HOW DO THE VIDYANJALI READING GROUPS WORK?

Number of Village Reading Groups  We are working with two local partners to develop this project, and each partner is being asked to set up reading groups in a number of villages, which will involve 3 groups of around 15 women per village who will meet weekly to read books together.

The Village Reader There will be a “Village Reader” who will facilitate the reading groups, and act as a resource person for each group. We will provide training and support to the village reader, who might be a village health worker, or a Standard 10 school leavers who may be stuck in the villages without a job, but have the skills we are looking for.

Target Audience Our target audience for the reading groups is adolescent girls and young women from the Banjara and Lambada tribal groups as well as dalits (untouchables) in Andhra Pradesh, who are amongst the most disadvantaged and have the least literacy skills.

Books for Reading Groups  We provide multiple copies of a range of books on practical subjects (such as better health and income generation) and encourage the readers to take action to improve their lives and their communities. We have a pool of experts who visit from time to time to share their expertise on topics under discussion. This means that the books can be read together in small groups. Typically a book will have 16 to 48 pages, be simply written and include stories and case studies as well as practical information that people can make use of.

Funds for each reading group We also want to provide a small fund under the control of the readers where they can decide to take action on an issue which is of community benefit.

Organising health visits We will organise occasional health education events using a pool of experts who have agreed to do this. For example, we could organise for a health visitor to talk about family planning, and HIV.