Something remarkable is happening in villages across India–and it’s showing us the future of development.
A shy nine-year-old from Jharkhand becomes the first in her family to graduate with a university scholarship. A young bride reclaims her life and pursues a law degree. A girl with a bicycle delays marriage to become a teacher. A stone layer’s daughter boards her first flight to learn coding and returns earning more than anyone in her village.
These aren’t anomalies. They’re proof that when we invest in girls’ aspirations with conviction and creativity, transformation isn’t just possible–it’s inevitable.
A fact corroborated by the World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality and Development recognised that expanding women’s agency is critical to improving the lives of women, their households, and their communities. What makes this year’s International Day of the Girl Child which has just been observed particularly significant is that India is now demonstrating how this transformation happens in practice–and the lessons are profound.
Rising from rural Jharkhand, Nisha, a shy nine-year-old who barely spoke Hindi or English, became the first in her family to graduate, earning a full scholarship to Azim Premji University. She credits her success to the Yuwa Football Programme, which helped her break free from the vicious cycle of child marriage and excel as a competitive football player. Football gained momentum in Jharkhand in 2013 when a group of 18 village girls made the nation proud by securing third place at the Donosti Cup in Spain. Inspired by their journey, Nisha joined Yuwa, which uses football to empower girls and tackle child marriage- an issue deeply entrenched in rural Jharkhand. Through Yuwa, she gained unprecedented exposure, travelling across India and collaborating with students from around the world. A standout achievement of the programme is that none of its participants have been married before the age of 18–a remarkable feat in a state where nearly one in three girls still marry early, according to NFHS-5 data.
Rewriting destiny to reach her Manzil was Mamta. From becoming a child bride at the tender age of five to pursuing a law degree, her story is one of courage and reclaiming destiny. Growing up in the small village of Bhojpura in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Mamta’s childhood was replaced by household responsibilities that came with early marriage. Despite her in-laws dismissing her dreams, Mamta refused to give up. She dissolved the marriage, returned to her mother, and – with the support of Project Manzil–enrolled in a tailoring course and secured a job. With her earnings, she funded her own education, supported her mother, and continues to pursue higher studies today. In Rajasthan’s rural and tribal districts, countless girls face similar fates, trapped in child marriage with limited opportunities for education or work. them to decent work opportunities to shape their lives towards better futures.
Then there was Nibha, a 27-year-old from Bihar’s Begusarai district. Riding a bicycle brought emancipation for her. She credits completing her secondary education to the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana, launched in 2006, which provided bicycles to girls for commuting to school and coaching centres. Nibha is among 1.6 lakh girls whose lives were positively impacted by the scheme, designed to make education more accessible by reducing the cost and barriers of travel. A study by Professors Nishith Prakash and Karthik Muralidharan found that the program led to a 32% increase in girls’ enrolment and a 40% reduction in the gender gap, with long-term gains in higher education, employment beyond agriculture, and delayed marriage and childbearing. Using her bicycle for two years during secondary school, Nibha was able to delay marriage until she reached the legal age and is now training to become a teacher.Monika’s story was yet another powerful inspiration. The residents of Mordha village in Rajasthan had never boarded a flight-until 20-year-old Monika did, becoming the youngest and most inspiring role model in her community. The daughter of a stone layer, Monika had always dreamed of studying science, but financial constraints made attending a private school outside her village impossible. Although her father supported the education of his five children, limited means forced Monika to pursue humanities after Grade 10, despite her growing interest in science and technology. She later married, but her journey took a new turn when Babita, a community motivator with Project Manzil, introduced her to various skilling courses and counselled her family and in-laws to support her ambitions. Monika enrolled in a software diploma course and flew to Pune, where she spent nine months learning coding and computer languages. Today, she works full-time, earning ₹21,000 a month–the highest income among girls in her village.
The stories of Nisha, Mamta, Nibha, and Monika aren’t exceptional because they possessed some rare quality. They’re exceptional because they received what should be universal: Recognition of their potential, removal of barriers, and sustained support to pursue their dreams.
India has no shortage of government schemes and development programs. What we desperately need are responsive models that:
Listen before designing. Programmes must start with girls’ aspirations, not assume they need or should want.
Address systemic barriers, not just individual constraints. A bicycle program works because it tackles transportation. A football program prevents child marriage because it creates community pride and alternative narratives. Effective interventions understand that individual empowerment requires shifting entire ecosystems.
Invest in sustained engagement, not one-off interventions. Mamta needed more than a tailoring course – she needed someone to negotiate with her in-laws. Monika needed more than a coding programme–she needed nine months of immersive learning far from home. Real change requires sustained investment.
Measure success by transformed trajectories. We should commit to systems where no girl faces child -marriage. The metric isn’t enrolment numbers; it’s life paths fundamentally altered.
These models–Yuwa’s football programme, Project Manzil’s skill-building ecosystem, offer blueprints that can be adapted across the Global South. The specifics may differ, but the principles remain: identify aspirations, remove barriers, invest sustainably, and build community support.
This requires coordinated effort from governments, development partners, donors, multilateral organisations, NGOs, and most critically, communities themselves. It requires us to move beyond celebrating exceptional girls who succeed despite the system, toward building systems that not just enable Nisha, Mamta, Nibha, and Monika but every girl to succeed.
This article is authored by Prachi Yadav, analyst and Raghwesh Ranjan, senior director, IPE Global.
