Empowering Girls:
Building a Just and
Equitable World Test

India is home to nearly 120 million adolescent girls, the largest of this cohort in the world. Most of them might never reach their full potential just because they are girls.

Investing in girls changes everything!

Adolescent girls are key to a sustainable future and a pathway out of poverty. Discriminatory gender norms leave them with less parental support for schooling,
time-consuming domestic chores and roles, and high risks of child marriage, adolescent motherhood and violence.

Investing in them can:

Reduce infant and maternal mortality rates

A literate mother has more chances of surviving pregnancy and giving birth to a healthy child.

Improve female workforce participation

A female-dominant workforce can elevate the capacity of India’s GDP.

Eliminate poverty

With greater autonomy, adolescents are more likely to lead healthier and more productive lives as adults, thus breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Tackle climate change

When adolescent girls are educated and supported, they can contribute to sustainable practices, advocate for environmental protection, and drive innovation towards a greener future.

We work with and for adolescent girls through a girl-led leadership program to achieve 4 key outcomes:

Addressing Gender
Inequality in Education

Adolescent Health
& Well-Being

Prevention of
Child Marriage

Prevention of Violence
Against Women & Girls

Delivering life skills education
Giving access to digital infrastructures
Providing mentoring support
Awarding educational scholarships
Collectivising girls at the grassroots
Creating safe spaces
Instigating community engagement

The Girl Icon Program develops and fosters a series of self-positive behaviours that are essential for continued resilience and future leadership. Empowerment is a personal journey, as unique and diverse as the individuals themselves. Self-positive traits of independent mobility, knowledge of resources and services, awareness of gender inequity challenges, and the ability to express oneself are examples of interim outcomes that support the development of resilience, identity development, and empowerment. Milaan’s Girl Icon Program provides essential empowerment training for girls as a stepping stone, exposing girls to structural gender challenges and encouraging girls to believe in their own abilities and foster a sense of self.

University of California, Berkeley

Our Impact

Indian states

Adolescent girls

Community members

“I have seen girls in my community get married off after they pass 8th grade because they are considered a burden to the family but this mentality is centuries old and I am fighting to change it. I have stopped three child marriages and I will continue to stop more.”

Girl Icon Alumna, Priya

Build a Movement
of Girl Leaders

An investment of INR 3,500 or USD 45 supports
an adolescent girl for 18 months through the
Girl Icon Program.

Build a Movement of Girl Leaders

An investment of INR 3,500 or USD 45 supports an adolescent girl for 18 months through the Girl Icon Program.

Girl Icon Alumni Network

A five-year association where the Girl Icon Alumni make a valuable contribution to the growth of the Girl Icon Program, their communities, and the larger society along with mentoring new Girl Icons.