SAKHI’s mission is to create quality learning spaces at the community level, so that every girl in the slums of Mumbai and rural villages of Osmanabad, India, will get an opportunity to continue her education with confidence. SAKHI means a female friend of girls who inspires, guides, and supports other girls for a good cause. Since 2008, Aarti Naik, a slum-based young girl “Changemaker”, has been building basic educational capacities for other slum and rural area girls through a community-based after-school programme.

SAKHI’s major objective is to provide a girls’ learning space, aimed specifically at those girls who are living and learning in difficult situations, so that they have an opportunity to receive quality education in a secure environment.

The stable and reliable basic educational capacity of SAKHI’s learning space provides life skills to the girls and allows them to learn with confidence. Initially, these slum and rural area girls were struggling to read and write, their vocabulary level was poor, their confidence and motivation to learn was very low, and therefore they were not able to participate actively in their school’s daily class activities.

SAKHI’s daily educational activities enable slum and rural area girls to build basic literacy and numeracy skills within their community. The availability of basic English textbooks has improved their vocabulary levels tremendously and they are able to read and write effectively, while continuing to attend school and improving their learning further.