From 13th to 14th January 2020, with the financial support of Estēe Lauder Companies, we conducted the project ‘Better Me for Girls: Raising and realizing of Girls in Northeast Thailand’ through two key activities:
- Claim Your Rights Training – Teaches life-saving skills, including recognizing and avoiding dangerous situations, women’s law and rights, and basic self-defense.
- Preparing for Success Training – Helps girls with planning for their future through the use of self-assessment, trains and educates them on post-school career options, and teach them how to find and apply for jobs.
This training workshop project was conducted in rural schools in Ubon Ratchathani and Amnat Charoen provinces in the Isan region of northeast Thailand. We had set a target of training 100 high school girls. By the end of the project, we had exceeded our target as the participation totalled 152 girls. Out of this, 87 girls took part in ‘Claim Your Rights’ workshop, gaining skills and resources to deal with domestic and sexual violence within their families and communities, and exploitative and abusive work environments if and when they migrate to urban centre to find work. The rest of the 65 girls participated in “Preparing For Success’ and picked up information and skills they would need for post-school success. Through the training, they also increased their sense of self-worth, gained confidence in themselves, and became inspired and more optimistic about their future.
We polled the attendees before ‘Claim Your Rights’ workshop:
- 98% had mentioned that they personally experienced and/or seen violence.
- 95% had no idea about potential dangers and were unaware of public services that are freely available to them should they require help.
- 94% had never attended this kind of workshop before and in fact, most had never participated in any kind of training workshop.
- 44% would run away if they were confronted with a dangerous or violent situation.
- 40% had mentioned that they personally experienced violence.
- 20% would not know what to do if they were confronted with a dangerous or violent situation.
We are committed to the continual evaluation of our training workshop by soliciting feedback from participants and trainers so that we can improve our results each time.
Feedback collected from Participants’ notes (translated from Thai):
- “This is the first time that I paid full attention to an activity in school. I am so happy to have opportunity to gain knowledge from you. I can apply to real life. Thank you and please come back.”
- “This is really a fun workshop. I gained more knowledge and life skills. I also had the opportunity to work in a group with my friends. We had good teamwork.”
- “I learnt how to protect myself. I learnt about contact numbers of assistance services that we can ask for help. The trainers were very good at teaching us basic self defence, it was comprehensive and easy to understand. The workshop should have been run longer. I had a lot of fun.”
- “I would like to take part in this workshop again. It was so much fun; I hope to attend it again”
- “I learnt how to stay safe from dangers and about women’s rights that I can apply in my real life. I now know the emergency number to contact when I am in risky situations. I want you to come back.”
We polled the attendees before the ‘Preparing for Success’ workshop:
- 99% of students had never attended this kind of workshop before and in fact, most had never participated in any kind of training workshop.
- 37% of students had no idea what type of work they wanted to pursue or what would be suitable for them in the future, while 17% wanted to be a teacher and 5% wanted to be a doctor.
- 55% of students didn’t not know what path of study they need to take in order to attain their dream job.
- Over 42% of senior high school students didn’t not know whether they could continue their education at the university level after graduation.
- 37% of students had financial difficulties that limited them from studying at a school or university and therefore would require a government loan
- 42% of the students didn’t know their parents’ occupations. 24.6% of the students said their parents worked as general contractors.
We are committed to the continual evaluation of our training workshop by soliciting feedback from participants and trainers so that we can improve our results each time.
Feedback collected from Participants’ notes (translated from Thai):
- “I’m glad to have participated in this great workshop, which gave advice about studying at university. Today, I received motivation to pursue the career that I have dreamt of. I know how important education is.”
- “I learnt things I didn’t know before. I now know my future goal. If there’s a chance, I want you to come back.”
- “I felt so good and gained more knowledge. I understand better my own ability, what I like and am good at.”
- “I gained information on further education and career options. I would like you to give advice on how to interact with others.”
- “This is a good workshop. The trainer is good. Many of my questions were answered. I would like to know more about life in university, the exam of each faculty and how to apply.”
- “Happy and fun. I gained knowledge about further education. I feel more confident after attending this workshop.
The team at Pratthanadee would like to express their sincere thanks to Estēe Lauder Companies for their generous support of this important project. We are especially grateful for the opportunity to showcase our training pedagogy on the field, which we believe is effective in delivering the stated objectives. We look forward to expanding the reach of our training into other rural areas in northeastern Thailand in the near future. We hope that over time this work will enable thousands of girls and women from poor, rural communities to build healthier and safer lives for themselves and their families.
