation are to be taken care of by CottonConnect in full. We will also be seeking supporter organizations such as Solve for us to keep this solution going.

We believe our proposed solution clearly meets the requirements of the Solve Challenge to help marginalized girls and young women access quality learning opportunities to succeed. We have a pilot programme designed increase girls’ digital literacy and encourage opportunities to pursue a career in STEM, for which we need financial support from the prize funding through the Solve Challenge.

Being a part of Solve would provide us with a network of people with aligned goals or experts from the fields who could help us implement and improve our plan effectively. We are looking at communicating our work to others in the industry who would be willing to support this as investors or donors in long run and support our plans to scale up.

The funding will provide strong support for continuing the programme and with the right mentorship we will be able to explore it from the necessary angles to build it into a robust and impactful programme for the communities we serve. We are also looking out for areas of improvement wherever customization can help build this solution more meaningful and widen its reach. By being a Solver, we will be able to create relevant partnerships which could help us take our work further and endorse our impact and business model to relevant stakeholders. This will also support CottonConnect to make this programme sustainable. 

Below are the major goals we look at from partnerships to build this solution further:

• Seek advisory on refining our model to better prepare for scaling up and sustainability in various geographies.
• Explore grants, investments and funding opportunities for running the programme for the next 3-5 years
• Strategy building support and guidance for future of the solution
• Technical input in training curriculum revision to serve and fulfil the needs of beneficiaries and be aligned to demand of industries providing jobs in nearby regions.  
• Partner with trainers and experts in the topic for a long-term association and effective training delivery to the students from the rural areas who have limited access to highly qualified teachers and trainers.
• Seek out Role Models to inspire girls.

We would like to strengthen our current partnership with Yoganjali Kelvani Mandal (YKM), Siddhpur, Gujarat, India and work together for the long-term benefit of communities around them.  CottonConnect has been working with YKM on the programme ‘Hunar’ (Vocational Training Programme for girls in secondary and senior secondary) for the past two years. 

Once the curriculum is designed to meet the computer literacy and coding skill needs of the girls/women, with support from the experts, we plan expand it to our other partners in Gujarat and other states in India where we have ground presence and network. Later we would also like to customize and test this as pilot in other countries where we are present.

We have a strong network where we can connect with various schools, educational institutes and NGOs across India to widen our reach in those communities and scale up. A lot of these organizations have been working in the education field and have run successful community programs in the past.   CottonConnect has partnered with them on various programmes covering topics like health, education, financial literacy, agricultural practices and livelihood.

We can partner with various organizations, NGOs and government bodies to create social and economic opportunities which can help us really transform the lives of these individuals who otherwise might not get the privilege of learning, and at a wider level to the communities these girls and young women belong to.