Seven years of programming evolution and improvement provided a toolkit for contextualization for other countries and cultures. After launches in China in 2013 and South Africa in 2014, India was next when Global Give Back Circle – India launched a pilot with a cohort of 20 girls in Delhi in 2015. A partnership between Magic Bus India and Global Give Back Circle leveraged the core competencies of both organizations.
Girls who grew up through the Magic Bus India program were selected as program participants because of the way they stepped-up to leadership positions over the years. These girls had a desire to complete their education, and become role models in their communities.
After a successful pilot program, Global Give Back Circle – India officially launched at the Residence of the U.S Ambassador to India, in February 2016. Two months later, 80 more girls, from high school across the urban slums of Delhi and Mumbai where enrolled in the program. In April 2017, World Vision India launched the program with 80 at-risk girls in communities where World Vision India operates.
In Dec 2017, FORD Foundation, Girl Rising, Magic Bus India Foundation and Global Give Back Circle collaborated to pilot a 2-year transformative program with objective of expanding economic opportunities for young women from low-income communities by addressing the barriers to their participation and inclusion in blue-collar occupations. The program will empower adolescent girls through education attainment, workforce readiness and skills training, mentorship, and giving back in their community. Sensitizing employers, parents and the community will create an enabling environment for the girls and reduce systemic constraints to entry in such occupations. 1,000 girls have been recruited in this project in North and East Delhi.
Today, through a partnership with Magic Bus India and World Vision India, the girls are matched with a mentor, and empowered to complete high school and paint a vision for a future in the new economy, taking their place as educators, social workers, medical practitioners, fashion designers, engineers and business women. Currently, a number of girls in the program are pursuing university programs in India, while others are completing high school. Their mentors come from India and the U.S.
Successful mentor chapters have been established in India at PwC, General Motors, Deloitte, Microsoft, DELL and the American Embassy in India.