The Butterfly Programme seeks to demonstrate adolescent girls as leaders at the forefront of their community for change and leadership building. The vision of the programme is to empower young girls to overcome the barriers that keep them from reaching their potential through joint action and support for feminist leadership.

Cover Illustration by: Ipsita Dwivedi

About the Program

Why “Butterfly”

Butterflies have a four-stage life cycle, and like most insects undergo complete metamorphosis. The journey from larvae to the majestic butterflies is rapid, however, it takes a lot of effort; and the transformation is almost always surprising and full of awe. We see similarities between this process and that of the experiences of adolescents and young people as they continue to negotiate with their world, navigate it with curiosity with the intent to become individuals who can voice their opinions, exercise choice and bring about collective change to build a society that has equal rights, equal opportunities and equal access for all.

The “Butterfly Effect”

Coined by the meteorologist Edward Lorenz, The foundation of the butterfly effect is the idea that everything in the world is intricately interconnected and that a minor event can have a significant impact on a much more complicated system.

The Butterfly Programme seeks to demonstrate adolescent girls as leaders at the forefront of their community for change and leadership building. The vision of the programme is to empower young girls to overcome the barriers that keep them from reaching their potential through joint action and support for feminist leadership. The overarching outcome that the programme seeks to achieve is to empower girls to become decision-makers on issues that are critical to their lives, and to influence the ecosystem(s) to recognise and enable their leadership journeys. The programme design is informed by the lived experiences of adolescent girls and young women, and the need to build capacities that enable us to speak against restrictions on our rights, confronting gender-based violence and improving mobility and public safety in schools and communities.

Locations

Jharkhand

Delhi NCR

Related Resources

Impact of the Programme

Increased awareness and capacities of young women and girls to recognise and challenge gender stereotypes and power structures within institutions that make up their ecosystem; for example, educational institutions, families, and communities, etc.
Improved aspirations, leadership, self-confidence, and communication and negotiation skills amongst young women and girls.
A strengthened network of civil society organisations across geographies advocating for adolescent leadership and youth SRHR.
Increased engagement with relevant stakeholder(s) [families, community leaders/ members, government officials] on issues that adolescent girls face to bring awareness of the dynamics of violence and power structures that exist in society.

OnGoing Work

Centring Adolescent Leaders

Capacity building sessions with adolescent girls and young women leaders of Sunder Nagar community and Nizamuddin community (Delhi) that include topics such as digital literacy, understanding our rights, and civil structures. The sessions have elements of skill-building (information and knowledge sharing), perspective building, and exposure visits with relevant stakeholders - culminating in designing and implementing advocacy projects identified, anchored, and led by the group of the above-mentioned leaders.
Organising Adolescent Conclave(s) with Kishori Manch leaders (community based youth groups) of twelve Civil Society organisations in 9 districts of Jharkhand facilitating conversations that lead to understanding and challenging the shame that is taught to people assigned female at birth about their bodies. The series of conclaves focus on centering the importance of bodily autonomy for young people to be able to exercise their rights without fear and threats of violence.

Strengthening the Ecosystem

Through Learning Institute(s) and Online Capsule Session(s) with staff members of twelve Civil Society organisations in 9 districts of Jharkhand to build their perspective in addressing early, child and forced marriage from the lens of consent, choice, agency, decision-making and rights of young people, especially adolescent girls who are most vulnerable to this phenomenon.

