Safeena Husain
Safeena Husain | |
|---|---|
 Safeena Husain with her husband Hansal Mehta | |
| Born | 21 January 1971 Delhi, India |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 daughters |
| Father | Yusuf Hussain |
Safeena Husain is a social worker and founder of Educate Girls – a non-profit organisation that is headquartered in Mumbai, India. It focusses on mobilising communities for girls’ education in India’s rural and educationally backward areas.[1][2] Under her leadership, Educate Girls’ launched world’s first Development Impact Bond in education which on its completion in 2018 surpassed both its target outcomes.[3][4]
Career
[edit]Husain worked in San Francisco as the Executive Director for Child Family Health International from 1998-2004.[5] Prior to her role in San Francisco she graduated from the London School of Economics.[6]
Educate Girls
[edit]Husain moved to Mumbai in 2005 where she began working on what would become Educate Girls.[2]: 7 [5] Educate Girls was founded in 2007.[7] She pointed to surveys indicating India was the worst G20 country to be born a women in as demonstration for India's need for a large scale NGO focused on gender equity in education. There were no such organizations, to her satisfaction, in India at the time.[5] She initially focused on working with the Ministry of Education in partnering with schools in Pali and Jalore which had the worst education gender gaps at the time.[5][8] Husain subsequently contacted Pratham and UNICEF to learn best practices. She focused on being the strongest presence in a focused community and encouraging community participation. This strategy led to the creation of, Team Balika, a volunteer organization with thousands of members.[5][8] Their goal is to find out of school girls and encourage them to re-enroll. Husain has highlighted Educate Girls effort to work with the education system and improve it rather than working against the system.[5] Educate girls embodied this idea by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the government to replicate the organizations model at 2,083 schools in Jalore.[2]: 8
Educate Girls work from 2015-2018 was partially funded by the world's first education related Development Impact Bond. Husain lauded this model because resulted based financing allowed Educate Girls to be innovative in their practices.[9][3] The program surpassed all its targets for the bond payouts.[3]
Recognition & Awards
[edit]She is a Rainer Arnhold Fellow[10] and Times Now "Amazing Indian".[11] Husain featured as a speaker at a TEDxASB event on the subject of "Rejuvenating Government Schools in India for Girls' Education".[12][6] In 2014 and 2023, Husain won the WISE prize. WISE is an award from Qatar for outstanding impact in education. The 2023 award came with $500,000 for Educatate Girls.[13][14]
- ET Prime Women Leadership Award 2019[15]
- Winner NITI Aayog Women Transforming India Award 2017[16]
- Winner NDTV-L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Award 2016[17]
- Winner 2015 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship - April 2015[18]
Personal Life
[edit]Safeena Husain was married to Hansal Mehta in 2022 after 17 years together. She had two daughters with him prior to marriage. Their names are Kimaya Mehta and Rehana Mehta.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Lessons from Educate Girls DIB are for everyone: Safeena Husain, Founder & Executive Director, Educate Girls". The Financial Express (India). 15 October 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ a b c "WomenChangeMakers' Annual Report 2012" (PDF). 14 August 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ^ a b c "How India's First Development Impact Bond Transformed the Lives of over 7000 Rural Kids". 1 October 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ "Development impact bond results in education announced". Business Line. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "When girls returned to the classroom". India Today. 1 December 2014.
- ^ a b c "Unknown facts about hansal mehta's wife, safeena husain". Siasat Daily. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ Jayakumar, P.B. (8 October 2017). "Three R's for the Girl Child: Millions of girls in India are denied education as society sees them as a liability". New Delhi. Business Today.
- ^ a b Bloch, Hannah (20 June 2015). "Work in Progress: A Push to Get India's Girls Into Classrooms". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "Getting Girls into Education Pays off for UBS". Eastern Eye. 20 July 2018.
- ^ "Mulago Foundation Rainer Arnhold Fellows". www.mulagofoundation.org. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ Times Now: Amazing Indians
- ^ TEDxASB - Safeena Husain - Rejuvenating Government Schools. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "India's Safeena Hussain wins $5 lakh WISE Prize for getting 14 lakh girls back to school". The Economic Times. 3 December 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "WISE Prize for Education". Qatar Foundation. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ "ETPWLA 2019: Safeena Husain of Educate Girls Foundation receives 'Beyond Business' award". The Economic Times. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ "Girls Education charity India | Girl child education ngo". Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ "About the Awardee: Safeena Husain". L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Award. NDTV. 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ "Skoll | Educate Girls Foundation". Retrieved 8 April 2024.