SAHELI

Support Adolescent Health, Education & Livelihood Initiative

AIF’s Support Adolescent Health, Education & Livelihood Initiative (SAHELI) is transforming the lives of adolescent girls through multi-pronged programming in health, education, and livelihood, including reproductive health education, remedial learning, and livelihood opportunities. SAHELI fosters gender equality, strengthens family and community dynamics, and promotes economic mobility, equipping girls for brighter, independent futures.

AIF’s Support Adolescent Health, Education & Livelihood Initiative (SAHELI) is is a multi-pronged adolescent health initiative aimed at transforming the lives of adolescent girls in the areas of health, education, and livelihoods, including reproductive health education, remedial learning, and employment opportunities. SAHELI fosters gender equality, strengthens family and community dynamics, and promotes economic mobility, equipping girls for brighter, independent futures.

Why SAHELI?

With over 120 million adolescent girls in India, many face significant societal barriers–ranging from poor healthcare access, limited educational experience, forced early marriage, and overall restricted personal agency. Without comprehensive intervention, these challenges perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality, undercutting India’s potential to leverage its demographic advantage for sustainable development and growth. SAHELI, AIF’s adolescent health initiative, bridges gaps in sexual and reproductive health education, mitigates barriers to education, and provides livelihood support to adolescent girls, empowering them to lead healthy, dignified, and financially stable lives on their own terms.

How SAHELI works

How SAHELI works

SAHELI employs a holistic approach to empower adolescent girls through targeted interventions in critical areas such as:

Health

Sexual & Reproductive Health: Empowering girls with essential knowledge to make informed decisions about their health and future.
Nutritional Outcomes & Anemia: Addressing undernutrition and anemia by ensuring access to proper nutrition for healthy growth and development.

Education

Remedial Education: Providing additional academic support to address learning regression, helping girls achieve age and grade-approved competencies and educational outcomes.
Improving Learning Outcomes: Enhancing overall student performance and achievements and facilitating enrollment in higher educational institutions
English Language Proficiency: Preparing for broader educational and employment opportunities by enhancing students' communication skills, academic performance, and networking opportunities.
Academic and Technological Preparedness: Equipping students for competitive exams and introducing computational thinking and coding.
Teacher Training: Providing educators with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based pedagogy and remediation methodologies to address learning regression and prepare students for the modern, evolving workforce.

Livelihoods

Multidimensional Approach: Empowering adolescent girls who drop out of school with skills training, job placement support, and entrepreneurship mentoring, preparing them for diverse career paths and educational opportunities.
Computer Learning Programs: Developing technological skills to boost employability and adaptability in a digital economy, guided by teachers trained in ICT pedagogy for maximum impact.
Effective Communication and Soft Skills: Strengthening English proficiency and interpersonal abilities to prepare girls for both academic and career success.