Through Dialogue Platforms, Jashn-E-Agvaai: A declaration of girl-led journey(s) marking the need and importance for centering lived experiences in building feminist leadership. It is a celebration of the spirit of coming together, of feminist friendships that are rooted in self-empathy, resilience, pleasure and leisure for all the participants. The leaders engage with various stakeholders in their respective communities, breaking socio-normative barriers, by amplifying their take on issues. They have facilitated these conversations using mediums like Nukkad Naatak, Mobile Filmmaking, Instagram Reels and Girl-led rallies. Jashn-E-Agvaai demonstrates the shift in power in the hands of adolescent girl leaders where they co-create a platform and network that centers their realities, excitement and vision. It is an important platform symbolically to build a collective vision of adolescent and young people being decision makers, influencers as well as direct writers of the change story. The focus of the event is to showcase the value of the large scale adolescent girls’ congregation which is not limited to perspective building of stakeholders but is also symbolic of the girls’ freedom, choice and autonomy. The audience for the event are the community stakeholders including parents, family members and friends of the leaders. The intent of the event is to learn from one another, strengthen solidarity, celebrate and grieve our struggles while breaking away from the ideas of boundaries; extending an invitation to important people in their lives to witness their journey and triumph.

Titli Mela: demonstrates the necessary shift in power in the hands of the adolescent girl leaders wherein they co-create an agenda that centres their realities, excitement and vision. The focus of the Mela is to showcase the value of the large-scale adolescent girls congregation which is not limited to perspective building but is also symbolic to their freedom, choice and autonomy. It is with this context we carved out a three-day process annually, bringing together 24 organisations working across Jharkhand and the adolescents from across the different districts, who have engaged at their community level in breaking socio-normative barriers and becoming leaders for change. The Mela was also ideated as a celebration of the spirit of coming together, of feminist friendships that are rooted in self-empathy, resilience, pleasure and leisure for all the participants. The intent was to learn from one another, strengthen solidarity, celebrate and grieve our struggles while breaking away from the ideas of boundaries.

Introduction to Blending Sp...

Adolescent Girls Leadership

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Introduction to Blending Spectrum

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A video about TYPF’s programme based in Sunder Nagar Nursery – this was made about 4 years ago!

Graphic

Women’s History Month – Ico...

Adolescent Girls Leadership

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Women’s History Month – Iconic Images

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“Teachers are fighters too”, Philippines 1944

Submitted by Denise Matias from the Philippines:
This is Captain Nieves Fernandez, a guerilla woman from the Philippines, who fought against Japanese occupants. She was a teacher before and after World War II.
Here, she is seen demonstrating to a US soldier how she used a long knife to kill Japanese soldiers.

National Women’s Protest, South Africa 1956

Here we see women demonstrate against the Pass Laws in Cape Town on August 9th 1956, on the same day as the massive national women’s protest in Pretoria.
The pass laws were a type of internal passport system designed to segregate the population, which severely limited the movements of the black African citizens.
Before the 1950’s it was largely applied to African men, and attempts to apply it to women was met with overwhelming protests.
Image source: www.overcomingaparthied.msu.edu

Women chain themselves to the bars in Australia, 1965

In this photo we see Rosalie Bognor and Merle Thornton chain themselves to the bar at Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel. Why?
Well, many pubs across Australia had a special ‘ladies lounge’ for women to drink, as they were banned from entering public bars. And even then, sometimes women were allowed in the lounge only if were they accompanied by a man.
The feminist movement was not willing to back down on this. These ladies defiantly left the lounge in pubs, marched into public bars and demanded drinks. Chaining themselves to the bars was a popular form of protest to get their point across.
Eventually the the government relented and passed a legislation allowing women to drink at any public bar they wished to.

Marsha Johnson, USA 1969

Submitted by Anushka Aqil from the US:
Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson, a Black transwomen, was a gay rights and transgender activist.
She is most known for her work during the Stonewall Riots in the 1960’s and 70’s, as well as founding STAR: Street Tranvestite Action Revolutionaries, alongside Sylvia Rivera, a transgender rights group and a shelter for homeless transgender teens and drag queens.
Marsha brought visibility to the work of Black transwomen and is a beacon for all she did for the rights and safety of transgender people and especially, transgender youth.

France, 1970’s

Submitted by Juliet Dixon from France:
The struggle for the right to contraception and abortion was at the heart of feminist struggles of the 1970’s in France. Here we see women demonstrating for the right to abort.
A manifesto written by Simone de Beauvoir (the most iconic feminist by far, and companion to philosopher Jean Paul Sartre) called the “Manifesto of the 343 Bitches” was a declaration signed by 343 women who admitted to have had abortions when it was illegal in France. This list included actresses and prominent women figures of the time.

