Girl’s education program by ESTEE LAUDER COMPANIES x Pratthanadee Foundation

When you found yourself, it give you greater opportunity to be successful in what you do either in your study or on your job.

However, in reality there are many girls in rural area who still lack of opportunity to find themselves with no experience in life training skill and limited access to the information that would help them improve the quality of life both inside and outside classroom.

When they don’t realize their potential and don’t have enough knowledge, they don’t know what they are capable of and fail to choose the right school path. It results in failing school grade  and end up doing a low paying job.

And some families cannot afford sending their kids to school so they have to quit school early in order to work to earn money. Many time they end up being treated unfair by their employer or doing a high risk job.

The statistics shows that 91% out of 1,300 students under Pratthanadee Foundation has experienced direct or indirect violence in workplace. The problem is they don’t realized they are being harmed and don’t know where they get help.

About the Foundation Pratthanadee works with underprivileged women and girls in Bangkok and Ubon Ratchathani in the rural Northeast region of Thailand. The Foundation exists to empower women and girls by providing access to free careers guidance, personal development, skills-based training and mentoring. Its programs are offered within a safe and supportive environment, aiming to improve economic opportunities, encourage healthy life choices, and promote access to safe and meaningful work.

Pratthanadee foundation partnerships with Estee Lauder Companies (Thailand) to organize Girl’s education Project to set up workshop for 1,000 girls, covering 15-20 schools in Ubon Ratchathani, Amnajchareon and Srisaked

This project, ‘Girl’s education program by ESTEE LAUDER COMPANIES x Pratthanadee Foundation’, will reach the target groups through two key activities:

1. Claim Your Rights

Training (3hours) In the northeast region, it is a well-known fact that the family dynamic is one where women are considered to be of lower status compared to men. This gender inequality plays out in the familial arrangement where the women and girls bear the economic responsibilities while many men tend to be freer to live their lives. Also, girls growing up in poor families in Thai villages are often sent off to big cities at young age. They are expected to secure a job at all cost and support their entire families. This is especially prevalent in the northeast where the poverty rate is amongst the highest in the kingdom. However, moving from a village to a major urban center such as Bangkok without having had the opportunity to access life skills training often results in horrific consequences. These girls end up in low-paying, unstable or risky work, and often, dangerous situations.

As a preventive strategy, the Pratthanadee Foundation prepares girls who live in rural northeast Thailand for the challenges and dangerous circumstances they may face within their families and communities, as well as while trying to secure employment.

Through our ‘Claim your Rights’ workshop, we train girls between ages of 13 and 18 on:

• Recognizing, avoiding and responding to dangerous situations.
• Knowing their rights under Thai law (Act on the Prevention and Resolution of Domestic Violence and Criminal Code Amendment Act).
• Reporting violent and sexual crimes.
• Basic self-defense.

After training, we aim for these girls to be more empowered with the knowledge, skills and resources to deal with:

1. domestic and sexual violence within their families and communities, and
2. exploitative and abusive work environments when they migrate to urban centre to find work

2.Preparing for Success Training (3hours) 

When girls leave village schools, whether they finish high school completely or leave at primary level, they are unlikely to have received any advice on what to do next. Often, the only guidance they receive will be from colleges and employers who actively choose to visit the school and recruit them - providing a limited one-sided perspective.

These girls will feel a great responsibility to earn money on behalf of their entire family - and they will be faced with big decisions about their life path and the balance between ensuring their own wellbeing and earning enough money. Often their family and friends will not be equipped to advise them and they will struggle to find an objective viewpoint.

Preparing for Success introduces teenage girls to the basic concepts of career planning. It helps them to understand their options for training, employment and education beyond high school.

It aims to provide a holistic overview of the options, paths and challenges before them - whether they choose to move to big cities and find work, or to remain in their hometown.

This workshop introduces them to:

• Self-assessment.
• Training and education options post-school.
• How to find and apply for jobs.

After training, we aim for these girls to be more aware of the options they have, to feel motivated to define their own future, and to recognize their own value.

Both activities are designed to suit the needs and availability of the target group. The activities aim to raise aspirations and to ensure that girls develop the confidence and the skills they need to achieve future success.

With a generous grant of 220,000 Thai baht, allowing us to train, guide and secure the futures of 1,000 girls in Thailand. The project will be organizing 15 workshops (about 40-50 students per workshop) that will be held in 15-20 high schools.