India is home to 20% of the world’s adolescent girls and young women, yet most are not being prepared to transition successfully from school to work and own their futures. While enrollment in girls' education has improved, only 33% of women aged 15+ participate in the labor force, compared to 77% of men. Of those who work, over 90% are in the informal sector, with 53% engaged in unpaid labor.
Education alone is not enough—without access to economic opportunity, academic gains don't lead to financial independence. Most programs tackling economic inequality focus on women, not adolescent girls. Many girl-serving organizations provide life skills, health, and leadership training, but few emphasize employability or workforce readiness. As a result, girls often leave school without the skills, confidence, or networks needed to enter and thrive in the labor market.
To close the gender economic gap, girls need timely access to marketable skills, personal agency, and strong support systems before entering the workforce. Employers value critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication—skills rarely developed in rote-learning environments. Girls must also overcome social norms and family expectations that limit their choices. Existing programs fail to equip girls with these essential skills or challenge restrictive social norms. A girl-centered, future-focused approach is essential to help them enter, stay, and advance in the workforce—and thrive in the 21st-century economy.
Launch Girls envisions a world where every girl owns her future. We empower adolescent girls with the skills, agency, and support needed to access economic opportunities and shift perceptions of their potential. Our Girl Boss programs, co-created with girls and local partners, address real-world challenges and fit their lived realities. Grounded in research from MIT Sloan, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum, our programs focus on entrepreneurship education, equipping girls with critical thinking, problem-solving, financial literacy, digital skills, and self-confidence. Through hands-on learning and support networks, girls build essential skills while engaging families, schools, and communities. Workshops with families and boys reinforce the value of investing in girls. Our five programs, delivered over 40–67 hours, allow girls to apply what they learn. Unlike traditional life skills efforts, we emphasize future-readiness and employability. Over 90% of participants report increased confidence and work-readiness. Since 2020, we’ve partnered with 32 organizations across 16 countries, building capacity for long-term delivery. Through Girl Boss, girls have the information, skills, and support to determine their own paths whether it's entrepreneurship, employment, or higher education. Girls like Pravalika, 18, are changing their futures. “Now I know what my goal is and how to achieve it. The skills I learned are helping me and will continue to shape my future” she says.
By 2030, Launch Girls aims to equip 1 million adolescent girls and young women across the Global South—75% in India—with critical skills, agency, and support to transition from school to work. Our strategy centers on scalable gender programming with measurable impact that governments and community organizations can adopt.
We are testing three strategic models for scale: direct government partnerships in India, partner-to-government models in India and Kenya, and collaborations with grassroots NGOs in Africa. In 2025, we will implement our Girl Boss program in two districts in Telangana and Karnataka, with the potential to reach 3.5 million girls through state-wide interventions. Impact measurement is core to our work. We are defining metrics aligned with our 2024 theory of change and tracking outcomes like reduced NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) rates and increased decision-making power. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) by 2027 will build our evidence base. To ensure quality, we are strengthening due diligence, launching teacher certification, collecting real-time data, and conducting in-person assessments. A digital dashboard will support monitoring, while a learning lab enables direct implementation and iteration.
Beyond programs, we are building a global coalition of girl-serving organizations to co-create solutions, share best practices, and advocate for policies that advance girls’ economic empowerment.
Fill out our partner interest form: https://forms.zohopublic.in/launchgirls/form/LauchGirlsPartnerInterestForm2024/formperma/U50aTMvtqJbm2eARXu6nU7cSYPdO48PhaFBm6A9pyeY
Email our Partner Manager, Samantha Wamani samantha@launchgirls.org
