• Project Area: Leadership development through technology
• Project Duration: 2019-01-01 to 2021-12-31
• Donor: Tech Age Girls (TAG)

READ Global works to create a world in which being born a girl has no negative impact on access to opportunities. A world where access to high-quality education for girls is a given, and where girls have the freedom to choose their own path and move beyond their circumstances at birth. With nearly three decades of experience partnering with rural communities in Nepal, READ Global knows first-hand that investing in girls and women is the fastest and most effective strategy for alleviating poverty, driving economic growth, and creating positive social change around the world.  READ works with communities in South Asia to launch READ Community Library and Resource Centers (“READ Centers”), community-owned and managed development hubs that bring educational programs to entire families, with a focus on educational programs for girls and women. READ Centers are safe spaces for girls and young women to access educational and skills-building opportunities and step into leadership positions - both in their communities and beyond – which not only empower them as individuals but also help to shift gender norms. In some cases, READ Centers are the only place women and girls are permitted to visit when they aren’t in school or helping with family obligations. Because these centers provide educational and economic advancement for all community members, particularly the most marginalized, they are an ideal platform for launching Tech Age Girls (TAG), a proven holistic girls’ education and leadership program previously implemented by READ’s partner, IREX, in nine countries. READ requests support from the Stone Family Foundation to launch TAG for the first time in Nepal.

TAG combines technology, leadership, and life skills training with practical assignments and community engagement projects that build critical leadership and 21st-century skills including higher-order thinking, collaboration, positive self-concept, adaptability, and resilience. Through TAG, READ and IREX will work intensively with 450 girls in grades 9-12 over a two-year period in six districts of Nepal to inspire them to dream big while equipping them with the skills, confidence, and knowledge to put their plans into action. Ultimately, launching TAG will bring positive change not only to the lives of the girls in the program but also to their families and entire communities. Implementing TAG through READ Centers that already have strong relationships with families and schools will allow READ to reach even the most marginalized girls while providing TAG participants and their families with a sustainable support system that they can tap into long after the program ends. TAG will be offered over three stages, starting with a larger cohort of young women with top performers advancing to subsequent stages. This ensures that a broad group of girls will receive important digital literacy, employability, leadership, 21st-century skills, and the self-confidence to prepare them for academic success, civic engagement, and gainful employment. 1 The most motivated and high-performing girls will receive more targeted, advanced training as well as expanded opportunities to grow their leadership potential through a national conference in Kathmandu and community-oriented projects. Working with local teachers as mentors and co-trainers, the girls that advance to later stages of the program will conduct cascade training through schools to more than 1,800 of their peers. Combining peer education with mentorship will build the confidence and skills of the TAG participants who conduct the training while combating negative stereotypes about girls and tech by showcasing young women as role models to both girls and boys as they learn new 21st century skills in the classroom. By simultaneously building the capacity of teachers and READ Center staff to support girls’ education, TAG will improve the existing educational system, ensuring sustained leadership development and ICT education for girls for years to come.