Avasara Leadership Institute
Leadership Institute for girls in India (School)
Avasara Academy addresses a critical gap in India’s education system: schooling does not reliably translate into agency or opportunity for girls from under-resourced communities. Beginning in Grade 6, Avasara provides a long-term, deliberately designed model integrating an academic bridge, leadership through real enterprises, embedded socio-emotional learning, structured college pathways, and parent partnership. The result is measurable growth in confidence, academic success, and higher education access—converting early potential into durable agency and generational change.
What struck me most about this project were the mothers’ testimonies. Seeing that their daughters are being given the opportunities they themselves never had, in such a deeply patriarchal country where women's access to education is so often restricted.
WINNER STATEMENTWe were thrilled and deeply honored to receive the iF SOCIAL IMPACT PRIZE 2026. This recognition affirms our belief that education must build not only knowledge, but agency. The funding will help us strengthen learning, leadership and transition pathways, empowering more girls to shape their futures and helping dismantle the barriers that continue to limit how women and girls are seen – and what they are encouraged to become – in India.
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