Punk Anti-Capitalist Feminism, France 2010’s

Submission from Juliet Dixon from France:
FEMEN is a feminist protest group, one that is quite controversial and doesn’t quite have consensus among feminists [but feminist streams are diverse, rich, and beautiful right?] They are most known for demonstrating bare-chested anywhere they see fit.
The top left image is a protest against Marine Le Pen, the candidate for the far right in the North of France.
The bottom right image is from a protest against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the prior IMF head, who assaulted a cleaning lady in his hotel in New York a few years earlier.

Three Remarkable Women win the Nobel Peace Prize, 2011

Tawakkul Karman [seen holding the award in this photo] is a leading women’s rights and democracy activist in Yemen, so vocal in her stance that she has been targeted by government. She is also the first Arab women to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and compatriot Leymah Gbowee shared the award with Karman. They mobilised fellow women against the country’s civil war, including organising a sex strike.
This award is seen as significant recognition in favour of the empowerment of women, especially in the third world. [Sourced from abc.net.au]

Euromaidan Revolution, Ukraine 2013-14

Submitted by Tamara Martsenyuk from Ukraine:
Events in central Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, became famous as a so-called “Euro Revolution”, better known as “Euromaidan”. Protests by Ukrainian citizens against their government commenced in November 2013, when President Yanukovych announced a decision to turn Ukraine away from the EU, and continued for about three months.
Unlike previous “revolutions”, the Euromaidan revolution was marked by – as was visible in the media and public discourses – diverse women’s participation, through which women challenged traditional gender roles and reclaimed visibility, recognition, and respect.

Cabinet of Canada, 2015

Submitted by Brittny Anderson from Canada:
Canada is now represented by 15 female and 15 male appointed cabinet members. 2015 marks the first time gender parity has been achieved among ministers at the federal level. Previously, the closest the country had reached to equal representation were the cabinets of 2003 and 2008, with women making up 29% of the total. Before this landmark election, only approximately one in four cabinet ministers were women.

Pakistan’s First Transgender Model, 2016

Submitted by Anushka Aqil from Pakistan:
In 2016, Kami Sid made her debut as the Pakistan’s first Khawaja Sara (transgender) model. While modelling is what brought Kami nation-wide visibility, her work as an activist for gay and transgender rights in Pakistan has been on-going and influencing culture for much longer.
Khawaja Saras have been a part of the South Asian continent’s history since the beginning of time, yet, transgender individuals continue to face extreme discrimination and have to fight to survive.
Kami’s photo shoot is one step on the way to increase positive visibility and acceptance, but we have a long way to go.

Latin American Women Resist on International Women’s Day 2016

On International Women’s Day in 2016, thousands of people across capital cities in South America took to the streets to highlight a number of human rights issues ranging from gender equality, violence against women, women’s rights and abortion laws.
Many of the protestors used their bodies as a canvas to fight for their cause, some walking topless with slogans painted across their chests and stomachs. The following is a series of photos from South America. In this photo, demonstrators march in Buenos Aires to highlight the issue of femicide- the murder of women due to their gender.

In this photo, thousands of activists marched in Rio de Janeiro, demanding rights including a change in Brazilian law which only allows abortion in cases of rape or dire health threats.

In this photo, a demonstrator wearing make up to resemble assault marks holds up a sign that says “They are killing us” in Santiago.

Women take part in a Slut Walk across Bogota.

A woman holds up her baby and a sign that reads “My body is mine, I decide” in San Jose.

Women from different feminist and human rights organizations march in San Salvador.

Demonstrators and feminist groups fill the streets of Caracas.

The butterfly Programme

Programmes

The butterfly Programme

Adolescent Girls Leadership

About the Program

Locations

Related Resources

Impact of the Programme

OnGoing Work

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